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{{short description|British politician, writer, actor and former model}}
{{BLP sources|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Marina Baker
|
|image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name = Marina Augusta Baker
| other_names = Marina Pepper
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1967|08|12}}
| birth_place = [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]], [[Berkshire]], England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = British
| party = [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]]
| height =
| occupation = [[politician]], [[journalist]], [[children's book]] author
| years_active =
| known_for = ''[[Playboy]]'' [[Playboy Playmate|Playmate]] for the Month of March 1987
| notable_works =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children = Charlie Pepper<br />Boudicca Pepper
| education = [[London College of Communication]]
| alma mater = [[University of Sussex]]
}}
'''Marina Augusta Pepper''' (''[[née]]'' '''Baker'''; born 8 December 1967{{Inconsistent|reason=Inconsistent with the birth date given in the infobox. Please add a citation from a reliable source stating their date of birth.|date=May 2022}}) is an English [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] local [[politician]], [[journalist]], [[children's book]] author and former model and actress. She was ''[[Playboy]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s [[Playboy Playmate|Playmate]] of the Month for March 1987.
== Early life ==
Born in Windsor, Berkshire, and originally from [[Taplow]], [[Buckinghamshire]], she and her older brother Martin "moved around a lot" until they reached [[Norfolk]]. She had an unconventional, [[hippie]], [[nomadic]] upbringing in the rural environs of Norfolk, as well as different parts of the [[English Midlands|Midlands]] and the [[Southeast England|Southeast]]. By her own account, her family "thought we were getting a new-built home, but it wasn't ready, and my mother, being as practical as ever, said: 'Well, we are homeless, so we are travellers until we are housed'. I remember trees, bushes and grass and a toilet in a shed. There was this enormous chrome caravan with those sort of lacy doily things in the window, and my birthday party in a tent, playing pass the parcel in the pouring rain. Rain is still my favourite weather". As a girl, her dreams were to become a dancer and prime minister, because she "liked the idea of being in charge".<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/>
Baker travelled widely as a teenager spending three years visiting [[France]], [[Corsica]], [[Italy]], [[Greece]] and [[Switzerland]], before ending up on [[Cape Clear Island|Cape Clear]], an island off the southern tip of [[Ireland]], "because there was a ferry leaving to go there".<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3331717.stm | work=BBC News | title=Casting a spell on politics | date=23 December 2003 | accessdate=12 May 2010 | first=Jackie | last=Storer}}</ref> She trained as a dancer at Bush Davies ballet school and left with six [[O-levels]], but later abandoned [[A-levels]] in Drama, English and History at [[Norwich]] City Tech for [[London]].
Her initial career ambition was politics, inspired by her mother's environmental [[activism]] as well as her relationship with PR boss [[Matthew Freud]], son of the ex-Liberal MP [[Clement Freud]], whom she met while working as a waitress in London. She said: "I got into it when I was 18. My boyfriend’s father was Clement Freud, and I used to help out. I loved it. [[Nicholas Parsons]] would be there stuffing envelopes, and I'd be out chatting to people....<ref name="lewes.gov.uk">{{Cite web|url=http://www.lewes.gov.uk/council/2318.asp|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20121223211301/http://www.lewes.gov.uk/council/2318.asp|title=Lewes District Council: Chair of the Council 2007–2008<!-- Bot generated title -->|archivedate=23 December 2012|access-date=17 July 2006|url-status=live}}</ref> It really suited me knocking on doors going "Hello! How are you? How are things for you? Is your MP helpful? What could be better round here? Oh, I see what you mean ... Terrible state of the roads".<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/>
To supplement her modest income, Baker began [[glamour modeling]] as a ''[[Page 3]]'' girl at age 17 before she was discovered by noted erotic photographer [[Byron Newman]]. When asked about what influenced her decision, she answered, "I really didn't have any problems about my body. It wasn't ever an ambition. It was just one of those things—if you are a certain height with a certain look and a certain pneumatic silhouette—sooner or later in that sort of company it's a bit inevitable really".<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/> She claimed that her comfort with posing nude was due to the liberating influence of her mother, Margaret Ayrton, a [[Wicca|Witch]]. She said "I suppose being brought up by hippies as parents, I had absolutely no problem being naked. The problems I had were actually wrestling with the whole sort of feminist thing. I tried to justify it to myself that there were loads of jobs that I thought were equally demeaning because they had such a low wage. When I waitressed, my take home pay was what I could earn in two hours modelling".<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/> She attributes her buxom figure to a combination of rigorous [[ballet]]-training and having [[Irish people|Irish]] and [[Welsh people|Welsh]] [[ancestry]].<ref>Quoted in ''Playboy Playmate Six-Pack'' interview, 1992.</ref>
== ''Playboy'' Playmate ==
{{Infobox Playboy Playmate <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox Playboy Playmate/doc]] -->
| image = <!-- only free-content images are allowed for depicting living people - see [[WP:NONFREE]] - magazine covers are expressly forbidden -->
| imagesize = 150px
| caption =
| name = Marina Baker
| issue = March 1987
| birth_name =
| birth_place = [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]], [[Berkshire]], England<ref name=wekinglypigs>{{cite web|url=http://wekinglypigs.com/cgi-bin/nand/search/pmstat?browse=%3A%3ACONFIG%3A%3Adatebrowse&key=1987&limit=0|title=Playmate listing|accessdate=18 November 2009}}</ref>
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1967|12|8}}
| height = {{height|ft=5|in=7}}<ref name=wekinglypigs />
| preceded = [[Julie Peterson]]
| succeeded = [[Anna Clark (model)|Anna Clark]]
}}
Baker was first approached to pose for ''[[Penthouse (magazine)|Penthouse]]'' but turned them down and did her Playmate shoot in 1986 when she was 18. When the March 1987 issue of ''Playboy'' was released to newsstands she had only recently turned 19. In 1995 Baker wrote a lengthy article about her experiences as a Playmate for the London edition of ''[[Time Out (company)|Time Out]]'' magazine.
== Acting, journalism and writing career ==
Baker has appeared in two films: the 1987 TV movie ''Casanova'', starring [[Richard Chamberlain]], and the 1990 short film ''Man from China''. She also acted in the musical ''Forever Elvis'' (in the role of [[Priscilla Beaulieu Presley]]), and played Nina in a stage production of [[Anton Chekhov|Chekov]]'s ''[[The Seagull]]''. By this time, she got involved in fighting chemical factories, ran a campsite with a cafe, worked on a goat farm, looked after a child and ran a community theatre.
Following the death of a boyfriend she retired from acting and modeling while still in her early twenties and for a brief time went back to waitressing in England. Back home, she decided to further her education and completed a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA (Hons)]] in [[journalism]] from the [[London College of Printing]] and an [[Master of Arts|MA]] in dramatic writing from the [[University of Sussex]]. She ended up doing work experience at the ''[[News of the World]]'', before joining the London ''[[Evening Standard]]''. During the 1990s, Baker worked extensively as a journalist, most often for
''[[The Independent]]'', ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]'' and ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspapers, as well as ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'', and ''Junior Magazine'' in the United Kingdom.<ref name="lewes.gov.uk"/>
She is known today as a practising [[Wicca]]n and author of several children's books on [[Wicca|Witchcraft]], including ''Spells for the Witch in You''; ''Spells for Teenage Witches: Get Your Way with Magical Power''; ''Marina Baker's Teenage Survival Guide''; and ''Spells for Cats'' (the last was published under the name Daisy Pepper). In 2001, she worked as a magic consultant for a [[BBC]] documentary about the [[Harry Potter]] books.
== Political career ==
Baker is active in local politics in the [[Lewes]] area of England, now working under her married name of '''Marina Pepper'''.
In 2006, she [[chairman|chair]]ed the [[Lewes (district)|Lewes district]] council, where she represented the coastal communities of [[Peacehaven|East Saltdean and Telscombe Cliffs]], just five miles east of the cosmopolitan hub of [[Brighton]] in [[Sussex]].<ref name="lewes.gov.uk"/> She lost her seat on 3 May 2007 when she was defeated for re-election by the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]].
She has also served as the mayoress of [[Telscombe]] and at the [[2005 United Kingdom general election|2005 general election]] she stood for [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] in the [[Brighton Kemptown (UK Parliament constituency)|Brighton Kemptown]] constituency as a [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]], but was unsuccessful. She has been quoted as saying, somewhat facetiously, "I'm not sure Page Three girls can become MPs".<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/>
Baker is active in a number of local environmentalist programs such as the Saltdean "[[walking bus]]", which accompanies a line of children to school, reducing the number of cars on the road and giving the children "a good bit of exercise" before school. She has also set up a community recycling scheme for a local preschool and ran eco-fairs to help promote understanding of [[sustainable living]].<ref name="lewes.gov.uk"/>
As a member of the Telscombe [[town council]], she takes an active role in REGEN—part of the Local Strategic Partnership—where she organises projects to promote social economic and environmental well-being in the towns of [[Peacehaven|Peacehaven, Telscombe and East Saltdean]].
She organises regular REGEN events in the community, including "The Circle", a sustainability fair which has run in conjunction with Telscombe's Town fair, RANDOMfreeFEST—a youth festival in Peacehaven—and "Cool Yule", a seasonal market held at the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, promoting local food and gifts.<ref name="lewes.gov.uk"/>
Marina also appeared in the 2011 documentary ''Just Do It'' on environmental activism.
In July 2013, she was arrested by police for obstruction when she joined a protest against [[fracking]] in [[Balcombe]] in [[West Sussex]].{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}
== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book|title=Spells for Teenage Witches|publisher=Kyle Cathie|ISBN=1-85626-397-5|date=October 2000}}
* {{cite book|title=Spells for Teenage Witches: Get Your Way with Magical Power|publisher=Ulysses Press|ISBN=1-56975-244-3|date=December 2000|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/spellsforteenage0000bake}}
* {{cite book|title=Spells for the Witch in You|publisher=Kyle Cathie|ISBN=1-85626-411-4|date=31 October 2001}}
* ''Spells for Cats'', by 'Daisy Pepper' [i.e. Marina Baker] (G. Smith Publishers, {{ISBN|1-58685-142-X}}, February 2002)
* {{cite book|title=Marina Baker's Teenage Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know About Life, Love and Caring for the Planet|publisher=Kyle Cathie|ISBN=0-7607-4526-9|date=November 2002|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/chickssurvivalgu0000bake}}
==Appearances in ''Playboy''==
*''Playboy'' (USA) March 1987, vol. 34, iss. 3, pp. 94–107, by: Byron Newman, "Playmate Of The Month: Great Briton". Playmate pictorial and data sheet.
*''Playboy'' (USA) April 1987, vol. 34, iss. 4, pg. 129, by photographer Richard Fegley, "Here Comes Casanova".
*''Playboy'' (USA) January 1988, vol. 35, iss. 1, pg. 162, by: n/a, "Playboy's Playmate Review". Features photograph of Miss Baker nude whilst wearing an Edwardian-style costume corset.
*''Playboy'' (USA) August 1989, vol. 36, iss. 8, pp. 62–69, by: Photographer Byron Newman, "Off With Their Clothes!" Semi-nude pictorial featuring Miss Baker as [[Marie Antoinette]].
== References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
{{Portal|Children and Young Adult Literature}}
*{{playmate|marina-baker|Marina Baker}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0048733| name = Marina Baker}}
{{Playmates of 1987}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Bisexual feminists]]
[[Category:
[[Category:British actor-politicians]]
[[Category:Councillors in East Sussex]]
[[Category:English bisexual actresses]]
[[Category:English bisexual politicians]]
[[Category:English bisexual writers]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:English feminist writers]]
[[Category:English film actresses]]
[[Category:English people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:English people of Welsh descent]]
[[Category:English stage actresses]]
[[Category:English Wiccans]]
[[Category:LGBTQ Wiccans]]
[[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors]]
[[Category:Page 3 girls]]
[[Category:People from Taplow]]
[[Category:Politicians from Berkshire]]
[[Category:Politicians from Norfolk]]
[[Category:Wiccan feminists]]
[[Category:Women councillors in England]]
[[Category:20th-century English women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English women politicians]]
[[Category:Actors from South Bucks District]]
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