DS Icon: Sister Wendy

She is probably the most unlikely celebrity of all time. We suspect South African-born Sister Wendy wouldn't get a look in when it comes to the TV schedules these days, but during the '90s the buck-toothed nun was a regular fixture and resident art critic on the BBC. A consecrated virgin who dedicates most of her life to monastic solitude and prayer, she was a million miles from the limelight-hogging, screeching-banshee TV presenters that clog up our screens today. We can guarantee that Myleene Klass and Fearne Cotton wouldn't have the foggiest about medieval Latin transcripts!

Sister Wendy decided to pursue her childhood love of art in 1980 and began corresponding with galleries and museums around the world. Eleven years later the BBC granted her a documentary about the National Gallery, which proved such a hit that she went on to work as a broadcaster for the rest of the decade. Despite huge success in the UK and America, Sister Wendy chose to maintain her simple life of seclusion in the grounds of the Carmelite monastery at Quindenham. Speaking about her brush with fame, she famously said: "My real world is a world away from bustle... Coming out into a world of travel and television is the unreal part, where sometimes I get glimpses of what I've left behind."

Click along below to view our tribute gallery for the legendary TV art critic Sister Wendy.