Name	Alan Carr
Caption	Alan Carr at The British Comedy Awards 2007
Birth date	June 14, 1976
Birth place	Weymouth, Dorset, England
Medium	Radio, stand-up, television
Nationality	British
Active	2001–present
Genre	Observational comedy
Subject	Everyday life, innuendo
Notable work	The Sunday Night ProjectAlan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong
Website	http://www.alancarr.net/

}} Alan Carr (born 14 June 1976) is an English comedian and television personality.

Personal life

Carr was born in Weymouth, Dorset, and grew up partly in Northampton where he went to Weston Favell School. His father is former Northampton Town and Nuneaton Borough F.C. manager Graham Carr. Carr has a younger brother, Gary.

Despite being openly gay and very camp, he doesn't consider his sexuality to be a focal part of his act, once saying that "I just think gay people need to get over themselves. Just because you're gay and on the telly doesn't mean you're a role model. I'm just a comedian. That's all I am. ... What am I meant to do? Do I go down the Julian Clary route and talk about fisting and poppers? I don't talk about being gay and I think what better equality for gays than that?".

On 21 September 2006, Carr and entertainer Lionel Blair helped save a man who was about to fall from a pier in Blackpool. The man was holding on by his fingertips, but the two men managed to pull him to safety.

Radio

Carr made his radio presenting debut on Christmas Day 2007 for BBC Radio 2 as part of their Festive Highlights, with the show Alan Carr's Christmas Box. He also filled in on BBC 6Music on 16 February and 14 June 2008 for Adam and Joe and co-presented The Russell Brand Show on 4 October 2008. He also presented Alan Carr's Comedy Outings for BBC Radio 2 in 2008. On 25 April 2009, Carr began hosting Going Out With Alan Carr, a new show for BBC Radio 2, in conjunction with Emma Forbes. The show is broadcast every Saturday evening from 6pm-8pm.

Performance

Carr performs stand-up regularly, on tour and on television. He has been featured in three Edinburgh shows and in 2007 he toured throughout the UK, which was followed by a DVD entitled "Tooth Fairy Live". Carr had his own monthly show in a Manchester comedy club and he has toured nationwide, supporting other acts. He has performed at the Apollo Theatre in London, which was televised for the BBC1 series 'Live At The Apollo', and has been featured in the Royal Variety Performance.

Carr has appeared and performed at many festivals, including the Reading and Leeds Festivals, Latitude Festival, the Kilkenny Comedy Festival and Live Earth, where he welcomed musical acts David Gray and Damien Rice on stage. He has performed stand-up internationally, including an appearance at the Montreal 'Just For Laughs' festival.

On 4 September 2009, Carr switched-on the Illuminations in Blackpool along with JLS.

In 2010, Carr took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London on 30 March.

Controversy

In December 2008 Carr, when accepting his award for Best Entertainment Personality at the British Comedy Awards, dedicated it to Karen Matthews, who had very recently been found guilty of kidnapping Shannon Matthews, her own daughter. Carr was quoted by BBC News as stating: "I should dedicate this award to her [Karen]. She would be my dream guest. I think she's a gay icon. People like a bit of rough, don't they?"

Shahid Malik, MP for Matthews' constituency of Dewsbury described Carr's comments about Shannon Matthews as "sick and insensitive". Carr subsequently apologised for his comments, saying "I realise what I said was insensitive and I am very sorry for any offence caused". On his own website he added: "For those of you who have enjoyed my comedy and seen my act over the last seven years you all would have got used to my tongue in cheek style and near the knuckle observations. Last night at the Comedy Awards [...] I was being ironic, these aren't my real sentiments obviously".

Filmography

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Show ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role |- |rowspan="1"|2004 |Today With Des and Mel |Himself |- |rowspan="2"|2005 |Law of the Playground |Himself |- |Richard & Judy |Himself |- |rowspan="2"|2006 |Countdown |Himself |- |FAQ U |Himself |- |rowspan="1"|2006–2009 |Friday/Sunday Night Project |Host |- |- |rowspan="1"|2007–2008 |Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong |Host |- |rowspan="2"|2007 |Big Fat Anniversary Quiz |Himself |- |8 Out Of 10 Cats |Himself |- |rowspan="1"|2007,2008 |Never Mind The Buzzcocks |Contestant |- |rowspan="1"|2007,2008 |The Graham Norton Show |Guest |- |rowspan="1"|2008 |Live at the Apollo |Himself |- |rowspan="1"|2007,2008,2009 |The Paul O'Grady Show |Guest |- |rowspan="6"|2008 |Friday Night with Jonathan Ross |Guest |- |GMTV |Guest |- |Later With Jools Holland |Guest |- |This Morning |Guest |- |T4 |Guest |- |Pride of Britain Awards |Himself |- |rowspan="4"|2009 | |Himself |- |Top Gear |Himself |- |Comic Relief |Himself |- |Nativity |A Critic |- |rowspan="1"|2009–present | |Host |- |rowspan="1"|2010 |Friday Night With Jonathan Ross |Guest |- |}

Stand-Up DVDs

Awards

2001 The BBC Best New Stand Up

2006 Best In Show — Sheffield Comedy Festival

2006 The Golden Rose of Montreaux for Best Entertainment Show for The Friday Night Project

2006 LAFTA's Funniest Double Act (with Justin Lee Collins)

2006 LAFTA's Funniest Entertainment Show for The Friday Night Project 2005

2007 British Comedy Award for Best Live Stand Up

2007 Cosmopolitan Celebrity Men Of The Year (with Justin Lee Collins)

2007 LAFTA's Funniest Double Act (with Justin Lee Collins)

2008 British Comedy Award for Best Entertainment Personality

2009 Television and Radio Industries Club 'Personality of the Year' Award

2009 Royal Television Society Entertainment Performance of the Year

2009 Heat's Funniest Book of 2009

Book

In 2008, Carr released an autobiography, Look Who It Is! published by HarperCollins Publishers.

References

External links

Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century actors Category:21st-century writers Category:Alumni of Middlesex University Category:BBC Radio 2 presenters Category:British television talk show hosts Category:English comedians Category:English film actors Category:English stand-up comedians Category:English television actors Category:English television presenters Category:English television writers Category:Gay actors Category:Gay writers Category:LGBT comedians Category:LGBT people from England Category:LGBT television personalities Category:People from Northampton Category:People from Weymouth, Dorset

Name	Jonathan Ross
Caption	Jonathan Ross at Live 8 on 2 July 2005
Birth name	Jonathan Stephen Ross
Birth date	November 17, 1960
Birth place	Camden, London, England
Occupation	Broadcaster, film critic
Years active	1980–present
Spouse

Jonathan Stephen Ross OBE (born 17 November 1960) is an English television and radio presenter, best known for presenting the BBC One chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross from 2001 until he left the BBC in 2010. Ross is to host a new chat show on ITV1 from 2011. Ross also hosted his own radio show on BBC Radio 2, and acted as a film critic and presenter of The Film Programme. Other regular roles have included being a regular panellist on the comedy sports quiz They Think It's All Over from 1999 to 2006, and presenting the annual British Comedy Awards from 1991 to 2007, and 2009 onwards.

Ross began his television career as a programme researcher, before débuting as a television presenter for The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross on Channel 4 in 1987. Over the next decade he had several radio and television roles, many through his own production company, Channel X. In 1995 he sold his stake in Channel X, and embarked on a career with the BBC. In 1999, Ross took over presenting The Film Programme from Barry Norman, and also began presenting his own radio show, while two years later he began hosting Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. For the chat show, Ross won three British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards for Best Entertainment Performance, in 2004, 2006 and 2007. By 2006 Ross was believed to be the BBC's highest paid star. In 2005, Ross was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to broadcasting. Ross has a boldness in presenting, which some would consider often risqué, and as a result, he has sometimes been surrounded by controversy. As a result, in 2008 he wrote a semi-autobiographical work titled Why Do I Say These Things?, detailing some of his life experiences.

Ross has been married to the author, journalist and broadcaster Jane Goldman since 1988; they have three children. Ross and Goldman have together established the television production company Hotsauce TV. Ross is known as an avid fan and collector of comic books and memorabilia, and has written his own comic book, Turf. Ross is known for his distinctive voice, flamboyant style of dress, He grew up in Leytonstone

Broadcast career

Early career

Ross began his career as a researcher on the Channel 4 show Loose Talk. After leaving this, he worked on various other shows before beginning another research job on Soul Train, which became Solid Soul. It is believed his first appearance on television was as an extra in the 1981 It Ain't Half Hot, Mum episode, The Last Roll Call.

Channel X: 1987–95

Whilst on Solid Soul, he met fellow researcher Alan Marke, and the two devised what would prove to be a breakthrough hit for Ross in 1987, The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross.

The pair based their concept on the successful American show Late Night with David Letterman, and formed a new production company called Channel X, to produce a pilot. Ross was not originally slated as the show's host, but with little time to find one Jonathan Ross stepped in and made his television debut on the show in January 1987.

While the series was initially a co-production with Colin Calendar, ownership transferred to Marke and Ross, meaning that the latter retained a great deal of control as well as being presenter. The show proved popular for both Ross and for Channel 4, making him one of the major personalities on the channel.

A year later, his documentary series The Incredibly Strange Film Show introduced many to the works of cult filmmakers like Sam Raimi and Jackie Chan.

In 1989, he co-presented the biennial BBC charity telethon Comic Relief, the same year he launched One Hour with Jonathan Ross a short lived chat show on Channel 4, most notable for the game show segment "Knock down ginger" which introduced comedians such as Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer, Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson to television.

In 1991, he presented the annual British Comedy Awards on ITV. He has presented the event each year since, but in 2008 announced he would be stepping down from the role following his suspension from the BBC. In 1992 he presented an interview with Madonna about her Erotica album and Sex Book promotion.

In 1993, he was the narrator for FIA Formula One 1993 Season Review video.

Ross has appeared in numerous television entertainment programmes on several channels throughout the 1990s and 2000s. He was a regular panellist on the sports quiz They Think It's All Over, and hosted the panel game It's Only TV...But I Like It. Other projects include the BBC joke-quiz Gagtag, the Channel 4 variety show Saturday Zoo, new-acts showcase The Big Big Talent Show, and the ITV programme Fantastic Facts.

In 1995 he left Channel X, despite its profitable nature. He was quoted in a 1998 article as stating:

Television 1999–2006

He took over presenting of The Film Programme in 1999, the BBC's long-running cinema review series, after Barry Norman left the show. Ross himself has made a number of cameo appearances in films, playing himself in the Spice Girls' film Spiceworld (1997) and voicing the character of Doris in the UK version of Shrek 2 (2004). He also played himself in Only Fools and Horses, presenting Goldrush, a fictional television quiz on which the main character, Del Boy, was a contestant. In 2001 he voiced characters in two episodes of the animated comedy series Rex the Runt. In the 30 October episode of Film 2006, Ross also claimed that he had appeared as an extra in the 1981 movie 'The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin', as an Israeli soldier raiding Entebbe airport. He also appeared on the first pilot show for Shooting Stars, acting as a team captain.

BBC Radio: 1999–2010

Ross began presenting a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2 in 1999. He has also presented radio shows for BBC Radio 1 and Virgin Radio (having previously worked on Richard Branson's earlier venture, Radio Radio), as well as the now-defunct commercial radio network service The Superstation, where his producer was Chris Evans.

From 23 May 2009, Ross' BBC Radio 2 show was pre-recorded 24 hours before broadcast. This decision was made to make the show more watertight and, according to the press, to make sure Ross's off-the-cuff comments that may, and have, cause offence can be edited out.

Ross' show on Radio 2 last aired on 17 July 2010 when his contract at the BBC ended.

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross: 2001–10

at Live 8 in July 2005]] On 2 November 2001, Ross began presenting his chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

In 2005, Ross anchored the BBC television coverage of the Live 8 concerts. Later that year he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting. He celebrated the news by playing "God Save the Queen" by The Sex Pistols (which was banned by the BBC when released in 1977) on his BBC Radio 2 Saturday morning show. On 21 June 2006 Ross was made a Fellow of University College London, where he studied.

In early 2006, Ross announced that after eight years he was quitting his regular panellist seat on the sport/comedy quiz show They Think It's All Over, stating:

However, after Ross' departure, only two more episodes of the show were made before it was cancelled.

In January 2006 he presented Jonathan Ross' Asian Invasion, broadcast on BBC Four. The three-part documentary followed Ross as he explored the film industry in Japan, Hong Kong and Korea, interviewing directors and showcasing clips. His interest in Asian culture and his self confessed love for anime and video games led him to making three series of BBC Three show Japanorama, as well as producing another series for the same channel called Adam and Joe Go Tokyo, starring Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish. He produced the latter programme through his own production company Hot Sauce.

In June 2006, a bidding war was sparked between BBC and other broadcasters for Ross' services. Although other broadcasters were unsuccessful in poaching Ross, it is believed that their bids were higher than the BBC during negotiations. ITV, who bid for Ross, poached chat host Michael Parkinson around the same time. Ross became the highest paid television personality in Britain, when a new BBC contract secured his services until 2010, for a reported £18 million (£6 million/year).

On 25 June 2006, he performed at the Children's Party At The Palace for The Queen's 80th birthday. In August 2006, Ross was enlisted to ask the first question since the transition from beta for the Yahoo Answers in UK and Ireland. On 16 March 2007, Ross hosted Comic Relief 2007 alongside Fearne Cotton and Lenny Henry. On 7 July 2007 Ross presented at the Live Earth concert.

Starting on 10 September 2007 he presented the BBC Four series Comics Britannia, about the history of the British comic. This forms the core of a Comics Britannia season, which includes another documentary, In Search of Steve Ditko, by Ross.

In May 2008, Ross won the Sony Gold Award "Music Radio Personality of the Year".

On 3 August 2008, on BBC1, he hosted Jonathan Ross Salutes Dad's Army.

In 2010, Ross took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London on 30 March.

On 7 April 2010, Ross' first comic book was published. Turf was written by Jonathan himself and drawn by artist Tommy Lee Edwards.

Leaving the BBC (2010)

On 7 January 2010, Ross confirmed that he would leave the BBC in July 2010, having decided not to renegotiate his contract. This would see him leave all his regular BBC roles, namely his Friday night chat show, Radio 2 show and a film review programme, although he would be continuing with some specials, such as Comic Relief and the BAFTA Awards.

Explaining the decision, Ross said:

Although I have had a wonderful time working for the BBC, and am very proud of the shows I have made while there, over the last two weeks I have decided not to re-negotiate when my current contract comes to an end. While there, I have worked with some of the nicest and most talented people in the industry and had the opportunity to interview some of the biggest stars in the world, and am grateful to the BBC for such a marvellous experience. I would like to make it perfectly clear that no negotiations ever took place and that my decision is not financially motivated

The decision came a day after it was announced that Graham Norton had signed a two year deal with the BBC, and the BBC's media correspondent Torin Douglas speculated Norton would be a ready-made replacement for Ross's chat show role, while Mark Kermode of BBC Radio 5 Live was a potential successor in the film review role, but that "replacing Ross on radio will be harder".

Ross's final Friday Night chat show episode aired on 16 July 2010, with David Beckham, Jackie Chan, Mickey Rourke and Roxy Music as guests. Ross ended the show with an affectionate tribute to his guests and to the audience, while mentioning that he had promised his friend Morrissey that he would remain composed and "wouldn't cry". His final Radio 2 show was broadcast the following day. Patrick Kielty initially took over Ross' Radio 2 slot from 24 July 2010 after which Graham Norton took over permanently.

ITV (2010 onwards)

Ross will host a new chat show on ITV1, to begin shortly before Christmas 2010. The first series will run for thirteen weeks and Prince Harry will be the only guest on the first show. Speaking about the new show, Ross said: "I am thrilled and excited that after a short break I will be rolling up my sleeves and creating a brand new show for ITV1."

On 19 December 2010 Ross presented a three hour Channel 4 list show, 100 Greatest Toys, with the broadcaster describing Ross as a "huge toy enthusiast with a private collection that would rival any museum's."

Controversies

BBC contract

In April 2006, Ross, along with other BBC personalities, had details of his fees leaked to the tabloid press. It was claimed at the time by a then unidentified BBC mole, that Ross earned £530,000 (equivalent to £10,000 per show) per year for hosting his Radio 2 show. This was a controversial revelation. For some, the BBC was abusing its dominant position over commercial rivals in paying popular personalities such high fees, and for others debasing its public service remit. While refusing to comment specifically on the leak in line with the BBC policy on the matter, Ross did hint during his radio show that the figure was exaggerated; in addition to this, any pay highlighted as being 'his' would actually be split between himself and his producer/co-presenter on the show, Andy Davies.

David Cameron interview

In June 2006, when Conservative party leader David Cameron appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Ross began a line of questioning relating to Conservative ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, culminating in the question "Did you or did you not have a wank thinking of Margaret Thatcher?". Ross was defended by the BBC publicly, but repeat showings of the interview have been banned.

Heather Mills comment

In 2006, Ross was criticised when he made a joke against Heather Mills, soon after she and Paul McCartney announced they were to divorce. He branded Mills, who only has one leg, a "fucking liar" and that he "wouldn't be surprised if we found out she's actually got two legs".

"1,000 journalists" comment

On 5 December 2007, Ross joked at the British Comedy Awards that his salary meant that he was "worth 1,000 BBC journalists". His quip came shortly after the BBC had announced plans for more than 2,000 jobs cuts, and was condemned as "obscene" by the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists.

The Russell Brand Show and Andrew Sachs

Following a guest appearance by Ross on The Russell Brand Show broadcast on 18 October 2008, Ross was suspended for 12 weeks without pay by the BBC on 29 October, after a series of answer phone messages were left for 79-year-old actor Andrew Sachs regarding Sachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie, by Russell Brand and Ross, which were broadcast on the pre-recorded show. After little initial interest, a media story about the calls generated a high number of complaints. Brand resigned from the BBC, while Ross was suspended without pay. BBC director general Mark Thompson stated that Ross should take the disciplinary action as a "final warning". The BBC was later fined £150,000 by Britain's broadcast regulator for airing the calls.

On 21 November 2008 the BBC Trust said that the phone calls were a "deplorable intrusion with no editorial justification". The trust gave its backing to Ross's 12 week suspension but recommended that no further action be taken against him. He returned to work in January, and the first episode of a new series of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross with guests Tom Cruise, Stephen Fry and Lee Evans, and music from Franz Ferdinand, was broadcast on 23 January 2009.

Gwyneth Paltrow interview

The BBC Trust ruled that Ross’ interview with Gwyneth Paltrow, broadcast on 2 May 2008, breached editorial guidelines. They ruled that bad language in an episode of Ross's pre-recorded BBC1 chat show, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, in which the presenter told Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow he "would fuck her" was "gratuitous and unnecessarily offensive". The trust said it disagreed with the judgement made by BBC management that the episode should be broadcast uncensored, adding that the comment was made in an "overly sexual way" and that it had upheld a number of complaints made about the edition of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. The trust reminded BBC staff that "the casual gratuitous use of the most offensive language is not acceptable on the BBC in accordance with the BBC's existing guidelines and practices", adding that "this particularly applies in entertainment programmes".

"Hannah Montana" comment

On 13 May 2009, Ross was accused of homophobia after a comment he made on his radio show. In which he said,

If your son asks for a Hannah Montana MP3 player, then you might want to already think about putting him down for adoption in later life, when they settle down with their partner.

An incorrect version of this quote was also circulated, in which Ross was accused of saying:

If your son asks for a Hannah Montana MP3 player, you might want to already think about putting him down for adoption before he brings his … erm … partner home.

Ofcom received 61 complaints following the comment. A representative from the BBC defended Ross saying the comment was made "purely in jest" and that "Jonathan is not homophobic in any sense and never meant for his comments to be taken seriously." On 7 July 2009 Ofcom ruled that Ross did not breach the broadcasting code. They wrote in their opinion that "the comment was clearly presented as a joke intended to make light of the reactions that some parents may have if their child chooses a toy that is very widely recognised to be designed and marketed for the opposite sex" and that the nature of the joke and tone and manner in which it was presented "made clear that it was not intended to be hostile or pejorative towards the gay community in general."

Video games

{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 90%;" |-style="background:#B0C4DE;" ! Year ! Video game ! Role ! Notes |- | 2010 || Fable III || Barry Hatch || |}

Personal life

at the British Academy Television Awards 2009]] Ross married author/journalist/broadcaster Jane Goldman, ten years his junior, in 1988, when Goldman was just 18. They have since had three children: Betty Kitten (named after Bettie Page), Harvey Kirby (named after Jack Kirby, a comic book creator whom Ross especially admires), and Honey Kinney. The family lives in Hampstead.

Ross and others have used his rhotacism for comic effect and he is sometimes known as "Wossy," including on his Twitter feed (@wossy).

Ross is known for owning exotic pets. He is a big fan of David Bowie, Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry, Queen (he was in the audience for Queen at Wembley), British punk rock, Spandau Ballet, Sparks, Star Trek, Doctor Who (his favourite Doctor was Jon Pertwee), and comic books. Ross has even co-owned a comic shop in London with Paul Gambaccini and released Turf, his first comic book, in 2010, with American artist Tommy Lee Edwards. He was also the visual inspiration for the main character in the comic book Saviour. Ross is also greatly interested in Japan, presenting a BBC-TV series on many different aspects of Japanese culture, Japanorama, for three series between 2002–07. He was a regular at London's Blitz club during the early 1980s (famous for the Blitz Kids). He is a fan and friend of the singers Morrissey and George Michael.

He is a close friend of comedian Ricky Gervais and bought him a kitten after Gervais' previous cat, Colin, had died. The cat's name is Ollie and was presented to him on an episode of Ross' talk show Friday Night With Jonathan Ross. He was one of the special celebrity guests in the final episode of Gervais's second season of Extras, in which Gervais's character, Andy Millman, and Ross were shown to be the best of friends after a fictional appearance on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross.

He is also a friend of author Neil Gaiman, and he and his wife appear in Gaiman's short story "The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch", collected in Fragile Things.

In 2005, Ross was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting. He celebrated the news by playing "God Save the Queen" by The Sex Pistols on his Radio 2 show.

When talking to Colin Farrell on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 19 February 2010, Ross claimed not to have drunk alcohol for ten years.

Ross has attended a fund raiser for the James Randi Educational Foundation called The Amazing Meeting in London in 2009 and 2010. Interviewed by Rebecca Watson, Ross described himself as a big fan of James Randi and the other speakers – who were mainly prominent sceptics – and said that he and his wife had come to have a sceptical view of the world. Ross has been supportive of Simon Singh's efforts to defend an accusation of libel by the British Chiropractic Association and Ross has posed for the Geek Calendar 2011, a fund raiser for the libel reform in the UK.

At a book signing event in Central London in September 2010, Ross stated that as a youngster he went to school in Leyton (Leyton Senior High School) and supports Leyton Orient F.C.

References

Further reading

Jonathan Ross: The Biography, Neil Simpson, John Blake Publishing Ltd (31 July 2007), ISBN 184454432X

Why Do I Say These Things?, Jonathan Ross, Bantam Press (16 October 2008), ISBN 0593060822

External links

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross at TV.com

Jonathan Ross on BBC Radio 2

Interactive video talk by Jonathan Ross on Ealing studios for the British Film Institute

Category:Alumni of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies Category:Alumni of Southampton Solent University Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:BBC people Category:English voice actors Category:English television actors Category:English film critics Category:English radio DJs Category:BBC Radio 2 presenters Category:English television presenters Category:English television producers Category:English television writers Category:Friday Night with Jonathan Ross Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:People from Leytonstone Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:People from Camden

Name	Chris Moyles
Caption	Moyles signing his books in Waterstone's, October 2006.
Birth name	Christopher David Moyles
Birth date	February 22, 1974
Birth place	Temple Newsam, Leeds, England
Nationality	British
Years active	1980s–present
Known	The Chris Moyles Show(since 2004)
Occupation	Radio DJ, author,television presenter
Salary	£495,000 (per year, estimated).

Christopher David "Chris" Moyles (born 22 February 1974) While at school, he began his broadcasting career at WBHS (Wakefield's Broadcast to Hospitals Service), a voluntary staffed hospital radio station in the West Yorkshire city.

He then started out at local station Aire FM as an assistant for DJ Carl Kingston. During this time, he was also a presenter on Radio Top Shop in the Leeds Briggate branch. After hosting his own Saturday Evening Show on Aire FM (and occasionally serving as a stand-in presenter), he was then employed as a presenter at Radio Luxembourg in 1992, until the station closed.

In 1993, he gained a job at The Pulse of West Yorkshire, presenting the evening show from 7-10pm. He remained here until early 1994 when he was dismissed for comments made about the station's previous programme controller. Moyles subsequently turned up at Signal 1 in Stoke-on-Trent - again presenting The Evening Bit from 7-10pm. In 1995 Moyles was heard on the Chiltern Radio Network, presenting the evening show from 7-10pm, before taking on the late show from 10pm-1am. This show was simulcast on Horizon Radio, Chiltern Radio, Severn Sound and Northants 96.

In 1996, Moyles joined London station Capital FM, hosting his weekend show 'The Late Bit', which went out on a Friday & Saturday evening, and covering for other DJs. It was at Capital that Moyles fell out with fellow DJ 'Doctor' Neil Fox. After declining the offer of presenting the breakfast show on rival station Kiss 100, Moyles joined Radio 1 in July 1997.

Radio 1

Moyles was voted one of the Faces for 97 by SKY magazine and presented his first show on Radio 1 on 28 July 1997, hosting the 4-7am Early Breakfast show - soon called The Early Bit. Within months, in May 1998, his work was recognised with the award of the Silver Sony Awards DJ of the Year, and he was styling himself as 'The Saviour Of Early Morning Radio'. Within the year Moyles was promoted to a Saturday breakfast, then Saturday mid-morning slot from 10am-1pm.

After standing in regularly for Kevin Greening and Zoe Ball on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Moyles's next promotion came in October 1998 when he took control of the drivetime show from 4-5.45pm. The show was extended to 3-5.45pm in February 2001. Moyles has been joined on the air from 1998, by his sidekick David "Comedy Dave" Vitty.

After five years on afternoons, on 5 January 2004, Moyles started presenting Radio 1's flagship programme The Breakfast Show, switching places with Sara Cox. He had been appointed to increase the ratings for the show and did so, putting on an extra 1,000,000 listeners to the audience in the first quarter of 2004. After a successful first year, Moyles was awarded 'DJ of the Year' by readers of The Sun.

By 2005, Moyles and his team had succeeded in hugely increasing the morning audience, with his programme's audience swelling to 6.5 million. This was coupled with an increase in the overall Radio 1 audience share. With 895,000 listeners in London in the third quarter of 2005, he succeeded in overtaking Johnny Vaughan to take the position of the capital's most listened to youth breakfast show. Moyles's listener count continued to increase each week, which led to him winning a gold Sony Radio Award in 2006 for best entertainment show.

With the release of the RAJAR listening figures on 3 August 2006, Moyles had added a further 470,000 listeners to the Breakfast Show, taking the average listenership up to 6.79 million. On 10 May 2007, RAJAR figures confirmed that Moyles had increased his listening figures to 7.06 million, breaking the seven million barrier for the first time with the station having 10.55 million listeners overall. Moyles again increased his audience to 7.72 million as of 1 May 2008 slightly narrowing the gap between him and Terry Wogan, the current highest rated radio show in the UK. The station's overall listener figure is now over 11 million.

On 12 May 2008 The Chris Moyles Breakfast Show won its second Sony radio gold award for 'best breakfast show'. At this time he was given another half hour on his show going from 7am - 10am to 6.30am - 10am.

In April 2009 Moyles agreed to a one year extension to his contract, taking him to July 2010.

On 7 September 2009 Moyles became Radio 1's longest serving breakfast presenter, breaking the record previously set by Tony Blackburn.

On 20 July 2010, Moyles announced via his Twitter feed that he had signed a one-year extension to his BBC contract, keeping him at Radio 1 to at least July 2011.

Presenting style

Moyles uses team members (they are not actually co-hosts) and audience participation in games and quizzes as other sources of comedy. He is renowned for his sharp manner, quick temper and put-downs. It is this approach which most commonly leads to criticism of Moyles. It has also caused him to become involved in numerous controversies related to perceived offensive statements. However, Moyles generally accepts counter-attacks in the same manner and routinely derides himself for being overweight and so forth, often in the lyrics of jingles. Due to his fascination with radio, Moyles regularly discusses the process of making the show, often spoofing clichéd radio practices. Many of his show's features are homages to or exaggerations of other radio features.

Show format

The Chris Moyles Show runs from 6:30-10:00. It includes longer periods of chat and discussion than most shows on Radio 1, with comparatively little music. Both permanent and temporary features are included in the show.

The team

Comedy Dave (Dave Vitty) has worked with Moyles the longest; and currently is the self appointed "Director of Comedy", news reader Dominic Byrne, sports reader Tina Daheley, Producer Aled Haydn Jones; Day Producer Sam Moy and Assistant Producer Matt Fincham, though Moyles's friends such as "Longman" (until 2007) , "Rob DJ" , former children's television presenter Andi Peters, impressionist Jon Culshaw and Davina McCall, albeit infrequently, contribute. Other contributors are Keith Chegwin and Roy Walker with the daily quiz show Car Park Catchphrase.

Parody songs

In October 2004, Moyles and the The Chris Moyles Show team replaced U2's "Vertigo" at number one in the UK Official Download Chart with their download-only charity song "Dogz Don't Kill People (Wabbitz Do)", under the name 'Mouldie Lookin' Stain'. The song was a spoof of Goldie Lookin' Chain's "Guns Don't Kill People Rappers Do" (itself a spoof rap song) and proceeds went to Comic Relief. At the time of its release, it was the fastest selling download on UK charts.

In December 2000, he parodied the Eminem song "Stan" that was No.1 in the charts at the time, with a seasonal Christmas themed variation called "Stanta", instead. It became one of the most popular requested parodies, and was often played more than once during the course of a show.

Moyles has parodied several Kaiser Chiefs songs under the name "The Kaiser Chefs". These include "I Predict A Diet" (Parody of I Predict a Riot) and "Donny" (Parody of Ruby). Chris and Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs (both Leeds United fans) said they had accidentally given Doncaster Rovers fans an unofficial anthem with "Donny" after Doncaster Rovers beat Leeds United 1 - 0 in the 2008 League One Play Off Final.

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Chris organised a parody of England World Cup songs, to ridicule the number of songs there were out at the time. Listener favourite "Jose - The Special One" a parody of "Rosé" by The Feeling, was written on team manager José Mourinho's departure from Chelsea and was banned after Chelsea FC complained to the BBC (although subsequently played repeatedly on his show and on Radio 5 Live). He made a parody of "We Have Got to Zero Baby", a take on Enrique Iglesias's "Hero", which describes how his football team, Leeds United, managed to claw back a 15-point deficit in League One in only 5 games. In November 2007, he used Hoosiers - "Goodbye Mr A" for "Goodbye Mr. M" where he sings about the Ex-England football manager Steve McClaren being sacked.

Often Moyles will pick a track because of the silliness of its lyrics, for instance "Smile" by Lily Allen was parodied by Moyles's invention "Silly Allen", in a song called "Piles" and Natasha Bedingfield's "I Wanna Have Your Babies" written by Comedy Dave and performed in May 2007. In the same month, he performed a parody of Hellogoodbye's hit "Here (In Your Arms)" called "Beer In My Arms" in which he describes how much he really dislikes the song, calling it 'daft'. Moyles also covered Puretone "Addicted to Bass" with "Addicted to Plaice", which covers the subject of being addicted to fish. In September 2007, he performed "Suicidal" a parody of the UK number one Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls", in which he talks about how the song makes him feel suicidal and wonders why it reached number one.

Although of 2008, UK's chart no.1 Basshunter was renamed "Chuffhunter" in which he mocks the song and those that would buy it, Kylie Minogue's "Bow Wow Wow" and a re-write of the Estelle song "American Boy", named "Somerset Boy". In the past, he has parodied include Billie Piper's "Honey to the Bee" as "Guinness For Me", All Seeing Eye's "Walk Like a Panther", Will Smith's "Gettin Jiggy Wit It", and McFly's "All About You" as "He Don't Use Shampoo". Moyles has also written Baked Beans, a parody of Same Jeans by The View, and "Lunch in this Pub", originally the Usher single "Love in this Club". One of his recent parodies, "No Hair" - sung by "follicly-challenged" newscaster Dominic Byrne - is a cover of Jordin Sparks's "No Air (ft Chris Brown)".

Another two of Moyles' recent parodies are "Lorry Driver" which is a cover of Britney Spears' song "Womanizer" and "The Boy Does Plenty" by "Adrian Dixon", originally a song by Alesha Dixon, both of which are written by 'Comedy Dave' Vitty.

In March 2009 Moyles released a parody song called "Dreaming of Debbie McGee". The song was about a man who has recurring dreams of the assistant on The Paul Daniels Magic Show. Comedy Dave wrote the song, and Paul Daniels asked for it to be made into an MP3 file after hearing it on air. It was a parody of the Kings of Leon song "Revelry". In April 2009, McGee recorded a reply which was played on air and was a parody of the same song called Dreaming of Moylesy.

Moyles released "Waterproof" in July 2009, a parody of the La Roux song "Bulletproof". This song has an approved record deal to be used on a parody album, should Chris wish to do so.

Moyles has released an album entitled The Parody Album. Recording began in September 2009., and the album was released on 23 November

The official Moyles Parody Album game entitled Parody Island was released to help promote the album and allow players to hear snippets from his new album

The Chris Moyles Show was credited with the debut of the unofficial England World Cup Song, written and performed by Chico Slimani (Yousseph "Chico" Slimani) a parody of his hit single "It's Chico Time" and originally named "It's England Time. Slimani recorded the single after having a 'vision' that England won the 2010 World Cup and that in the celebrations, commentators made reference to his song. The single debuted, Monday 8 February, 2010.

Work outside radio

during a campaign to promote life in Leeds]]

BT Red Nose Climb and Speaking Clock

Moyles was one of a team of celebrities who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for Comic Relief reaching the summit on the 7th March 2009. He was joined by his show's producer, Rachel Mallender and BBC Radio 1 controller, Andy Parfitt. Also on the climb were Girls Aloud members Cheryl Cole and Kimberley Walsh, Fearne Cotton, Ben Shephard, Gary Barlow, Ronan Keating, Denise Van Outen and Alesha Dixon.

From 3 February - 23 March 2009, Kimberley Walsh, Cheryl Cole, Gary Barlow, Ronan Keating, Chris Moyles, and Fearne Cotton helped to raise money by lending their voices to the BT Speaking Clock.

He recorded another parody song around this time to promote the climb, mentioning all the names of the people that were also taking part - it was based on Lily Allen's "The Fear", and was called "(A month off of) The Beer".

Television presenter

Moyles has branched out his work into television. In 2002, his own Five show, Live With Chris Moyles, ran 5 shows a week for 13 weeks. Chris was replaced by Christian O'Connell, before the programme was shelved altogether.

He and sidekick Dave Vitty (more commonly known as Comedy Dave) had their own TV show, also entitled The Chris Moyles Show like their current Radio 1 show, which was aired from 1998-99 on the now-defunct UK satellite and cable channel UK Play.

Moyles voiced the fourth and final series of Sky One show The Villa and has occasionally presented Top of the Pops and has worked for the Comic Relief and Children in Need charities on their telecasts.

Moyles has presented a number of episodes of Big Brother's Big Mouth. Daily Mirror journalist Rob Leigh once said of his Big Brother's Big Mouth presenting that "Chris Moyles may be Marmite for the ears on radio but never quite nails it on TV, even with his relative star power". He also presented The Big Breakfast on Channel 4 several times between 2000 and 2002.

Moyles launched a new show on Channel 4, called Chris Moyles' Quiz Night on 22 March 2009. The opening show received poor viewing figures attracting just 6% of total audience for the timeslot. It has however been renewed for a second series in January 2010.

Other television appearances

Moyles appeared more successfully on the ITV show The X Factor: Battle Of The Stars. He was voted out of the show on 4 June 2006 in the semi-final. Following this appearance, stories in the New Statesman and The Sun both reported that Moyles was looking to relaunch his television career; rumours suggested that he had been offered his own show by ITV. Moyles has spoken of a desire to transfer the format of his radio show to the stage, but otherwise has thus far stayed clear of a conventional TV format.

Moyles played himself in an episode of the drama Hotel Babylon which aired on 15 February 2007 and appeared on a celebrity version of Dale's Supermarket Sweep that broadcast on the same day. He has appeared as a guest on numerous British television shows, including the ninth series of Top Gear, The Charlotte Church Show, The F-Word, The Friday Night Project, Richard & Judy and The New Paul O'Grady Show

Moyles made an appearance on Season 4 of the BBC panel game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 1998.

He has appeared on Channel 4's TV programme as well as an appearance as a team captain on the Channel 4 show Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong. On 18 July 2008 he appeared on Jimmy Carr's show on Channel 4, 8 out of 10 Cats.

Moyles appeared on the 2008 Brit Awards to present the award for the best live act, and in May 2008 he appeared in the BBC documentary series Comedy Map of Britain.

On the 23 February 2009, Chris was the guest on BBC One's The One Show to promote the BT Red Nose climb of Mount Kilimanjaro. He appeared again on the show on 26 February 2010 to talk about and promote the second series of Chris Moyles' Quiz Night.

In July 2009, he featured in an episode of the genealogy documentary series Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC One where he explored his Irish ancestry. He visited Ireland and Belgium, where his great grandfather fought and died in World War One. On the programme Moyles discovered that his last name means bald servant from the Irish "Ó Maolmanach".

Autobiography

Moyles's autobiography, The Gospel according to Chris Moyles: The Story of One Man and His Mouth was released by Ebury Press on 5 October 2006. By January 2007, the book had sold in excess of 2,500,000 copies.

On 4 October 2007 a follow-up book Chris Moyles: The Difficult Second Book, published by Ebury Press, was officially released. The Difficult Second Book was released in paperback on 1 May 2008. Stewart Lee, on his own programme Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, commented that the title of the book suggests "a degree of irony and self-awareness largely absent from the text itself" and then went on to deconstruct and mock the book's contents.

Miscellaneous

Moyles has provided his voice to a number of films and games. He featured in , as well as the films Wimbledon, War of the Worlds and Robots. In some of these films, his voice was only used on the UK version.

In 2007 the rugby league team Featherstone Rovers named their ground after him. Traditionally known as Post Office Road, it was renamed as a sponsorship deal to Chris Moyles Stadium".

On 7 July 2007 Moyles appeared as a presenter at the UK leg of Live Earth in Wembley Stadium in London.

Moyles split up with his partner of 8 years Sophie Waite in September 2010.

Controversies

Moyles has come into conflict with the Broadcasting Standards Commission and Ofcom. These have occurred during his time at both Capital FM and Radio 1. For example, these regulatory bodies upheld complaints when Moyles threatened Dr Fox in October 2002 with the claim that "I'm gonna tear his head off and poo down his neck"; and also in early 2002, when he said "he would take the virginity of Charlotte Church", when she reached sixteen.

When first arrived at Radio 1, John Peel took a dislike to Moyles and accused him of being a "DLT-in-waiting". Moyles retorted that Peel was a "Kenny Everett-in-waiting, because Kenny Everett’s dead and it’s only a matter of time before John pops his clogs". Later, Moyles and John Peel became very close friends, with Peel appearing on his show a couple of times, and Moyles being one of the DJs to broadcast an emotional show on 26 October 2004, the day after Peel's death.

In September 2008, Moyles, along with other British radio presenters, was criticised for promoting drinking to excess on air.

Accusations of sexism

In February 2006, Moyles apologised, along with the BBC, after swearing when speaking to a caller live on air. He made the outburst while teasing a mother-of-three from Newcastle during an on-air feature which her children had interrupted. "You've got three kids from some fuckin'..." he blurted out, before apologising profusely for his mistake.

The BBC issued six apologies, adding that such mistakes could occur during live broadcasts such as Moyles's show. The BBC was later cleared by broadcasting regulator Ofcom over the incident.

In July 2006, communications watchdog Ofcom found Moyles in Breach of rule 1.5 of the Ofcom Broadcasting Code Rules for an incident in which he referred to female listeners as "dirty whores". A listener objected to an item in which the presenter discussed people who urinated in the shower. He considered that the presenter’s reference to women who did this as “dirty whores” was unacceptable at this time of the morning.

On 5 June 2008, when former Spice Girls singer Melanie Brown was on the programme, much to his enjoyment, she consensually let him grope both of her breasts live on air, to which he gave a running commentary of the precise topography of each. It arose from his enquiry into whether her breasts had been surgically enhanced.

Pay controversies

Alongside a number of other Radio 1 and Radio 2 DJs, Moyles crossed a strike picketline in 2005. BBC staff were striking over recently announced job cuts. A report by the BBC Trust on 2 June 2008 revealed that Chris Moyles was paid £630,000 in 2007. However, Moyles revealed in September 2009 that he took a 20% pay cut three months earlier, quoting the reason "I want to work at the BBC, which is trying to save some of its gazillions". On 22 September 2010 Moyles spoke out on air about not receiving pay from the BBC in 2 months.

Accusations of homophobia

Moyles was accused of homophobia in May 2006, when he rejected a ringtone by saying "I don't want that one, it's gay" live on air. This led to a number of complaints to the BBC. They argued that the use of the word gay in this context was homophobic. The BBC governors said that Moyles was simply keeping up with developments in English usage.

The programme complaints committee said that, “The word ‘gay’, in addition to being used to mean ‘homosexual’ or ‘carefree’, was often now used to mean ‘lame’ or ‘rubbish’. In describing a ringtone as gay, the DJ was conveying that he thought it was “rubbish” rather than “homosexual”. Moyles was not being homophobic". The panel acknowledged, however, that this use of the word “gay” in a derogatory sense could cause offence to some listeners and counselled caution on its use.

Subsequently in June, LGBT charity Stonewall marched with placards demanding the dismissal of Moyles during Europride in London. According to Stonewall, “Chris Moyles is not helping young LGBT people struggling to come out through his comments.”

Those defending Moyles have noted that Aled Haydn Jones, his show's producer who has worked with Moyles since 2001, is openly gay. In his book The Difficult Second Book, Moyles says at the time that he was responding to another article with sarcasm, and was subsequently quoted out of context.

Moyles was censured by Ofcom following 8 complaints made after a broadcast on 20 January 2009 in which he told listeners it was the birthday of Will Young and then went on to sing "Evergreen" and "Leave Right Now!" in a high pitched and effeminate voice, changing the lyrics to references on Young's sexuality. Ofcom stated that the language used could have been "interpreted by listeners as promoting and condoning certain negative stereotypes based on sexual orientation" and whilst acknowledging the intention was to be humorous in their opinion it could have been perceived as hostile and pejorative. The media regulator also said in their view that because of the show's breakfast time slot that attracts a young audience it had the potential to encourage children to discriminate against others based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation and ran the risk of being imitated on the playground causing "unnecessary distress".

Auschwitz controversy

On 20 January 2009, Moyles provoked controversy with comments regarding the family history programme Who Do You Think You Are? during his radio show. Referring to his recent trips to Ireland while filming for the programme, Moyles said "I went off to Ireland and other places to film and unlike a lot of the Who Do You Think You Are? shows I didn't go to Auschwitz. Pretty much everyone goes there whether or not they're Jewish. They just seem to pass through there on their way to Florida".

Celebrities featured on Who Do You Think You Are? including Stephen Fry, Jerry Springer and Natasha Kaplinsky, have traced their family histories back to Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

The BBC quickly released a statement: “Anyone who listens to the Chris Moyles Show will know he has an irreverent style...However, we regret that on this occasion his comments were misjudged and we are speaking to Chris and his team about them.”

N-Dubz controversy

On Tuesday 12 January 2010, hip-hop trio N-Dubz appeared on the Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1. The show received a text message from a female listener saying that band member Dappy was "vile" and "a little boy with a silly hat" and that N-Dubz were "losers". Dappy secretly copied her phone number from the studio console and sent abusive and threatening text messages to the woman the following day including telling her she was "gonna die!".

Moyles said of the resulting criticism: "I feel let down by him, I've supported them and said, 'Do you know what, N-Dubz aren't just a bunch of dippy chavs, they're really good. So for him to go and do something like that is a bit rubbish."

Discography

Studio albums

The Parody Album (2009) UK Chart #17

Awards

Moyles has won several Sony Radio Awards: Silver in 1998; Gold in 2006; nominated in 2007: Gold in 2008; Bronze in 2009; Silver in 2010.

He has won numerous awards from The Sun newspaper for best DJ as well as several from Loaded magazine.

In 2006 he was nominated and won "Bully of the Year" at the annual Stonewall Awards.

Bibliography

References

External links

Chris Moyles Page at Radio 1

Category:1974 births Category:British radio DJs Category:British radio presenters Category:English people of Irish descent Category:English radio DJs Category:English Roman Catholics Category:Living people Category:People from Leeds Category:Sony Radio Academy Award Gold winners Category:The X Factor (UK) contestants

Name	Allen Carr
Caption	Allen Carr
Birthname	Allen Carr
Birthdate	September 02, 1934
Birthplace	London, England
Deathdate	November 29, 2006
Deathplace	Málaga, Spain.
Name	Carr, Allen
Date of birth	2 September 1934
Place of birth	London, England
Date of death	29 November 2006
Place of death	Málaga, Spain

Category:1934 births Category:2006 deaths Category:People from London Category:English activists Category:English accountants Category:English self-help writers Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Cancer deaths in Spain

Name	Tamzin Outhwaite
Birthdate	November 05, 1970
Birthplace	Ilford, London, England
Othername	Tamsin Outhwaite
Occupation	Actress
Yearsactive	1993-present
Spouse	Tom Ellis (2006-present)
Awards	British Soap Award - Sexiest Female2000 EastEnders - Mel1999 EastEnders - MelNational Television Award - Most Popular Newcomer1999 EastEnders - Mel

Tamzin Outhwaite (; born 5 November 1970) is an award-winning English actress.

She became known for her role as Melanie Owen in the British soap opera EastEnders, whom she portrayed from 1998 until 2002.

Early career

Outhwaite attended the Stagestruck Theatre Company as a teenager, taking part in several productions during the mid 1980s. On leaving school in 1987,she studied at Sylvia Young Theatre School and she joined the London Studio Centre to study drama and dance, where one of her friends was television presenter Lucy Alexander. She went on to many stage roles including Grease, Oliver! and work at the Stephen Joseph Theatre before landing bit parts in The Bill and Men Behaving Badly.

Mainstream success

Outhwaite found fame in 1998 when she was cast as Melanie Healy in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. Her first appearance was aired in October 1998 and her final one was in March 2002. During nearly four years in Walford, Outhwaite's feisty character was central to many explosive storylines. Outhwaite left EastEnders in 2002, shortly after the departure from the soap of co-star Martin Kemp, who had played her on-screen husband Steve Owen. She stated in 2006 that she wouldn't rule out returning to EastEnders.

Since quitting the serial, Outhwaite has starred in leading roles in Out of Control, and the BBC army drama Red Cap, which she played until the series ended in 2004.

After this she went on to star in a number of television dramas, including Hustle, Final Demand and Frances Tuesday.

She fronted an advertising campaign as part of a one million pound contract with cosmetics company Avon; she also modelled the Spirit range at Debenhams in 2004.

In 2005 Outhwaite began edging into the Hollywood film industry, starring with Wesley Snipes in the unsuccessful direct-to-video film 7 Seconds. Also in 2005, she played a part in the ITV drama Walk Away and I Stumble, in which her character was seen dying of a brain tumour.

In 2006, Outhwaite starred in the ITV series Vital Signs (as a frustrated mother who decides to leave her dreary job at the supermarket and enrol in medical school) and in the BBC series Hotel Babylon as hotel manager Rebecca Mitchell. A second series aired in Spring 2007. Outhwaite will not appear in the third series of Hotel Babylon in order to focus on other projects. In October 2006 she had a starring role in the movie thriller Backwaters, set in India.

On 12 January 2007, she guest hosted episode two of the fourth series of The Friday Night Project on Channel 4. She can also be seen in U2's music video for their song Even better than the real thing; not Mysterious Ways as has been regularly incorrectly reported. She plays a VJ in the video.

She recently appeared in a revival of Boeing Boeing at the Comedy Theatre, the film Cassandra's Dream and the ITV drama series, The Fixer, which was shown in March and April 2008.

Outhwaite and her husband were the winners of the ITV charity gameshow All Star Mr & Mrs Christmas Special on 20 December 2008.

In the award-winning feature film, Radio Cape Cod, she plays a radio interviewer who has a new love entering her life & whose daughter, played by Tamzin Merchant, is experiencing her first love.

In 2009, Outhwaite appeared as the lead in the sci-fi crime series for the BBC entitled Paradox, which first aired on BBC1 on 24 November 2009.

Outhwaite is currently starring in Sweet Charity which has recently moved to the Theatre Royal Haymarket after its successful run at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Tamzin appeared in 'Over the Rainbow' the talent show currently casting for Andrew Lloyd Webber's new stage production of The Wizard of Oz.

More recently, in 2010 she was a member of the judging panel on the UK television programme Don't Stop Believing broadcast on Five. The other judges were Duncan James, Anastacia and Charles Klapow.

Personal life

Outhwaite is from Ilford, east London, and has two brothers, Kes and Jake. Her mother is Italian.

Tamzin attended Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green, along with other famous names such as Gary Lucy and Christine Ohuruogu.

She is married to former EastEnders actor Tom Ellis. They have a home in North London with their daughter Florence Elsie Ellis born on 25 June 2008.

Trivia

Outhwaite is one of the very few English names that use all five vowels.

References

External links

BBC Drama Faces - Tamzin Outhwaite

Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:English actors Category:English television actors Category:English film actors Category:English stage actors Category:English soap opera actors Category:English musical theatre actors Category:English people of Italian descent Category:People from Ilford Category:People from Crouch End Category:Sylvia Young Theatre School pupils Category:Italian British actors

Name	Russell Brand
Caption	Brand performs stand-up at the London Roundhouse, 25 January 2008
Birth name	Russell Edward Brand
Birth date	June 04, 1975
Birth place	Grays, Essex, England, UK
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, radio
Nationality	British
Active	1994–present
Influences	Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks,
Spouse	Katy Perry (2010–present)
Website

Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and presenter of radio and television. Brand achieved fame in the UK for presenting a Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth, and for his radio show, among other television series and award ceremonies. He has appeared in several films, including the romantic comedy film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Bedtime Stories, St Trinian's, Get Him to the Greek, and most recently, Despicable Me. He is noted for various controversies that have surrounded him in the British media, such as the 2008 prank calls that led to his resignation from the BBC. He married singer Katy Perry on 23 October 2010.

Early life

Brand was born in Orsett Hospital, Grays, Essex, England, as the only child of Barbara Elizabeth (née Nichols) and Ronald Henry Brand, a photographer, who had married six years earlier. Brand's parents separated when he was six months old, and he was raised solely by his mother; he would later explain he had a somewhat isolated and lonely childhood. When Brand was seven, he was sexually abused by a tutor. When Brand was eight, his mother had uterine cancer; a year later she had breast cancer. Brand stayed with relatives while his mother underwent treatment. When Brand was 14, he became bulimic. He left school and home at 16, at which time his mother had lymphoma and he did not get along with her live-in partner. He began taking drugs, including: cannabis, amphetamines, LSD, ecstasy, cocaine, crack and heroin. Brand stated during an interview on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Saturday that he had "a strange relationship with his father, whom he saw sporadically and who took him to visit prostitutes during a trip to the Far East". After Brand's parents divorced, his father remarried twice.

Brand attended Grays School Media Arts College, a comprehensive. He made his theatrical debut at the age of 15 playing "Fat Sam" in a school production of Bugsy Malone, which prompted him to become an actor. He began working as an extra, and applied to study at the Italia Conti Academy. He was accepted, and Essex council funded his tuition for an introductory year, with potential funding for three additional years. Brand joined the Academy in 1991, but was expelled during his introductory year for his behaviour and use of drugs. Afterward, Brand had small acting roles in the children's show Mud and in The Bill.

In 1995, Brand applied for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Drama Centre London and was accepted to Drama Centre. By this point he was a heroin addict and an alcoholic. He was expelled in the final term of his last year for smashing a glass over his head and then stabbing himself in the chest and arms because of poor reactions to one of his performances. After leaving Drama Centre, Brand decided to focus on comedy, and began writing material with Karl Theobald, whom he met at Drama Centre. They formed a short-lived double act, Theobald and Brand on Ice.

Career

Stand-up

Brand's first significant stand-up appearance was at the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year final in 2000. Although he finished fourth, his performance attracted the attention of an agent, Nigel Klarfeld of Gagged and Bound Comedy Ltd. That year, he also made his Edinburgh debut as one-third of the stand-up show Pablo Diablo's Cryptic Triptych, alongside ventriloquist Mark Felgate and Anglo-Iranian comic Shappi Khorsandi.

In 2004, he took his first one-man show, the confessional Better Now to the Edinburgh Festival, giving an honest account of his heroin addiction. He returned the following year with Eroticised Humour. He launched his first nationwide tour, Shame, in 2006. Brand drew on embarrassing incidents in his own life and the tabloid press's treatment of him since he became famous. The show was released on DVD as Russell Brand: Live.

Brand appeared in a sketch and performed stand-up at the 2006 Secret Policeman's Ball. In March 2007, he co-hosted an evening of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs with Noel Fielding. In December 2007, Brand performed for HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip as an act in the 2007 Royal Variety Performance.

His second nationwide tour, in 2007, was called Russell Brand: Only Joking and released on DVD as Russell Brand: Doin' Life.

Brand began performing in the U.S., and recorded a special for Comedy Central titled Russell Brand in New York, which aired in March 2009. Brand began touring the UK, America and Australia from January to April 2009 on a tour called Russell Brand: Scandalous. In October a further four dates that were performed in November were added to raise money for Focus 12, the drug charity for which Brand is a patron. Russell Brand: Scandalous was released on DVD on 9 November 2009.

Presenting

Brand's first presenting role came in 2000 as a VJ on the MTV. He presented Dancefloor Chart, touring nightclubs in Britain and Ibiza, and hosted the tea-time request show Select. However, Brand was fired after coming to work dressed as Osama bin Laden the day after the 11 September 2001 attacks and bringing his drug dealer to the MTV studios.

After leaving MTV, Brand starred in , a British documentary and comedy television programme that aimed to take a challenging look at cultural taboos. It was conceived, written, and hosted by Brand, with the help of his comic partner on many projects, Matt Morgan. The series was shown on the now-defunct digital satellite channel UK Play in 2002.

In 2004, he hosted Big Brother's Eforum on E4, a sister show to Big Brother 5. The show gave celebrity guests and the public the chance to have their say on the goings-on inside the Big Brother house. For Big Brother 6, the show's name changed to Big Brother's Big Mouth. Following Celebrity Big Brother 5, Brand said he would not return to host the Big Brother 8 series of Big Brother's Big Mouth. In a statement, Brand thanked all the producers for "taking the risk of employing an ex-junkie twerp" to front the show. Of his time presenting the show, he said, "The three years I've spent on Big Brother's Big Mouth have been an unprecedented joy".

Brand hosted a one-off special called Big Brother According to Russell Brand, in which Brand took a surreal, sideways look at Big Brother through the ages. On 8 January 2008, Brand was the fifth celebrity to "hijack" the Big Brother house, in the E4 show . Brand next returned to MTV in the spring of 2006 as presenter of the chat show 1 Leicester Square, which initially aired at 8 pm on Sundays before being shifted to a post-watershed time of 10 pm on Mondays, allowing for a more adult-oriented theme. Guests have included Tom Cruise, Uma Thurman, The Mighty Boosh, and Boy George. A second series began in September 2006 on MTV UK. After Big Brother 7 finished, Brand presented a debate show called Russell Brand's Got Issues, on digital channel E4. The viewing figures for the first episode were seen as disappointing, being beaten by nearly all of E4's main multi-channel rivals despite a big publicity and promotional campaign for the show. The poor ratings prompted the network to repackage the show as The Russell Brand Show and move it to Channel 4. The first episode was broadcast on 24 November on Channel 4, and it ran for five weeks.

Brand presented the 2006 NME Awards. At the ceremony Bob Geldof, who was accepting an award from Brand, said at the podium, "Russell Brand – what a cunt", to which Brand replied, "Really it's no surprise [Geldof]'s such an expert on famine. He has after all been dining out on 'I Don't Like Mondays' for 30 years". Brand hosted the 2007 BRIT Awards and presented Oasis with an "Outstanding Contribution to Music" award at the event. He also hosted one hour of Comic Relief. On 7 July 2007, he presented at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.

On 12 December 2007, BBC Four aired Russell Brand On the Road, a documentary presented by Brand and Matt Morgan about the writer Jack Kerouac and his novel On the Road. Brand returned to Channel 4 to host Russell Brand's Ponderland, in which he discussed topics like childhood and science through stand-up comedy. The show first aired on 22 October 2007, and continued for the next five nights. A second series began on 30 October 2008, drawing more than a million viewers, and was broadcast every Thursday night for four weeks, plus a Christmas special that aired in December.

Brand was later announced as the host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, which drew scepticism from the American media, as he was relatively unknown to the American public. Brand's stint as host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards was not without controversy. At one point, he said the night "marked the launch of a very new Britney Spears era", referring to it as "the resurrection of [Spears]". He also said, "If there was a female Christ, it's Britney". Brand implored the audience to elect Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and later called then–U.S. President George W. Bush "a retarded cowboy fella", who, in England, "wouldn't be trusted with scissors". He made several references to the purity rings worn by the Jonas Brothers, but apologised for the comments later in the show. These comments led to Brand receiving death threats by some offended viewers. Brand claimed that MTV asked him to host the 2009 awards after the ratings for the 2008 show were 20% up from the previous year. Brand hosted the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on 13 September 2009, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The ratings for the 2009 show were the best since the 2004 VMA's.

Acting

In 2002, Brand appeared on the TV shows Cruise of the Gods and White Teeth. In 2005, he played Tommy in the BBC sitcom Blessed, which was written and directed by Young Ones creator Ben Elton. Brand auditioned for the part of Super Hans in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, but was rejected by the writers in favour of Matt King.

In 2007, Brand appeared in Cold Blood for ITV, playing an ex-con called Ally. Brand played a recovering crack addict named Terry in the pilot for the ITV comedy The Abbey, written by Morwenna Banks.

He voiced the Earth Guardian in Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind.

Brand had a small role in the 2006 movie Penelope, though his first major film role was as Flash Harry in the 2007 film St Trinian's. He did not reprise the role for the sequel, .

His breakthrough role was in the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which he played Aldous Snow, the boyfriend of the title character (played by Kristen Bell). Brand received rave reviews for his performance as Snow, and he revealed the character was changed from an author to a rock star because of his audition.

Brand starred alongside Adam Sandler in the Disney film Bedtime Stories, which was released on Christmas Day 2008.

He reprised the role of Aldous Snow for a buddy comedy titled Get Him to the Greek, co-starring Jonah Hill. He reunited with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow for the film.

Brand will appear in Julie Taymor's version of William Shakespeare's The Tempest as Trinculo. Brand will also appear in an Oliver Stone film, and he is to play the title character in a remake of Arthur, written by Peter Baynham, and a remake of Drop Dead Fred.

Sandler has cast Brand in another film and will produce yet another, co-written by Brand and Matt Morgan, about a con-man posing as a priest; it is tentatively titled Bad Father.

In 2010, Brand voiced Dr. Nefario in the Universal movie Despicable Me and was offered a guest role in The Simpsons, which he accepted.

Radio

Brand's radio career began in early 2002, when he hosted a Sunday afternoon show with Matt Morgan on London's Indie Rock station Xfm. Brand was fired from the job after reading pornographic material live on-air.

Brand co-hosted The Russell Brand Show beginning in April 2006 on BBC 6Music. In November 2006, the show transferred to BBC Radio 2 and aired on Saturdays from 9–11 pm The show regularly drew about 400,000 listeners. In an episode of the show broadcast on 18 October 2008, Brand and fellow Radio 2 DJ Jonathan Ross made a series of phone calls to actor Andrew Sachs that crudely discussed Sachs' granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. Sunday tabloid The Mail on Sunday broke the story and regarded the phone calls as obscene. Both presenters were later suspended by the BBC due to the incident, and Brand resigned from his show. The BBC was later fined £150,000 by Britain's broadcast regulator for airing the calls.

Brand returned to radio when he and Noel Gallagher hosted a football talk show on 19 April 2009 for talkSPORT which led to a 250% boost in web traffic.

Brand returned to talkSPORT in 9 October 2010, with a Saturday night show that will last 20 weeks. The show will feature clips and back-stage recordings from his Booky Wook 2 promotional tour. Brand will be joined by a host of guests, including the likes of Noel Gallagher and Jonathan Ross.

Writings

From May 2006 till May 2009, Brand wrote a column for The Guardian that focused on West Ham United and the England national football team. A collection of the columns from May 2006 through June 2007 was released on 15 November 2007 in a book titled Irons in the Fire. A second collection of the columns from June 2007 through May 2008 was released on 16 October 2008, titled Articles of Faith. The book also includes Brand interviewing Noel Gallagher, James Corden and David Baddiel about football.

Brand's autobiography, My Booky Wook, published by Hodder & Stoughton, was released on 15 November 2007 and received favourable reviews. The Observer commented that "Russell Brand's gleeful tale of drugs and debauchery in My Booky Wook puts most other celebrity memoirs to shame".

Brand signed a £1.8 million two-book deal with HarperCollins in June 2008. The first book was Articles of Faith, with the second being released on 30 September 2010.

Music

Brand recorded a cover of The Beatles song "When I'm Sixty-Four" with composer David Arnold for the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He contributed two songs to the soundtrack of the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall in which he appeared as Aldous Snow, lead singer of the fictional band Infant Sorrow. He reprised his role as Aldous Snow in Get Him to the Greek and recorded sixteen songs for the soundtrack.

Brand appeared on the 2010 version of 3 Lions alongside Robbie Williams.

Personal life

Brand lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife, Katy Perry. They have a cat, which he named after the singer Morrissey, of whom Brand is a big fan. He has been a vegetarian since the age of 14, and is a fan of football and a supporter of West Ham United; Brand says that his love of football is "intrinsically about my relationship with my father". He dresses in a flamboyant bohemian fashion, describing himself as looking like an "S&M; Willy Wonka". He has bipolar disorder, and he has suffered from bulimia, Brand has shown interest in the Hare Krishna Movement and chants the Hare Krishna mantra for drug rehabilitation. During an interview with Ellen DeGeneres on her show in October 2010, Brand talked about his love of the Transcendental Meditation technique.

Brand is a former heroin and sex addict and a recovering alcoholic. He has had numerous run-ins with the police, having been arrested 11 times. During the time of his addiction, he was known for his debauchery. Brand was ejected from The Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh, and he infamously introduced his drug dealer to Kylie Minogue during his time at MTV. He has abstained from drug use since 2002 and is now a patron of the addiction charity Focus 12. His abandonment of drugs and alcohol was instigated by his agent, John Noel, after Brand was caught taking heroin in a bathroom during his Christmas party. Brand regularly attends AA and NA meetings.

After a string of high-profile relationships, Brand developed a reputation in the media as a ladies' man. His dating life won him The Sun's Shagger Of The Year award in 2006, 2007, and 2008. The award has been renamed "The Russell Brand Shagger Of The Year Award" in honour of Brand having won three years in a row. In January 2009, Brand and several other celebrities wrote to The Independent (as supporters of the Hoping Foundation) to condemn Israel's assault on Gaza, and the "cruel and massive loss of life of the citizens of Gaza". In February 2009, Brand and several other entertainers wrote to The Times defending Bahá'í leaders then on trial in Iran. In April 2009, he attended the 2009 G-20 London summit protests and spoke to the press.

Brand first met American singer/songwriter Katy Perry in summer 2008 when Perry filmed a cameo for Brand's film Get Him to the Greek. Brand and Perry began dating after meeting again in September 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards, where Brand, as host, remarked "Katy Perry didn't win an award and she's staying at the same hotel as me, so she's gonna need a shoulder to cry on. So in a way, I'm the real winner tonight." Perry claims she threw a bottle of water at Brand to get his attention and then they went clubbing together the same night. The couple became engaged in December 2009 when Brand proposed to Perry while on a holiday in India. The couple married on 23 October 2010 near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan, India, the same location where Brand proposed. They married in a traditional Hindu ceremony.

On 16 September 2010, Brand was arrested on suspected battery charges after he allegedly attacked a paparazzo who blocked his and Perry's way to catch a flight at the Los Angeles International Airport. On 17 September 2010, he was released from custody after posting $20,000 bail. Footage of the incident was later sent to TMZ. Perry later defended Brand's actions, and offered an insight into the reasons for his outburst, posting on Twitter that, "If you cross the line & try and put a lens up my dress, my fiancé will do his job & protect me."

Filmography

Awards

Stand-Up DVDs

Live (20 November 2006)

Doing Life - Live (26 November 2007)

Scandalous - Live At The O2 (9 November 2009)

References

Further reading

External links

Russell Brand Official website

Russell Brand Talks, Love, Sex, Ambition and Revolution by Caroline Frost, Herald Sun, 27 March 2009

Russell Brand on sex, Sachs and self-improvement by Robert Crampton, The Times, 4 April 2009

Sex, Anarchy and Russell Brand by Joy Press, Salon, 9 April 2009

Category:1975 births Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:21st-century writers Category:Alumni of the Drama Centre London Category:Big Brother (UK TV series) Category:English comedians Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:English film actors Category:English game show hosts Category:English radio DJs Category:English radio personalities Category:English stand-up comedians Category:English television actors Category:English television presenters Category:English television writers Category:English vegetarians Category:Italia Conti graduates Category:Living people Category:People from Grays Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:The Guardian journalists

Name	Katie Price
Caption	Price at a book signing in 2002
Birth name	Katrina Amy Alexandria Alexis Infield
Birth date	May 22, 1978
Birth place	Brighton, East Sussex, England
Nationality	British
Ethnicity	White British
Other names	Jordan, "The Pricey", Katie Reid
Occupation	Glamour model, businesswoman, media personality, philanthropist, author, singer, television personality
Years active	1996–present
Networth	£40M+ ($66.76 million) (estimated)
Height
Spouse	(divorced)
Children	Harvey (born 2002)Junior (born 2005)Princess (born 2007)
Parents	Ray Infield (father)Amy Price (née Charlier) (mother)
Relations	Daniel Price (brother)Sophie Price (half-sister)
Homepage

Katie Price (born Katrina Amy Alexandria Alexis Infield, 22 May 1978), previously known under the pseudonym Jordan during her early modelling career, is an English celebrity, businesswoman, singer, television personality and former glamour model.

Her time at topless female glamour model pictorial, Page Three, in British tabloid newspaper The Sun, instantly shot Price into the public limelight. She is notoriously dubbed by contemporary critics as being "famous for being famous", her personal life is often criticised by British tabloids and celebrity-based magazines, and her artificial breasts represent the pinnacle of her pornographic appeal; however Price is often viewed a collective ideal of genuine modern femininity to a widespread audience: particularly to females. Her continual struggle with the British media against her personal life and "rags to riches" story has turned her into an inspirational role model.

Her place in the public's spotlight has allowed Price to venture into a multitude of different businesses. Since her début as a glamour model, Price has written five adult-fiction novels; four autobiographies; two series of children's books; and one fashion book as well as branching into fashion with the release of clothing ranges in equestrian wear and baby wear; two fragrances; a haircare range; a tanning range and an eyelash range.

Price has experienced many superfluously-publicised relationships in the eye of the British media and has been married twice: first to singer Peter Andre in 2005 and again to professional fighter Alex Reid in 2010.

Life and career

1978–93: Early life

Katie Price was born Katrina Amy Alexandria Alexis Infield in Brighton, East Sussex, England to parents Amy (née Charlier) and Ray Infield. In 1982, at the age of four, her parents separated after her father left the family. However, in 1988, her mother married Paul Price, a builder, after which, Price obtained the surname. She has an older brother named Daniel and a maternal half-sister, Sophie, who was born in 1989.

Price attended Blatchington Mill School and although not an academic student, she excelled at sport: swimming for Sussex in regional competitions.

1994–96: Career beginnings

Price left school in 1994, at the age of 16 The pictures were sent to a modelling agency in London and, to her surprise, agencies invited her into their studios for photo shoots and to discuss a contract. It took a few negative responses for Price to have a successful outcome, She adopted the name Jordan in 1996, and made frequent appearances as a model on both Page Three and in men's lifestyle magazines.

1997–2003: Success as a model and branching into other areas

In 1996, when she was eighteen, Price's fame grew to new heights when she had breast enhancement surgery; increasing her natural 32B/C to a 32D. Unhappy with her breasts from an early age and despite her family's objections, she went ahead with the procedure because she felt that as a glamour model, she didn't look "as sexy or [as] womanly" as other models. She would later have many enhancements, as well as reductions, on her breasts. She told a reporter, "Some people may be famous for creating a pencil sharpener. I'm famous for my tits." However, The Sun later barred Price from Page Three after announcing that they would only hire "all natural" models. However, she would continue modelling and has graced such covers like FHM, Maxim, Nuts, Loaded, Vogue, British Elle and the British edition of Playboy.

In an attempt to cross over from modelling to other areas, Price auditioned for a part on the UK television remake of the American-series Baywatch in 1998, guest presented The Big Breakfast and played herself in an episode of Dream Team.

During the 2001 British General Election, Jordan ran as a candidate in Stretford and Urmston under her real name using the slogan: 'For a Bigger and Betta Future'. As part of her comical election campaign, she promised free breast implants, more nudist beaches, and a ban on parking tickets. In the end, Jordan won 713 votes, 1.8% of the votes cast.

In 2002, she appeared on the cover of the American edition of Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine. Price's reputation as an over-exposed celebrity led to a trio of documentaries by film-maker Richard Macer: Jordan: The Truth About Me in 2002; later followed by Jordan: The Model Mum and Jordan: You Don't Even Know Me in 2004.

2004–05: I'm a Celebrity, Peter Andre, Eurovision and further business ventures

Price's celebrity soon brought her to television; she was a contestant on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! between the months of January and February in 2004, a reality television series where a group of celebrities live together in a jungle environment with few luxuries. It was there that she met Australian-English pop singer Peter Andre, to whom, eventually, she would marry and later divorce.

She made a cameo appearance playing herself in an episode of the television drama series Footballers' Wives in March 2004 and also appeared in the programme Jordan Gets Even for Five.

Price appeared on Top Gear's "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" in May 2004. She completed the lap in one minute and fifty-two seconds.

Price released the first of four autobiographies Being Jordan in May 2004. Initially turned down by the mainstream publishing houses after demanding a £1 million advance, she was eventually signed up by small independent publisher John Blake, a former tabloid journalist, for £10,000 plus royalties. In a departure from industry norms, she conducted a 10-day book signing tour which provoked enough interest – contrary to expectations and almost exclusively female – to propel her to first position in the Nielsen BookScan hardback sales chart and to sell 97,090 copies in one year; and over 1,000,000 as of January 2007.

She appeared in the documentaries Jordan: Living With a Dream (Channel 4) and the series When Jordan Met Peter (ITV), Jordan & Peter: Laid Bare (ITV2) and Jordan & Peter: Marriage and Mayhem (ITV2).

Price was one of the of finding a representative for the United Kingdom at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. The selection process, named Making Your Mind Up, was broadcast live on television in March 2005. Price sang a song titled "Not Just Anybody" wearing a skin-tight pink catsuit. She came in second place, behind winner Javine, and therefore did not represent the United Kingdom in Eurovision.

In the summer of summer 2005, Price was one of many guest hosts of the first series of The Friday Night Project. In December 2005, she released an exercise fitness DVD The Jordan Workout featuring "The Juice Master" Jason Vale.

2006–07: Book releases, A Whole New World and Katie & Peter

Her second autobiography, A Whole New World, was published in January 2006. It reached number two in the hardback general category and sold 198,105 copies by 1 April 2006.

Her first ghost-written novel, Angel, about a young woman who becomes a model, was published in July 2006, and sold 300,000 copies in six weeks.

Price, with Peter Andre, released A Whole New World, a duet album, in November 2006. All sales of the album went to their chosen charities affiliated with the many health conditions of her eldest son, Harvey. The album debuted at number twenty on the UK Albums Chart and achieved platinum status.

In 2006 Price signed a £300,000 advance with Random House for Katie Price's Perfect Ponies, a series of children's books, with the first 6 released in 2007. Three more books have been released throughout 2008. A title from that series, My Pony Care Book, was nominated for the WH Smith's Children's Book of the Year. In 2008, she released a new children's book series entitled Mermaids & Pirates, with six in the series. Four more are expected for release in April 2008.

Katie & Peter: Unleashed began on Friday 19 October 2007 at 9pm on ITV2. A new series titled, Katie & Peter: The Next Chapter Down Under aired on ITV2 on 27 March 2008 at 9pm running for 13 weeks. Katie & Peter: Stateside began on Thursday 16 April 2009 on ITV2 and followed the family as they relocate to Malibu, California for three months, where Andre recorded his new album.

Her second ghost-written novel, Crystal, about a young woman's efforts to become a singer, sold 159,407 copies during the first three months after its release in June 2007. All four books were ghost-written by Rebecca Farnworth.

2008–09: Business ventures, split from Peter Andre, Alex Reid, What Katie Did Next and return to I'm a Celebrity

In February 2008, Price's third autobiography Pushed to the Limit was released.

In July 2008, Price released her third novel Angel Uncovered.

In July 2009, Price released a novel entitled Sapphire which was No.1 on the hardback fiction chart for 4 consecutive weeks and sold 42,215 copies in its first two weeks in the UK alone.

After three-and-a-half years of marriage, Price and Andre separated in May 2009 after Andre's decision to leave her. They were officially divorced on 8 September 2009, two days before what would have been their fourth wedding anniversary.

A series aired in August/September 2009 called What Katie Did Next, which showed Price's life/career after her split and eventual divorce from Peter Andre.

Price released a fashion / how-to manual in October 2009 called Standing Out.

In November 2009, Price made a return visit to I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!. Presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, insinuated during the broadcast that the surprise of Price's return had been ruined by the media. Whilst in the jungle, the public repeatedly voted Price to undertake each and every "Bush Tucker Trial" challenge. After it had been announced that Price had been selected for her seventh consecutive trial. she decided to quit the show and left one week after her arrival.

2010–present: Marriage to Alex Reid, You Only Live Once and current business ventures

In July 2010, Price released "Free to Love Again", a non-album single. About the release, she explained: "I'm not a singer, this is just something that I'm doing for fun. It's not like I'm worried about getting a chart position or number one, this is purely for fun. Whether people like it or not, I'm doing it." The single had scare promotion or radio play and was negatively received by contemporary critics. It charted at number sixty on the UK Singles Chart and was only supported by performances on GMTV and at various other London nightclubs. On all occasions, she admitted that she had been lip-synching.

Price released her fifth novel Paradise in July 2010.

Giving a personal insight to her life between the start of 2008 and the summer of 2010, Price released her fourth autobiography titled You Only Live Once in October 2010. The book documents her split from Andre and leads up to her marriage to Alex Reid. Price dedicated the autobiography to Andre, amongst other family members and close friends, in the "hope [that he] find the happiness [he has] always been searching for". She also thanks him for taking her on a journey of self-discovery.

Price continues to write a regular advice column in OK! magazine.

Endorsements

In October 2003, Price appeared in an advertising campaign for the supermarket chain Kwik Save. To publicise the chain's promotion to cut the prices of their leading lines in half, Price was sawn in half by magician Peter McCahon.

In November 2006, Price launched The Katie Price Lingerie Collection in conjunction with Panache, available exclusively at Asda stores, as well as a follow-up jewellery deal with Argos.

In 2007, Price was announced as the new face of Foxy Bingo and launched a hair care range at Superdrug. She also brought out her first perfume, 'Stunning', in August. Her second perfume, 'Besotted', was released in September 2008. November 2007 saw Price releasing her 'Jordan' hair care electrical range at Superdrug. There was a hairdryer, straighteners and curlers. She released a second, similar range in November 2008 under the name 'Katie Price', to somewhat differing design.

In 2008, Price signed a deal with Derby House to launch her equestrian range named 'KP Equestrian'. On 23 March 2008, Price launched her springwear of KP Equestrian as well as KP Pony, which is for children.

In 2008, Price was refused admission to Guards Polo Club for the most prestigious day in the international Polo Season and a highlight of the British Social Season, the Hurlingham Polo Cartier International match for the Coronation Cup, presented by Prince Charles. She attempted to circumvent this by buying a table at the Chinawhite marquee for £6,000 through her agent, but this was refused as well. A statement said "Jordan has been told she is not welcome. Polo is very prestigious and there are certain names they want there and others they definitely don’t. Jordan is still too 'chavvy' as far as Cartier is concerned. Having Jordan there just wouldn’t be in keeping with Cartier’s image. If she turns up she will not be allowed access".

In 2009 Price was named as the Patron of a charity polo match that was played at an Estate, near Epping, Essex. She was photographed arriving by helicopter, wearing a mini-dress and stiletto heels. Ex-boyfriend Dane Bowers and Jade Goody's widower Jack Tweed also attended.

Controversy

Price and Andre were criticised for sexually explicit behaviour in their reality show. In taping the show the couple re-enacted sex scenes (while fully clothed) and had frank discussions about sex.

The couple were libelled by an ex-employee and later accepted damages from the News of the World newspaper after it published the accusations about their parental abilities.

In May 2009, three days after her announced separation from Andre, her management company of five years said that they would no longer represent her. They have chosen to represent Andre instead.

Personal life

Relationships

and Price during the 2009 London Marathon]] Price embarked on several brief relationships with celebrities and sports stars including footballers Teddy Sheringham, Dwight Yorke, singer Gareth Gates, and Warren Furman (Ace from the television series Gladiators). Jordan experienced a much-publicised relationship with Dane Bowers of the boy band Another Level and had an abortion after discovering he had cheated on her. In a televised interview with Piers Morgan in July 2009, Price claimed that their break-up was partly due to Andre's jealousy of her relationship with dressage trainer Andrew Gould, which she claimed was entirely platonic. However, she described it finally came to an end when she was photographed in a Bristol nightclub after she and Andre had agreed that they would not go out without each other. She also revealed that she had suffered a miscarriage before the split.

In July 2009, Price began dating MMA fighter and former Hollyoaks actor Alex Reid. On 2 February 2010, Price married Alex Reid in a private ceremony in Las Vegas at the chapel in the Wynn Hotel, although some press reports claim their wedding was not legal.

Children

In May 2002, she gave birth to her first son, Harvey, in Brighton. Harvey's father is the former footballer Dwight Yorke. Jordan has said she had intended to have at least one birth shown live over the Internet, but she later decided to keep it private. He was found to be blind, having a condition known as septo-optic dysplasia, meaning that the development of his optic nerve was unpredictable. As he has matured, she has also discovered that he is on the autistic spectrum, gains weight easily, and finds walking difficult.

Wealth

In October 2006, an article was published in the Daily Mail called The Chav Rich List. Price and Andre were ranked at number 2, second only to David and Victoria Beckham.

In 2006 the famous private banking house Coutts & Co (bankers to the British Royal Family and to the rich and famous of British Society) refused to accept Price as a client, in spite of her estimated wealth. Coutts are known to be extremely selective in whom they accept as customers and their criteria for acceptance are not solely based on their well-known requirement that their clients must have at least £500,000 in 'disposable funds' - not including houses.

In 2009 it was reported she had earned £6.5 million with £4.5 million earned the previous year taking her total wealth to a reported £40 million. Price has raised over £1 million for Vision Charity.

Surgery

In 2002, Price was treated for cancer. She had a leiomyosarcoma on her finger and the tumour was removed at a Nuffield Hospital near her Brighton home.

In December 2007, Price underwent surgery in the United States to reduce the size of her breast implants and also had rhinoplasty. However, she was not happy with the results of her breast implants, so returned to Beverly Hills, California in July 2008 for corrective surgery. She returned to the United Kingdom five days later, showing off much smaller breasts: a size 32C.

Legal issues

In September 2009, Price claimed that she had previously been raped by a "famous celebrity", but had not reported the incident. Price insisted that she would "absolutely never" reveal who the attacker was. Surrey Police stated that they had not contacted Price: "No allegation of rape has been made and Miss Price will not be making a statement to police".

Discography

Albums

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center; ! rowspan=2| Year ! rowspan=2| Album ! colspan=1| Peakchartpositions ! rowspan=2| Sales !rowspan="2"| Certifications |- ! UK |- | 2006 | align=left| A Whole New World

Released: 27 November 2006

Label: Sony BMG

Formats: CD, download

| align=center| 20 | align=left|

UK: 180,000+

|

BPI: Gold

|}

Singles

Bibliography

Autobiographies

Being Jordan (2004)

A Whole New World (2006)

Pushed to the Limit (2008)

You Only Live Once (2010)

Novels

Angel (2006)

Crystal (2007)

Angel Uncovered (2008)

Sapphire (2009)

Paradise (2010)

Series

Perfect Ponies (2007–10)

* Here Comes the Bride, Little Treasures, Fancy Dress Ponies, Pony Club Weekend, The New Best Friend, Ponies to the Rescue, My Pony Care Book, Star Ponies, Pony 'n' Pooch, Pony in Disguise, Stage Fright!, Secrets and Surprises, Wild West Weekend (in order of publication date)

Mermaids & Pirates (2008–10)

*Follow the Fish, I Spy, Let's Build a Sandcastle, A Sunny Day, Telescope Overboard, Time for a Picnic, All Around, Hide and Seek, Katie the Mermaid, Katie's Day, Peter's Friends, Pirate Olympics (in order of publication date)

Fashion

Standing Out (2009)

Awards and nominations

|- |style="text-align:center;"|2004 |style="text-align:center;"| Herself |Loaded's "Cover Girl of the Decade" | |- |style="text-align:center;"|2005 |style="text-align:center;"|Being Jordan |British Book Awards' "The Biography of the Year" | |- |rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|2007 |rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|Herself |Cosmopolitan's "Woman of the Year" | |- |Grattan's "Celebrity Mum of the Year" | |- |style="text-align:center;"|2008 |style="text-align:center;"|My Pony Care Book (a part of the Perfect Ponies series) |British Book Awards' "British Children's Book of the Year" | |- |rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|2009 |style="text-align:center;"|Herself |Bounty's "Celebrity Mum of the Year" | |- |style="text-align:center;"|Besotted |Fifi's "Award for Celebrity Fragrance" | |}

See also

List of glamour models

Notes

External links

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:British people of Jewish descent Category:Cancer survivors Category:English crime victims Category:English female models Category:English female singers Category:English pop singers Category:English socialites Category:English television personalities Category:Footballers' Wives and Girlfriends Category:I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here! contestants Category:Page Three girls Category:Participants in British reality television series Category:People from Brighton

Name	Justin Lee
Caption	Justin Lee in 2010
Birth date	September 7, 1977
Nationality	USA
Education	Wake Forest University
Occupation	nonprofit executive director, speaker, LGBT Christian activist.
Known for	founder of Gay Christian Network
Religion	Christian
Website	http://www.gaychristian.net

Justin Lee (born September 7, 1977) is the founder of The Gay Christian Network (GCN), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides resources and support to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Christians. According to the GCN website, "We also work with churches and other Christian organizations to help educate the Christian community about sexual orientation issues from a Biblical standpoint." Lee founded GCN in August, 2001 to "build a supportive community to support fellow gay Christians in their Christian walks." In an interview for CNN, Lee explained the purpose of the organization:

"We're just trying to get people together who experience attraction to the same sex, however they have handled that, and who love Jesus and say, OK, you are welcome here, and then let's pray together and figure out where God wants us to take it."

Lee is recognizable for his baldness and noticeable lack of eyebrows due to alopecia areata, a condition he has had since childhood.

He is also the director of a 2009 documentary, Through My Eyes, which explores the struggles of young gay Christians.

Background

Lee grew up in a conservative Christian home and continues to hold many of the same core doctrines. According to The New York Times, "Justin Lee believes that the Virgin birth was real, that there is a heaven and a hell, that salvation comes through Christ alone and that he... is an evangelical Christian."

As a teenager, Lee realized he was attracted to the same sex, but he did not identify himself as gay because he believed that would be a sin. Instead, he spent years fighting his attractions, praying for God to change them.

Beliefs

Lee does not believe it is a sin to be gay. He argues that "gay" means only "attracted to the same sex," and that condemning people for their unchosen attractions is contrary to Christian doctrine.

Instead, he argues that the real question is whether or not the Bible condemns gay sex, and therefore whether gay Christians can have monogamous relationships ("Side A") or are called to celibacy ("Side B"). Lee personally advocates for monogamous relationships and believes they can be reconciled with the Bible, but the organization he founded offers support to people on both sides.

Lee is also an advocate of waiting for a lifelong, monogamous commitment before having sex, which he describes as a personal choice. In an interview with OUT magazine, Lee said, "Sex is powerful and deserves to be treated with reverence.... [It] has the power to form a sacred bond between people. And it's a bond I want to form with the guy I'm going to spend the rest of my life with, not just some cute guy who danced with me in a club one night."

Work

Lee currently serves as executive director of The Gay Christian Network. He is outspoken on issues pertaining to LGBT Christians and is widely known through his weekly podcast and YouTube videos.

He has publicly commented on the usefulness of online communities in helping minister to the gay Christian community:

"The Internet has made a huge difference in creating a movement [...]. What at first might have seemed a little fringe group is then able to gain momentum as people meet others and discover they’re not alone."

In 2006, Lee was a part of the "Gay-to-Straight Debate" on the Dr. Phil Show, where he argued against reparative therapy. He has also been a featured guest speaker at churches, colleges, and conferences on Christianity and homosexuality.

Notes

See also

Religion and homosexuality

History of Christianity and homosexuality

Queer Theology

List of LGBT religious organizations

External links

The Gay Christian Network

Dr. Phil episode "I'm Gay, OK?"

Category:LGBT Christians Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Wake Forest University alumni Category:1977 births Category:Editors of Christian publications Category:American evangelicals Category:Homosexuality and Christianity Category:Living people

Name	Justin Bieber
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Justin Drew Bieber
Born	March 01, 1994
Origin	Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, percussion,
Genre	Pop, R&B; ( , born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian pop-R&B; singer. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who happened to come across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher, and then to a recording contract with Island Records offered by L.A. Reid. His first full studio release, My World 2.0, was released on March 23, 2010 and has since received similar success; it debuted at number one and within the top ten of several countries and was certified platinum in the United States. It was preceded by the worldwide top-ten single, "Baby," in January 2010.
Name	Bieber, Justin
Short description	Canadian singer
Date of birth	March 1, 1994
Place of birth	Stratford, Ontario, Canada

Category:1994 births Category:Living people Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Canadian child singers Category:Canadian dance musicians Category:Canadian expatriate musicians in the United States Category:Canadian Internet personalities Category:Canadian male singers Category:Canadian pop singers Category:Canadian rhythm and blues singers Category:Hip hop singers Category:Island Records artists Category:Musicians from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Musicians from Ontario Category:People from Stratford, Ontario Category:Canadian people of German descent

Name	Graham Norton
Caption	Norton in December 2004.
Birth name	Graham William Walker
Birth date	April 04, 1963
Birth place	Clondalkin, Dublin, Ireland
Medium	Television, Radio
Nationality	Irish
Active	1992–present
Genre	Observational comedy
Subject	Everyday life, pop culture
Awards
Notable work	Host of The Graham Norton ShowMr. Puckov in Another Gay MovieTaylor in I Could Never Be Your Woman

Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963) is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist, known by his stage name Graham Norton. He is the host of the comedy chat show The Graham Norton Show and the BBC commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Early life and career

Norton was born in Clondalkin, a suburb of Dublin, but grew up in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland. He was brought up a Protestant.

Norton entered University College Cork but dropped out to move to San Francisco in the USA, where he trained as a drama teacher at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

In 1992 his stand-up comedy drag act in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a tea-towel clad Mother Teresa of Calcutta made the press when Scottish Television's religious affairs department mistakenly thought he represented the real Mother Teresa.

His first appearances in broadcasting were in his spot as a regular comedian and panellist on the BBC Radio 4 show Loose Ends, when the show ran on Saturday mornings, in the early 1990s. His rise to fame began as one of the early successes of Channel 5, when he won an award for his performance as the stand-in host of a late-night TV talk show usually presented by Jack Docherty. This was followed by a comic quiz show on Channel 5 called Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment, which was not well received as a programme, but did further enhance Norton's individual reputation as a comic and TV host. In 1996, Norton co-hosted the late-night quiz show Carnal Knowledge on ITV with Maria McErlane.

Norton also played the part of Father Noel Furlong in 3 episodes of the popular Channel 4 series Father Ted in 1996; where he was often seen taking charge of a small youth folk-group.

Channel 4

After this early success, Norton moved to Channel 4 to host his own chat shows including So Graham Norton and V Graham Norton. As a performer who is not only openly gay, but also naturally camp and flamboyant, it was here that Norton's act was fully honed as a cheeky, innuendo-laden joker.

In 2003, he was the subject of controversy when, on his show on Channel 4, he made a comedic reference to the recent death of Bee Gees singer Maurice Gibb. The Independent Television Commission investigated after complaints about this insensitivity were forwarded to it and eventually Channel 4 had to make two apologies: one in the form of a caption slide before the show, another from Norton in person.

Also in 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy (though Norton is Irish, the bulk of his television career has been in the UK).

In the summer of 2004, Norton moved across the Atlantic to start a new venture in American television. The Graham Norton Effect debuted on 24 June 2004 on Comedy Central, and was also broadcast in the UK on BBC Three. In the midst of controversy surrounding Janet Jackson's Super Bowl performance, Norton was wary of moving into the market.

BBC

In 2005, Norton moved to the BBC and began hosting the Saturday evening reality TV series Strictly Dance Fever on BBC One, as well as a new comedy chat show, Graham Norton's Bigger Picture. He also read stories some nights on the BBC children's channel CBeebies as part of Bedtime Hour.

In 2006, Norton hosted the BBC One series How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? in which Andrew Lloyd Webber tried to find a lead actress for his West End version of The Sound of Music. Norton has subsequently presented the 3 follow-up series: Any Dream Will Do in 2007, in which a group of males competed to win the role of Joseph in the West End production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; I'd Do Anything in 2008, in which Andrew Lloyd Webber seeks to find the part of Nancy and Oliver for Sir Cameron Mackintosh's production of Lionel Bart's Oliver!; and Over the Rainbow in 2010, following a similar format to find a new Dorothy for a Wizard of Oz West end Production.

Norton hosted various other shows for the BBC during this time, including When Will I Be Famous? (2007), The One and Only (2008) and Totally Saturday (2009). Since 2007, Norton has also been a regular host of The British Academy Television Awards. On 7 July 2007, Norton presented at Live Earth and undertook a trip to Ethiopia with the Born Free Foundation to highlight the plight of the Ethiopian wolf – the rarest canid in the world. In the same year, he was the subject of an episode of the BBC1 genealogy documentary Who Do You Think You Are?.

Norton's chat show, The Graham Norton Show, began on 22 February 2007 on BBC Two. Although in a format that he had not been involved in for 4 years, it is very similar to his previous Channel 4 shows. On 6 October 2009, the show moved to BBC One, in a new one-hour format.

In May 2010 he stood in for Chris Evans' breakfast show on BBC Radio 2. Later that month, it was confirmed that he would be replacing Jonathan Ross' Saturday morning slot on the same station.

Graham Norton's advice column in the Daily Telegraph has been made into a book, Ask Graham, published in October 2010 by John Blake Publishing.

Eurovision

Norton hosted the first annual Eurovision Dance Contest alongside Claudia Winkleman which was held in London, United Kingdom on 1 September 2007. The format was based on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing and the EBU's Eurovision Song Contest. Norton and Winkleman also hosted the 2008 Contest in Glasgow, Scotland.

In October 2008, it was confirmed by the BBC that Norton would replace Terry Wogan as the BBC's presenter for the UK heats of the Eurovision Song Contest, in a show to be called Your Country Needs You.

On 5 December 2008 it was announced that Norton would also take over from Terry Wogan as the presenter of the main Eurovision Song Contest. The 54th Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Olimpiyskiy (Olympic) Stadium, Moscow on 16 May 2009.

Norton's jokes during his debut received some positive reviews from the British media. The Guardian noted his comments on Iceland's entry, which finished in second place, had "rooted around in a cupboard and found an old bridesmaid dress from 1987" and the Armenian singers, who finished in tenth place, were sporting traditional dress, "which would be true if you come from the village where Liberace is the mayor".

His comment “The bad news is you’re about to watch Albania. She’s only 17 so please bear that in mind. Where was her mother? Why didn’t she step in and say no?” which was made just before a young performer from Albania was set to take the stage dubbed an insult by many, sent ripples of outrage through not only Albania, but also the Albanian population in Britain. There was even a petition circling the net calling for a formal apology from Norton. The petition, which called his comment “very rude and insulting,” had drawn over 1,000 signatures.

Other

Graham Norton played Mr. Puckov in the 2006 American comedy spoof film Another Gay Movie. In 2007, Norton played Taylor in the romantic comedy film I Could Never Be Your Woman.

Norton was involved in a high-publicity advertising campaign for the UK National Lottery as an animated unicorn, the stooge to a character based on Lady Luck (played by Fay Ripley). He has also advertised McVitie's biscuits.

In 2007, Norton featured in Girls Aloud and Sugababes' Comic Relief video for the single "Walk This Way".

In January 2009, Norton made his West End stage debut in a revival of La Cage Aux Folles at the Playhouse Theatre.

Since 2009, Norton has been the host of the comedy game-show Most Popular on US cable television channel WE tv.

Personal life

Norton is openly gay.

Norton suffers from vitiligo, a skin disease.

In 1988 he was mugged, stabbed in the chest and left for dead on the streets.

Norton caused controversy on 7 October 2006, when he described cocaine and ecstasy as "fantastic".

Immediately after hosting the BAFTAs in 2009, he said he returned home only to fall down his stairs and break two ribs.

TV appearances

Main presenting credits

Carnal Knowledge (TV series, co-presenter) (1996, 27 one hour shows)

Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment

So Graham Norton (1998–2002)

V Graham Norton (2002–2003)

NY Graham Norton (2004)

The Graham Norton Effect (2004–2005)

Graham Norton's Bigger Picture (2005–2006)

Strictly Dance Fever (2005–2006)

BBC/Andrew Lloyd Webber musical theatre talent searches (2006–present)

* How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? (2006)

* Any Dream Will Do (2007)

* I'd Do Anything (2008)

* Over the Rainbow (2010)

The Big Finish (2006–)

When Will I Be Famous? (2007)

The Graham Norton Show (2007–present)

The British Academy Television Awards (2007)

Live Earth (2007)

Eurovision Dance Contest (2007)

The One and Only (2008)

Eurovision Dance Contest (2008)

(2009–present)

Eurovision Song Contest (UK commentator, 2009–present)

Totally Saturday (2009)

Most Popular (2009–present)

Other television credits

Radio

Just a Minute

Sitting in for Steve Wright August 2009 BBC Radio 2

Sitting in for Chris Evans May /July 2010 BBC Radio 2

On 2nd October 2010, he began his weekly BBC Radio 2 Saturday show taking over from Jonathan Ross. The show airs from 10.00am-1.00pm and combines a mixture of music, chat and celebrity guests.

Filmography

Stand-Up videos

Live At The Roundhouse (19 November 2001)

Awards

1999 : Gaytime awards, Gay Entertainer of the Year

2000, 2001, 2002 : BAFTA Best Entertainment Performance for So Graham Norton

2001 : RTS Television Award Best Presenter for So Graham Norton

2001 : TRIC Award TV Personality of the Year

See also

Father Noel Furlong

References

External links

Category:1963 births Category:Gay actors Category:Irish comedians Category:Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:LGBT comedians Category:LGBT people from Ireland Category:LGBT television personalities Category:LGBT radio personalities Category:Living people Category:People from County Cork Category:People from Dublin (city) Category:Alumni of University College Cork Category:United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest Category:Eurovision Song Contest commentators Category:British television talk show hosts