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	'Comedy' Dave
Birthname	David Lloyd Vitty
Birth date	April 24, 1974
Birth place
Station	BBC Radio 1
Show	The Chris Moyles Show
Timeslot	6:30am - 10am
Style	Disc Jockey
Country	United Kingdom
Spouse(s)	Emma Pontefract (2003 - 2006)Jayne Sharp (2008 - Present)
Children	Nicole Catherine Vitty
Web	Chris MoylesChappers & DaveC&D; MySpace folkface

David Lloyd Vitty (born 24 April 1974 in Hong Kong) is a long-term contributor on The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 under the nickname 'Comedy Dave'. He was originally a broadcast assistant on the show, but is now the show's head writer and 'Director Of Comedy'.

Background

Vitty studied Radio Production at college, but never had any ambitions to be on-air. He began working as a copywriter and then moved onto becoming a "tech op" for Radio 1 on 5 December 1996. In 1997, he then met Chris Moyles - the two got on well with each other and Moyles invited Vitty to work with him on his early morning show. When Moyles transferred to drive time in 1998, Vitty went with him and assumed the name "'Comedy' Dave". He was previously known as "Super Dave" until comedian Lee Hurst sarcastically stated he should be known as 'Comedy' Dave, because he wasn't very funny.

Vitty supports Everton Football Club and spent much of his youth in Warrington, Cheshire, although he was educated at Bedford School. He married long term girlfriend Emma Pontefract at the Tudor Barn close to Burnham Beeches on 23 August 2003. Live on air on 6 September 2006, he announced that they had divorced. On 24 April 2007, Dave announced on air that Jayne Sharp, his new television presenter partner, was six months pregnant with his child. Jayne went into labour on 2 August 2007, as announced by Jo Whiley on her mid-morning show. His daughter, Nicole Catherine Vitty, was born, weighing 7 lb 15 oz, on 2 August 2007. Dave and Jayne then married on 23 August 2008.

Other achievements

Vitty has co-presented cover shows on Radio 1 entitled Chappers and Dave, with the ex- The Scott Mills Show sidekick Mark Chapman. On 30 December 2006, on the "Celebrity Couples Edition" of The Weakest Link, Chappers and Dave won, beating the Chuckle Brothers in the final round. They both tour student unions across the UK regularly on their 'Chappers and Dave World Tour', and have raised money for both Comic Relief and Sport Relief by visiting football stadiums across the UK.

On 28 February 2007, Dave appeared in an edition of Ready Steady Cook, beating radio colleague, and fellow band member of Folk Face, Dominic Byrne. He previously presented a programme called Shed Sports 1 on Nuts TV and co-presented on UK Play's The Chris Moyles Show.

Dave appeared on BBC game show, Hole in the Wall in an episode aired on 26 September 2009.

On 29 December 2009, Vitty appeared on Celebrity Mastermind, raising money for Cancer Research UK. He finished third overall on 17 points after the general knowledge round, having recovered from scoring just 6 points on the first round answering questions about British motorways.

In 2010, Dave provided the narration for Channel 4 series Coach Trip.

Dave will be appearing on the 6th series of Dancing on Ice (series 6).

Chris Moyles Show

Vitty's regular daily contribution to the The Chris Moyles Show is the "Tedious Link" (which launched September 2002 - a parody of Jo Whiley's now-defunct "Tenuous Link"), a collection of loosely connected information, where one fact leads into another by way of juxtaposition, which then eventually leads into the title of a song (or the musicians responsible for it), often a "classic" or memorable tune, which is usually played at precisely 9 a.m., preceded by the Radio 4-friendly Greenwich time pips. Once the song has been played he is questioned by listeners and the rest of the crew about the validity of the information given out during the "Tedious Link" (the theme tune from Treasure Hunt is usually played in the background). The theme music from the TV comedy show Bottom was used as the "bed" (underlying music) for the feature but for January 2009 Chris Moyles unveiled a new purpose-written jingle and music.

Around 9:05 a.m., Vitty sang "Let's get ready to ramble", signifying the start of the feature "Half-Time in the Show", holding onto the last syllable for a good ten to twenty seconds, in the style of Michael Buffer. This feature was dropped on the show's return for the new year in January 2009.

Bands

Comedy Dave is part of comedy folk band Folk Face with Dominic Byrne also from The Chris Moyles Show.

References

External links

Profile on ChrisMoyles.Net

Category:1974 births Category:British radio DJs Category:British people of Hong Kong descent Category:Living people Category:Old Bedfordians Category:Alumni of the University of Chester Category:Hong Kong people of British descent

Name	Will Smith
Caption	Smith in May 2010
Birth name	Willard Christopher Smith, Jr.
Birth date	September 25, 1968
Birth place	Wynnefield, West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Other names	The Fresh Prince
Occupation	Actor, rapper, film producer, record producer, television producer
Years active	1985–present
Spouse
Website	http://www.willsmith.com/

Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, film producer and pop rapper. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor on the planet. Smith has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards, and has won multiple Grammy Awards.

In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the popular television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show ran for nearly six years (1990–1996) on NBC and has been syndicated consistently on various networks since then. In the mid-1990s, Smith transitioned from television to film, and ultimately starred in numerous blockbuster films that received broad box office success. In fact, he is the only actor in history to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office as well as being the only actor to have eight consecutive films in which he starred open at the #1 spot in the domestic box office tally.

Fourteen of the 19 fiction films he has acted in have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million, and 4 of them took in over $500 million in global box office receipts. His most financially successful films have been Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Independence Day, Men in Black, Men in Black II, I, Robot, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend, Hancock, Wild Wild West, Enemy of the State, Shark Tale, Hitch and Seven Pounds. He also earned critical praise for his performances in Six Degrees of Separation, Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness, receiving Best Actor Oscar nominations for the latter two.

Family and early life

West Philadelphia born and raised, Smith also spent time in Germantown in Northwest Philadelphia. His mother, Caroline (née Bright), was a school administrator who worked for the Philadelphia school board, and his father, Willard Christopher Smith, Sr., was a refrigeration engineer. He was raised Baptist. His parents separated when he was 13, and did not actually divorce until Smith was around 30.

While it is widely reported that Smith turned down a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he never applied to MIT, although he was admitted to a "pre-engineering program" there.

Recording and acting career

Early work (1985–1995)

Smith started as the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, with his childhood friend Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes as turntablist and producer as well as Ready Rock C (Clarence Holmes) as the human beat box. The trio was known for performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Summertime". They gained critical acclaim for winning the first ever Grammy in the Rap category (1988). He had a line in "Voices That Care", a 1991 Gulf War song by a celebrity group. Smith spent money freely during his early career and underpaid his income taxes. The Internal Revenue Service eventually assessed a $2.8 million tax debt against Smith, took many of his possessions, and garnished his income. Smith was nearly bankrupt in 1990 when the NBC television network signed him to a contract and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, around him. The show was successful and began his acting career. Smith set for himself the goal of becoming "the biggest movie star in the world," studying box office successes' common characteristics. In 1998 Smith starred with Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State. Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix in favor of Wild Wild West. Despite the disappointment of Wild Wild West, Smith has said that he harbors no regrets about his decision, asserting that Keanu Reeves's performance as Neo was superior to what Smith would have achieved.

International success (2001–present)

In 2005, Smith was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for attending a record breaking three premieres in a 24-hour time span.

He has planned to star in a feature film remake of the television series It Takes a Thief.

On December 10, 2007, Smith was recognized at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Smith left an imprint of his hands and feet outside the world renowned theater in front of many fans. Later that month, Smith starred in the film I Am Legend, released December 14, 2007. Despite marginally positive reviews, its opening was the largest ever for a film released in the United States during December. Smith himself has said that he considers the film to be "aggressively unique". A reviewer said that the film's commercial success "cemented [Smith's] standing as the number one box office draw in Hollywood." On December 1, 2008, TV Guide reported that Smith has been selected as one of America’s top ten most fascinating people of 2008 for a Barbara Walters ABC special that aired on December 4, 2008.

Smith is currently developing a film entitled The Last Pharaoh, in which he will star as Taharqa.

President Barack Obama has stated that if a film were to ever be made about his life, he would have Smith play his part, because "he has the ears". Obama stated that the two have discussed a possibility of a film based on the 2008 election, but this may not happen until the end of the Obama presidency.

He is currently filming Men in Black III for a 2012 release playing Agent J one of his more popular earlier roles, making this his first major starring role in four years.

Personal life

December 11, 2009, in Oslo, Norway: Smith with wife Jada and children Jaden and Willow]] Smith was raised by his parents in West Philadelphia. Smith credits his father's dedication when discussing his own involvement in the lives of his three children: "I look at my father and how he was able to keep four kids fed and clothed and still managed to find time to spend with us." Smith married Sheree Zampino in 1992. They had a son, Willard Christopher Smith III, also known as "Trey", but divorced in 1995. Trey appeared in his father's music video for the 1998 single "Just The Two Of Us". Smith married actress Jada Pinkett in 1997. Together they have had two children: Jaden Christopher Syre (born 1998), his co-star in The Pursuit of Happyness, and Willow Camille Reign (born 2000), who appeared as his daughter in "I Am Legend". Along with his brother, Harry Smith, he owns Treyball Development Inc., a Beverly Hills-based company named after his first son. Smith and his family reside on Star Island in Miami Beach, Florida and in Los Angeles, Stockholm, Sweden and Philadelphia.

Smith was consistently listed in Fortune Magazine's "Richest 40" list of the forty wealthiest Americans under the age of 40. He donated $4,600 to the presidential campaign of Democrat Barack Obama. December 11, 2009, Smith and his wife hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, when Barack Obama had won the prize.

Smith has said he has studied multiple religions, including Scientology, and he has said many complimentary things about Scientology and other faiths. Despite his praise of Scientology, Smith said "I just think a lot of the ideas in Scientology are brilliant and revolutionary and non-religious" and "Ninety-eight percent of the principles in Scientology are identical to the principles of the Bible.... I don't think that because the word someone uses for spirit is 'thetan' that the definition becomes any different." He has denied having joined the Church of Scientology, saying "I am a Christian. I am a student of all religions, and I respect all people and all paths." Smith gave $1.3 million to charities in 2007, of which $450,000 went to two Christian ministries, and $122,500 went to three Scientology organizations; the remaining beneficiaries included "a Los Angeles mosque, other Christian-based schools and churches, and [...] the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Center in Israel". Smith and his wife have also founded a private elementary school in Calabasas, California, the New Village Leadership Academy, which has attracted controversy and speculation over its use of Study Technology, a teaching methodology developed by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology.

Discography

Big Willie Style (1997)

Willennium (1999)

Born to Reign (2002)

Lost and Found (2005)

Filmography

Box office grosses

References

Further reading

External links

Official site

in 2002

Category:Living people Category:1968 births Category:Actors from Pennsylvania Category:African American film actors Category:American hip hop musicians Category:American rappers Category:American television actors Category:Baptists from the United States Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Interscope Records artists

Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Rappers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Beatboxers

Category:African-American film producers Category:African American rappers

Name	Peter Andre
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Peter James Andrea
Born	February 27, 1973 Harrow, London, England
Genre	Pop, R&B;, Urban
Occupation	Singer-songwriterTelevision personalityBusinessman
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1992–2006, 2009–present(Singer)2009–present (Businessman)
Label	Mushroom Records (1989–2004)Sony BMG (2006-2007)Conehead Records (2009–present)
Url

Peter James Andre (born 27 February 1973) is a singer-songwriter, television personality and businessman. He was born in the United Kingdom to Greek Cypriot parents and raised in Australia. From the 2000s he has been a resident of the United Kingdom. He had a successful career in music, achieving four top 10 UK albums and ten top 10 singles.

Career

1990–1998: Peter Andre, Natural & Time

Andre was discovered on the Australian television talent show New Faces in 1990. In 1992, he was signed to a record company and released his début song "Drive Me Crazy",which reached number 72 in the Australian chart. Though it didn't do very well, it was only a matter of time before Peter hit the big time with "Gimme Little Sign" which peaked at number 3, and lasted 31 weeks on the official ARIA Charts. In 1993, a self-titled album charted well in Australia, while the singles "Funky Junky" and "Let's Get It On/Do You Wanna Dance?" reached the Australian Top 20, and "To The Top" provided an additional Top 50 performance. In 1993, "Gimme Little Sign" picked up an ARIA Award as the highest selling single of the year.

Andre first had a top 50 single in the United Kingdom called "Only One", which reached number 16 and then gained further success with the song "Mysterious Girl" (featuring Bubbler Ranx), which reached number 2 in the UK singles chart and number 8 in Australia. It was from these releases Peter gained a reputation for reaching new levels of creativity and direction in the music scene. He then had a number 1 album Natural and two U.K. number 1 singles Flava and I Feel You. His last single from the album was "Natural", the song peaked at number 6 in the UK singles chart.

Towards the end of 1997 Andre release his second album Time. The album saw three singles released. The first, "All About Us", was released in August 1997 and peaked at number 3 in the UK singles chart. The second single was released just before the album, "Lonely" reached number 6 in the charts. Following the single the album was released in November 1997 and peaked at number 28 in the UK album charts. The last single from the album was "All Night, All Right", the song peaked at number 16.

In 1998 he released his last single (a cover of the song "Kiss the Girl" from Disney's The Little Mermaid) before being dropped by his record company and taking a long break from his music career. It peaked at number 9 in the UK singles chart.

He also appeared on the Childliners record The Gift Of Christmas and in the following years he spent some time in Cyprus.

2004–2007: The Long Road Back & A Whole New World

He returned to the British media with a stint on the British reality TV series I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!; during which he met, fell in love with and subsequently married former glamour model Katie Price. Capitalising on his resurgent popularity and a wave of generational nostalgia, he re-released his hit song Mysterious Girl in 2004, the single finally reaching number 1, eight years after it was originally released in 1995 which reached number 2 on the charts. This marked six years since his last chart appearance. He released a follow-up song, "Insania", which reached number 3 in the United Kingdom in June 2004. A follow-up album entitled The Long Road Back was also released that month but only reached number 44 in the UK album charts. The next single from the album was "The Right Way" and featured Price in the video. This reached number 14 in September 2004.

Andre and wife Price released a duet album, A Whole New World, on 27 November 2006. It was Price's first time in the music industry. The album consisted largely of cover versions and finally peaked at number 20 in the UK album charts. The album was followed by a single, "A Whole New World", on 14 December 2006. The single peaked at number 12.

On 1 February 2010 he released the album . The album was released for Valentine's day. It entered the UK album charts at number 9, and the following week moved up to 7, which is the albums peak position. As part as promotion for the album, Andre made a video for the song I Can't Make You Love Me and released it for the music channels. Also as part of promotion, Peter sang the song Sign Your Name on GMTV. Both the songs were recorded as covers for the album.

On 2 September 2010, it was announced on his official Twitter page that work on a new album was underway. titled Defender was released on 25 October 2010. The song peaked at number 14 in the UK singles chart. As part of promotion for the song, Andre made several Radio and TV appearances, including performances on Strictly Come Dancing, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and This Morning. He also did 5 single signings in Staffordshire, London, Brighton, Hull and Kent.

Following the success of Unconditional Andre released a male fragrance Conditional. This was again made available across stores in the UK and online. The Perfume Shop gave it a review of, "Peter has been heavily involved in all elements of the design process from the packaging to the creation of the actual product to deliver the most personal fragrance possible". Andre then commented about the fragrance himself, "I love the whole process I go through to design a fragrance, I find it so interesting. There is a lot of work that goes into making a product like this & to find the right scent that is personal to me. I hope the men like it as much as I do". Signings of the aftershave were done in stores across the UK for promotion.

The summer of 2010 saw Andre release a book, My World: In Pictures and Words. This was his first book since his divorce from Katie Price. The book tells of Andre's life story in his own words and selected pictures, it goes through his music career, marriage and divorce. The book reached number two on the UK book charts and stayed there for a number of weeks.

In 2010, Andre then released a second perfume, called Mysterious Girl, named after his hit single. He did several signings of the perfume across the UK. The Perfume Shop helped out with promotion for the fragrance, using their stores for the signings.

Television career

As well as his appearances in ITV1's reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! (2003) and his ITV2 shows with ex-wife Katie Price, Andre landed a completely different job as showbiz reporter for daytime magazine show This Morning. Andre went on to host the show with Kate Thornton in October 2009.

Andre hosted The 5 O'Clock Show show from June 2010, a Channel Four show featuring a guest presenter every few weeks, including Lenny Henry and Melanie Sykes.

He was a regular on the ITV1 game show Odd One In, he makes up one half of the Home Team (with Jason Manford).

Television appearances

Personal life

Andre married Katie Price on 10 September 2005, He has two children, both by Price, a boy named Junior Savva Andrea and a daughter named Princess Tiaamii. Price also has a son Harvey, a blind and autistic child from her earlier relationship with football player Dwight Yorke. Andre announced he was ready to adopt the child and admitted he had developed a big bond with him.

On 27 April 2007, it was reported in several newspapers in the United Kingdom that Andre had been diagnosed with meningitis. He was discharged from hospital on 3 May 2007.

In May 2009, it was announced that Andre and Price had separated after three and a half years of marriage. Interviewed on This Morning in July 2009, Andre said that he believes that he must "move on with his life" and there is "little chance" that he and Price will ever reconcile. Andre and Price were officially divorced on 8 September 2009, two days before what would have been their fourth wedding anniversary. Price has since married MMA fighter and former Hollyoaks actor Alex Reid.

On 26 November 2010 it was reported that Andre was rushed to the hospital with excruciating pain. The cause is still unknown, and fans are asked to check his website for alterations to tours. Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:ARIA Award winners Category:Australian male singers Category:Australian people of Greek descent Category:Australian businesspeople Category:Australian pop musicians Category:British businesspeople Category:British male singers Category:British people of Cypriot descent Category:British people of Greek descent Category:British pop singers Category:British singer-songwriters Category:I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here! contestants Category:Participants in British reality television series Category:People from Harrow

Name	Noel Gallagher
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Noel Thomas David Gallagher
Born	May 29, 1967 Manchester, England
Genre	Rock, Britpop, alternative rock, psychedelic rock
Occupation	Musician, songwriter
Years active	1991–present
Instrument	Guitar, vocals, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, mandolin, bouzouki, melodica, mellotron, violin, cello
Label	Creation, Big Brother, Epic
Associated acts	Oasis, The Rain, Tailgunner, Smokin' Mojo Filters
Notable instruments	Epiphone Supernova Signature ModelGibson ES-355Epiphone RivieraEpiphone SheratonEpiphone CasinoGibson Les PaulGibson J-200Fender Telecaster

Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, best known as the former lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis.

Raised in Burnage, Manchester with brother Liam, Noel began learning guitar at the age of thirteen. After a series of odd jobs in construction, Noel joined local Manchester band, Inspiral Carpets as a roadie and technician in 1988. Whilst touring with the Inspiral Carpets, he learnt that Liam had formed a band of his own, known as The Rain, which eventually took on the name "Oasis". After Noel returned to England, he was invited by Liam to join Oasis as songwriter and guitarist.

Oasis' debut album, Definitely Maybe (1994) marked the beginning of the band's rise to fame as head of the Britpop movement. Oasis' second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? became a massive commercial smash. However, Britpop soon declined in popularity, and Oasis' next three albums failed to revive its popularity, however the band's final two albums Don't Believe the Truth (2005) and Dig Out Your Soul (2008) were hailed as the band's best efforts in over a decade, which found the band renewed success. On 28 August 2009, following an altercation with Liam prior to a gig in Paris, Noel announced his departure from Oasis and on 23 October 2009, he confirmed he would embark on a solo career.

Noel's run with Oasis was marked by turbulence, especially during the peak of Britpop, during which Noel was involved in several disputes with Liam, and the brothers' fights and wild lifestyles regularly made headlines in British tabloid newspapers. Noel (along with Oasis) also shared a personal rivalry with fellow Britpop band Blur. However, Noel was often regarded as the spear-head of the Britpop movement, and at one point of time, NME termed a number of Britpop bands (including The Boo Radleys, Ocean Colour Scene and Cast) as "Noelrock", citing Gallagher's influence on their success. Many have praised Gallagher's songwriting, with George Martin claiming Noel to be 'the finest songwriter of his generation'.

Childhood and early life

Noel Gallagher was born in Longsight, Manchester, to Irish parents Peggy and Thomas Gallagher. He was the couple's second child, after the birth of Paul Gallagher. Soon after the birth of younger brother Liam in 1972, the Gallaghers moved to Ashburn Avenue in the Manchester suburb of Burnage. Noel had an unhappy childhood. He and his brothers were often beaten by his alcoholic father, and he was often reclusive—Liam described him as "the weirdo in the family". Due to their unease around their father, Noel and Paul both developed stammers. He was expelled from school at the age of 15 for throwing a bag of flour over a teacher. He used to hang around with the football hooligan firms Maine Line Crew, Under-5s and Young Guvnors in the 1980s, and at the age of thirteen, Noel received six months' probation for robbing a corner shop.

As teenagers the Gallagher brothers maintained limited contact with their father in order to secure jobs in construction. However, the relationship between father and sons continued to be tempestuous; Noel said, "Because we were always arguing we'd still be working at nine o'clock every night".

In May 1988, Noel met guitarist Graham Lambert of Inspiral Carpets during a Stone Roses show. The two struck up an acquaintanceship and Noel became a regular at Inspiral Carpets shows. When he heard singer Steve Holt was leaving the band, Noel auditioned to be the new vocalist. He was rejected, but became part of their road crew for two years. Singer Tom Hingley said Gallagher owes his own career to the band, since "his business sense, work ethic, message and humour are Inspiral down to the core." Noel struck up a friendship with monitor engineer Mark Coyle over their love of the Beatles, and the pair spent sound-checks dissecting the group's songs.

Career with Oasis

Joining the band

In 1991, Noel returned from an American tour with the Inspiral Carpets to find that his brother Liam had become a singer with a local band called "The Rain". Noel attended one of their concerts at Manchester's Boardwalk, but was unimpressed by the group's act. After rejecting an offer from Liam to be the band's manager, he agreed to join the band, on the condition that he take creative control of the group and become its sole songwriter. According to another source, Noel Gallagher told Liam and the rest of the group after having heard them play for the first time: "Let me write your songs and I'll take you to superstardom, or else you'll rot here in Manchester". His control over the band in its early years earned him the nickname "The Chief".

In May 1993, the band heard that a record executive from Creation Records would be scouting for talent at King Tut's in Glasgow. Together, they found the money to hire a van and make the six-hour journey. When they arrived, they were refused entry to the club because no one notified the venue that Oasis had been added to the bill. The band eventually secured the opening slot and played a four-song set that impressed Creation founder Alan McGee. McGee then took the Live Demonstration tape to Sony America and invited Oasis to meet with him a week later in London, at which point they were signed to a six-album contract. Gallagher has since claimed that he only had six songs written at the time, and has put his success in the interview down to "bullshitting".

Gallagher claimed to have written Oasis' first single, "Supersonic", in "the time it takes to play the song." "Supersonic" was released in early 1994 and peaked at #31 on the official UK charts. The single was later followed by Oasis' debut album Definitely Maybe, which was released in August 1994 and was a critical and commercial success. It became the fastest-selling debut album in British history at the time, and entered the UK Charts at #1. Despite their rapidly growing popularity, Noel briefly left Oasis in 1994 during their first American tour. The conditions were poor, and he felt the American audience—still preoccupied with grunge and metal—did not understand the band. Tensions mounted between him and Liam, culminating in a fight after a disastrous L.A. gig.

Britpop and the height of fame

Gallagher followed up the debut in 1995 with Oasis' first UK #1 single in "Some Might Say". This preceded their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, released later that year. Though it suffered initial critical apathy, the album became the second fastest-selling album in the UK, entering the UK album charts at #1 and peaking at #4 on the Billboard 200 chart. nor swim. He named his house in Belsize Park in London "Supernova Heights" (after the song "Champagne Supernova"), and his two cats "Benson" and "Hedges" after his favourite brand of cigarettes.

Oasis went on to have greater success with their next two singles, "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back in Anger" charting at #2 and #1 respectively. Originally, Noel had wanted to take lead vocals on "Wonderwall", but Liam insisted on singing it. As compensation, Noel decided he would sing lead vocals on "Don't Look Back in Anger". 1995 also saw Gallagher play two songs for the charity album Help!: "Fade Away", accompanied by friend and Oasis fan Johnny Depp and Depp's then-girlfriend Kate Moss; and The Beatles' 1969 hit "Come Together", along with Paul Weller, Paul McCartney and others in a supergroup called Smokin' Mojo Filters. Noel has also collaborated with the Chemical Brothers, Ian Brown, The Stands, The Prodigy and Weller, amongst others. Gallagher became so influential that a June 1996 NME article argued that "If Noel Gallagher, the most successful songwriter of his generation, champions a group, then said group are guaranteed more mainstream kudos and, quite possibly, more sales. And since Noel has taken to championing only five or six groups, then it's a powerful cabal he's promoting."

In March 1996, Noel and Liam Gallagher met their father again when the News of the World paid him to go to their hotel during a tour. Noel left for his room, later commenting "as far as I'm concerned, I haven't got a father. He's not a father to me, y'know? I don't respect him in any way whatsoever". The album was ultimately regarded by many as a bloated, over-indulgent version of Oasis, which Gallagher has since blamed on the drug-addicted state and indifference of the band at the time.

Gallagher began to suffer drug-induced panic attacks during this period. His lonely, paranoid state inspired the song "Gas Panic!", subsequently included on the 2000 album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. Gallagher has claimed to have quit using illicit drugs on 5 June 1998. He stated in 2001, "I liked drugs, I was good at them. But I'd had panic attacks for about a year and I stopped because I wanted to. After you make the decision, it is quite easy." Between 1993 and 1998, he claims, "I can hardly remember a thing."

Post-Britpop years

on 11 September 2005]] After the hype surrounding the release of Be Here Now had started to wane, critical response to the band became calmer and more considered, leading to a media backlash. In 1997, Noel was criticised for attending a high-profile and well-publicised media party at 10 Downing Street, hosted by the newly-appointed Prime Minister, Tony Blair, along with other celebrities and industry figures who had supported New Labour in the run-up to the general election. Both brother Liam and Blur's Damon Albarn declined their invitations, with Albarn commenting "Enjoy the schmooze, comrade." The perception of Gallagher as someone now mixing with politicians—or, in particular, a famous photograph of him sipping champagne with Blair—conflicted with the "working class hero" status championed through songs such as "Up in the Sky".

In 1999, rhythm guitarist Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs quit the band, with bassist Paul McGuigan following soon afterwards. As a result, the fourth studio album, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, was recorded by just the Gallaghers and drummer Alan White, with Noel playing all guitar parts. Gallagher commented on Bonehead's departure, "It's hardly Paul McCartney leaving the Beatles, is it?". After the recording sessions were completed, Gallagher selected Gem Archer to join in place of Bonehead.

Later that year Alan McGee decided to leave Creation and sold the rest of his 51% stake in the label to Sony. Gallagher took this opportunity to set up Big Brother Recordings, which took over Oasis' distribution in the UK, but Sony imprint Epic Records continues to handle the band's international distribution. Around the time of the album's release, Andy Bell, formerly of Ride, joined the band as bassist. In 2001, Gallagher formed his own label, Sour Mash Records, which released records by the likes of Shack and Proud Mary. The incorporation of the label followed Gallagher's debut as a producer, working with Proud Mary on their debut, The Same Old Blues.

In late 2006, Gallagher toured the UK, Europe, Japan, America and Australia in a series of acclaimed intimate semi-acoustic gigs accompanied by Gem Archer and Terry Kirkbride on percussion. The show proved successful and a further series of sets took place in 2007. March 2007 saw Gallagher perform in Moscow—the first time an Oasis member has performed in Russia. Yet Gallagher dismissed claims that he was planning to embark on a solo career. In early 2007, Gallagher joined the rest of Oasis to collect the "Outstanding Contribution to Music" Award at the Brit Awards 2007.

Noel, along with the band recorded their seventh studio album between 2007 and the next year in Abbey Road Studios and Los Angeles, and started at the end of the summer of 2008 a tour that will last at least 12 months.

In March 2009, The Times in conjunction with iTunes released a selection of live recordings by Noel Gallagher taken from his semi-acoustic performance at the Royal Albert Hall on 27 March 2007 in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. The Dreams We Have as Children features classic and rare tracks from the Oasis canon along with several cover versions of some of Noel's favourite artists.

Departure from the band

On 28 August 2009 Noel quit Oasis after a fight with his brother, Liam Gallagher. A little before midnight on Friday he posted a statement on the band's website that read:

"It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer. Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan."

In a follow-up statement on the band's website, Noel released the following statement:

As a result of Noel's departure, Oasis officially split and the remaining members reformed under a new name, Beady Eye whose first single is set for release in the autumn of 2010 with the album following later on in early 2011.

As a solo artist

Recent events

Noel's first concerts without Oasis were announced on 1 February 2010, to be at London's Royal Albert Hall on 25 and 26 March 2010. Noel was supported by The Courteeners and Plan B respectively. Bassist Mani of Primal Scream, and formerly the Stone Roses,was reported to be playing with him at these shows, however these rumours proved unfounded on the night. He was backed up by a choir, the Crouch End Festival Chorus and an orchestra, Wired Strings. Terry Kirkbride and Gem Archer joined him on-stage, as did Jay Darlington, all of whom Gallagher had previously worked with while he was still a member of Oasis. He played a mostly acoustic set, and played a variety of Oasis album tracks and B-sides. It was almost the same set he played at the Royal Albert Hall in 2007. Noel also joined friend Paul Weller onstage in London on 21 April 2010, and played the Oasis song "Mucky Fingers" and a song he co wrote with Weller, "Echoes Round the Sun". In the summer of 2010 Noel performed a few songs on stage in Hyde Park with Rick Kaupp before a massive audience.

Returning to the Studio

Noel confirmed that he would be returning to the studio on August 16 to record drums for another unnamed artist. Paul Weller subsequently confirmed in an interview with Absolute Radio that he was the previously unnamed artist who would be using Noel's drumming services. He also denied rumours that he would be the Best Man for Russell Brand 's marriage to Katy Perry. In August it was mentioned on a UK Music blog, Sourmash Music, that Noel has been working with Liverpool's own The Sand Band. Lead singer David McDonnell has been co-writing with Noel and are looking to collaborate on future solo projects together.

Although Noel has been fairly quiet with the media about his solo album, Alan McGee has said some of his songs are as good as Wonderwall. Miles Kane has also collaborated on one of Gallagher's songs.

Personal life

According to Noel's older brother, Paul, Noel was always very popular with women having several girlfriends from a young age. When Noel was 18 he proposed to his then girlfriend Diane but they never got married and eventually split up. In 1988 Gallagher moved out of his family home to live with his girlfriend at the time - Louise Jones. He lived with her for 6 years. They had a stormy relationship splitting up several times, only to get back together again a couple of days later. The Oasis classic Slide Away was written for her. Noel described them as 'soulmates' and when they finally split up in June 1994 Noel said 'I don't think I'll ever get over it.'

Gallagher married Meg Mathews in Las Vegas in June 1997. He met her in 1994 through her roommate, MTV presenter Rebecca de Ruvo whom he was dating at the time - but according to Noel, he liked Meg more so he dumped Rebecca and started dating Meg instead. Mathews gave birth to a daughter, Anais, on January 27, 2000. Gallagher and Mathews divorced shortly afterwards, in January 2001, following Liam's own announcement of his separation from Patsy Kensit. The divorce was on the grounds of Noel's adultery with Scottish publicist Sara MacDonald. After the divorce Gallagher claimed he'd only admitted to cheating in order to get the divorce over quickly and that he'd never actually been unfaithful. Soon after his split with Meg he entered a long-term relationship with Sara. They briefly separated in 2002, but they got back together soon after. The pair met in a club in Ibiza called Space during the time Noel left the Standing on the Shoulder of Giants tour. The song Waiting for the Rapture is about that meeting with Noel describing it as "about someone very special I met and have spent the last eight years with." on September 22, 2007 she gave birth to Noel's second child & first son, Donovan Rory MacDonald Gallagher. On October 1, 2010 Noel became a dad for the third time to second son which the couple named Sonny Patrick MacDonald Gallagher.

He was a frequent guest on The Russell Brand Show on BBC Radio 2, appearing on almost every show, leading Brand to dub him an unofficial "Co presenter". Other notable friends of his are, Mani of Primal Scream, Richard Ashcroft of The Verve - for whom he dedicated a song, "Cast No Shadow", the band members of the Chemical Brothers, - Sex Pistols members John Lydon and Steve Jones the members of the rock band Kasabian, Andy Nicholson, boxer Ricky Hatton, Paul McCartney, Liverpool F.C footballer Jamie Carragher, Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Johnny Marr, Paul Weller, Ian Brown, Kelly Jones and Johnny Depp. (who played slide guitar on the Oasis song Fade In-Out.) He was also good friends with Kate Moss who used to stay with him when she was visiting London. In 2001 he was reported to have an estimated personal fortune of £25 million. In 2009 The Sunday Times Rich List estimated Noel and Liam's combined personal fortune at £52 million.

Gallagher is a fan of football, being a well-known supporter of Manchester City F.C. He is a friend of former City midfielder Joey Barton, and also of Italian striker Alessandro Del Piero, who described Gallagher as Italy's "lucky mascot" during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and appears in the Oasis video "Lord Don't Slow Me Down". Gallagher was an official ambassador for England's bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Gallagher stated in a 2006 radio interview with Russell Brand that he does not believe in God or "an all-guiding force." Although Gallagher isn't very religious, throughout his career many of his songs mention God; (Carry Us All, Gas Panic!, The Hindu Times, Little by Little, to name four) and all the tracks he had contributed to Dig Out Your Soul, as well as the other band mates' songs, have lyrics and references to God and other biblical terms. The entire record has been described by Noel as a "religious Armageddon". But in recent interviews for Dig Out Your Soul regarding religion, Noel stated "See, I don't know what I am. If I was an atheist I'd just write songs about not believing in God - but I don't know what I am."

In 2008 it was announced that Gallagher would sell his home in Ibiza located near fellow musician James Blunt's, saying while in LA on the Russell Brand BBC Radio 2 show that he "Can't stand living there in the knowledge that Blunt is nearby making terrible music."

Songwriting and musicianship

Noel Gallagher was the primary songwriter in Oasis, and on the group's first few albums he was the sole songwriting contributor. Gallagher is often criticised for the praise he gives to his own songs. He points out "If you'd written 'Live Forever', you'd be walking to a different tune the next day too." Gallagher has often been accused by critics of plagiarising the music of his heroes, but he has maintained outright homages in his music are his intention. In a 1996 Guitar World interview, he described himself as "a fan who writes songs" and stated, "I'm not saying, 'I'm the greatest songwriter in the world. Listen to me.' Usually, I'm saying, 'These are the greatest songwriters in the world. And I'm gonna put them all in this song"'. His response to critics about the topic of "blatantly pinching riffs" was, "No, I don't feel guilty. But you feel pissed off because you didn't do it first."

Though naturally left-handed, Gallagher plays guitar right-handed, which he claims is the only thing he can do with his non-dominant hand. Noel has said he sometimes does not understand his own lyrics, commenting in 2005 that "when I'm halfway through 'Don't Look Back in Anger' I say to myself. 'I still don't know what these words mean!'"

Changing band dynamic

Gallagher's role as chief songwriter for Oasis has changed as he allowed a greater level of lyrical input from the other band members. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants included Oasis' first ever album track written by Liam Gallagher. Heathen Chemistry included a further three tracks by Liam (including the single "Songbird"), one by Archer and one by Andy Bell. Don't Believe the Truth featured another three tracks by Liam (though one of them, "Love Like a Bomb" was co-written with Archer), one from Archer, and two from Bell. The latter two albums have been greeted with increasing critical and commercial success in the U.K., particularly Don't Believe the Truth. Yet the second single from Don't Believe the Truth, "The Importance of Being Idle" became the second Noel-sung Oasis track to top the UK charts and was named 2005's finest track by Q magazine, as well as being nominated for the NME's "Best Song of 2005" award. However, on recent Oasis albums, Noel's increasing role as lead singer, apparently to compensate for his diminished role as songwriter, has caused some tension with Liam.

Zak Starkey, son of former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and previous drummer for Gallagher's heroes The Who and Johnny Marr, replaced long-time drummer Alan White during the recording sessions for Don't Believe the Truth. The loss of White prompted Gallagher to comment, in a 2005 interview, that he puts Oasis' trouble with drummers, in part, to the fact that he is himself a talented drummer, saying "I get a lot of stick for it, but I'm the best drummer in the group."

Controversy

Gallagher is well known for his controversial, outspoken statements in the press; he acknowledged his tendency for faux pas in the song "My Big Mouth" on the album Be Here Now. Yet Gallagher has defended himself, saying "people think [I'm] controversial for the answers [I] give to silly questions in interviews, but ... I'm not thinking about insulting ... people; I say what I genuinely feel is in my heart. My conscience is clean, d'you know what I mean? Y'know, I'm true to myself—fuck everybody else." His opinions have earned him an "elder statesman" reputation, with NME dubbing him "The wisest man in rock".

Damon Albarn and Blur

The most infamous of Gallagher's controversial statements was in a 1995 interview with The Observer, where he expressed a wish for Damon Albarn and Alex James of rivals Blur to "catch AIDS and die", a comment which he quickly apologised publicly for, and stated that "AIDS is no laughing matter." This statement was preceded by the success of (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, which led to a well-documented feud with fellow Britpop band Blur. The differing styles of the bands, coupled with their prominence within the Britpop movement, led the British media to seize upon the rivalry between the bands. Both factions played along, with the Gallaghers taunting Blur at the 1996 BRIT Awards by singing a rendition of "Parklife" when they collected their "Best British Band" award (with Liam changing the lyrics to "Shite-life"). Gallagher, however, proved the most aggressive, and in an interview with The Observer, he uttered this statement.

Gallagher maintains that the rivalry was conceived by the magazine NME and members of Blur's entourage as a ploy to raise their respective profiles, and that since this point he has had no respect for either party. However, Albarn has suggested the roots of the feud were much more personal. By 2007, the tension between the two had cooled, and in an NME interview, Gallagher said "I've got a lot of respect for Damon, I really do mean it. Because I'm indifferent to Damon he thinks that I think he's a cunt. Our Liam will talk to him, I won't because he's just another singer in a band to me, but I don't think he's a cunt. Good luck to him!"

Liam Gallagher

at the Coors Amphitheatre, San Diego, 14 September 2005]]

The Gallagher brothers famously share a turbulent relationship; one of their arguments was even released on a 1995 bootleg single entitled Wibbling Rivalry. Although in recent years their relationship had stabilised, during the band's early career there were a handful of incidents where the two have actually come to blows. In an L.A. show during their first American tour in 1994, Liam took to changing the words of the songs so that they were offensive to both Americans and Noel. A confrontation after the show which led to a chair being thrown and a brawl caused Noel to leave the tour and head for Las Vegas; Noel later claimed he had "visions of Fear and Loathing flashing in [his] eyes". During recording sessions for the second Oasis album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, the brothers had a violent fight involving a cricket bat, when Liam invited everyone from a local pub back into the studio while Noel was trying to work. Noel took hold of the bat and whacked Liam over the head with it. The fight ended with Noel breaking Liam's foot. In 1996, Noel provided lead vocals at a performance for MTV Unplugged when Liam backed out minutes before the set was due to start. Liam claimed to have been struck down with a "sore throat"; the band later found out that Liam did not like performing acoustically.

However, the relationship between the two brothers had become strained throughout 2009, leading eventually to a last minute cancellation of an Oasis concert scheduled to take place on 28 August 2009 in Paris, due to an "altercation within the group." Later that evening, Noel confirmed he had left Oasis as he "simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer." Through the Oasis website, Noel said "It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight". On 29 August, Noel expanded further on his blog, stating "the level of verbal and violent intimidation towards me, my family, friends and comrades has become intolerable. And the lack of support and understanding from my management and band mates has left me with no other option than to get me cape and seek pastures new."

Glastonbury

Noel Gallagher blasted the organizers of the 2008 Glastonbury Festival for scheduling Jay-Z as a headliner for the traditionally guitar-driven festival:

"If it ain't broke don't fix it. If you start to break it then people aren't going to go. I'm sorry, but Jay-Z? No chance. Glastonbury has a tradition of guitar music and even when they throw the odd curve ball in on a Sunday night you go 'Kylie Minogue?' I don't know about it. But I'm not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It's wrong."'''

Emily Eavis, the organizer of England's famed Glastonbury music festival, said she was honored U.S. hip-hop artist Jay-Z was headlining the event saying: "He is absolutely the right act for our festival," she said. "There is no reason why we should not have the greatest living hip-hop artist on at Glastonbury." Eavis also cited that Jay-Z is far from the first hip-hop artist to appear at Glastonbury. The Roots, Cypress Hill, and De La Soul have all performed at the Glastonbury Festival.

Jay-Z responded to this controversy saying the following:

"We don't play guitars, Noel, but hip-hop has put in its work like any other form of music. This headline show is just a natural progression. Rap music is still evolving. From Afrika Bambaataa DJ-ing in the Bronx and Run DMC going platinum, to Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince winning the first rap Grammy, I'm just next in the line. We have to respect each other's genre of music and move forward."

Jay-Z opened his set at Glastonbury 2008 with a cover of Oasis' song "Wonderwall". When Gallagher was asked about the incident he replied "The way it's played itself out is that I said Jay-Z had no right to play Glastonbury, which is a crock of horseshit. I got off a plane and someone asked me about the fact that Glastonbury hadn't sold out for the first time in years, and if it was because of Jay-Z. From there it grew into this crap that I was standing on an orange crate at Speakers' Corner saying, 'Gather round, brothers and sisters. Have you heard what's happening at Glastonbury this year?' I have a certain turn of phrase. So if I say, "Chicken sammiches in McDonald's are just plain fucking wrong," it doesn't mean I'm attacking all chickens or all sandwiches. I've hung out with Jay-Z in Tokyo. I've seen his show. It's not my bag, but it's all right. We have a mutual friend in Chris Martin. So I am a guy who doesn't like hip-hop—shock, horror. I don't dislike rappers or hip-hop or people who like it. I went to the Def Jam tour in Manchester in the '80s when rap was inspirational. Public Enemy were awesome. But it's all about status and bling now, and it doesn't say anything to me." When Jay Z was asked about Gallagher's comments he said "I haven't spoken to him [Gallagher], I heard he was reaching out. I don't bear any grudge, it's all good. I just believe in good music and bad music, I've always said that. You look at any interview from the beginning of time, I've always stated that I don't believe in the lines and classifications that people put music in so they can easily define it". When asked who he would be interested in collaborating with in the future, the rapper said, "Anyone. Oasis as well – it doesn't matter to me."

Politics

Noel has been outspoken about his political views on several occasions, most notably when he visited Tony Blair at No. 10 Downing Street in 1997. In an interview in 1997 when he was asked about why he visited Blair he replied, "I've taken a lot of flack for going to No. 10 Downing Street but the thing about that is, I never considered myself a rebel anyway. I wasn't going there representing the 'Indie community'. I wasn't representing anyone. I was going there for me. You have to understand that from when I went to school and from when I was born all we ever knew was conservative, Tory, right-wing government. What people don't mention is, they say 'He went to meet Tony Blair.' No. I went to meet the LABOUR prime minister. Our parents always drummed into us that the Labour Party was for the people and the Tory Party was not. I went to meet the Labour prime minister. Full stop."

In an interview in 2007 when asked about politics he said, "I'd been unemployed all my life. It was a big deal for me when he [Tony Blair] got in. Now David Cameron is no different than our Tony Blair and Gordon Brown is no different than our David Cameron. They're all cut from the same cloth and it annoys me that the biggest political icon in the last 30 years has been Margaret Thatcher, and she's a dick. Someone who tried to destroy the working class. It freaks me out. So I don't really think there's anything left to vote for. I believe that I, as a person, can only change things once every 5 years and that's by voting, and my point is that even casting that vote means that the same guy gets in, the only difference is one has a red tie and the other has a blue one. That's all it means, so I think that I should start the Gallagher Party."

He was open in his support for Barack Obama's successful bid for U.S. President, calling his acceptance speech to the 2008 Democratic National Convention "spellbinding."

In 1997 he played a 5 song set at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in NYC. As a result Oasis have been deemed "unsuitable" by the Chinese government, forcing a planned tour of the country in 2009 to be cancelled.

He has also been very vocal about knife crime. He said to one journalist, "It all goes back to the Thatcher Years. I know it's a cliché to say it but that's where the rot set in. If you go up north to any city there are rows and rows and rows of derelict houses. They can't even afford to knock them down and build something new, and that's where it all starts, if kids haven't got anything what are they supposed to do?"

When the interviewer suggested it was for status he replied, "In my day status was about trying to be somebody, not trying to kill somebody, so how's that all changed?"

Musical equipment

Throughout his career Gallagher has used a wide range of different guitars, effect pedals and amplifers from his large collection.

Guitars

;Electric Guitars

Epiphone Supernova - Gallagher's signature model combines features from Noel's most frequently used guitars over the years, including various Gibson and Epiphone semi acoustics. The most notable reference is the union jack paintjob, which echoes his custom-painted Epiphone Sheraton that he used at Maine Road in 1996.

Epiphone Riviera - Gallagher has several in different finishes. Seen in the promotional video for Don't Look Back in Anger.

Epiphone Sheraton - Gallager owns several, one of which with the Union Jack graphics. Noel also used Sunburst and Wine Red models on the Be Here Now tour- one sunburst model even gained a Manchester City F.C. sticker on the pickguard. This guitar was used a lot during 1997-98.

Fender Telecaster - Gallagher uses several including one with pink paisley graphics. A white telecaster was given to Noel by Johnny Depp as a birthday present.

Rickenbacker 330 - Gallagher owns several including one previously was owned by Paul Weller. Weller famously used this guitar when he performed Town Called Malice with his former band The Jam on Top of the Pops in 1982. It was given to Noel as a 30th Birthday Present by Weller.

Epiphone Les Paul - This was Gallagher's main guitar in Oasis' early days as seen in the UK promotional video for Supersonic

Gibson Les Paul - Gallagher owns several different Les Paul models in different finishes, including one previously owned by Pete Townshend, which was given to him by Johnny Marr.

Gibson Silver Florentine - Semi-hollow version of the Les Paul. Used during the Be Here Now Tour This guitar is no longer in his possession and was recently sold on eBay.

Gibson Firebird Non-Reverse - One of which is fitted with Bill Puplett Custom pick-ups. Used in numerous recordings including 'Morning Glory' and used on 'Top Of The Pops' for a performance of 'Rock n' Roll Star'. It's also seen in the 'Live Forever' US promotional video. This guitar was recently sold on Rockstars Guitars. Another Non-Reverse firebird with 3 stock pickups featured in the 'Cigarettes and Alcohol' promotional video.

Gibson ES-355 - Since 2002 this model has been Gallagher's main guitar for the majority of live performances.

Fender Jaguar - Noel is pictured using a blue Fender Jaguar in the promotional shots for the album Be Here Now. However there is no evidence that he used this guitar in the studio or live.

Gibson ES-345- Used in the studio and as a backup guitar on recent tours.

Epiphone Casino - Used by Noel on the Be Here Now Tour and in the studio. Seen in the Promotional video for Sunday Morning Call. Noel also used a casino with a natural finish (presumably a nod to John Lennon's famous 'stripped' casino), during the recording of Dig Out Your Soul. Noel can be seen using this guitar in the 'Gold and Silver and Sunshine' film from the Dig out your soul DVD.

Gibson Trini Lopez As seen in the promotional videos of The Hindu Times and Lyla.

Gibson Flying V Used for a short time around 1997-98, can be seen in the promotional video for D'You Know What I Mean?

Gibson ES-335 Used on the Track The Girl In The Dirty Shirt and various other studio recordings.

Gibson SG Custom model used at Maine Road in 1996. Recently purchased a model similar with a maestro tremolo which was used at the Fuji Rock Festival.

;Acoustic guitars Gallagher has two different Gibson SJ-200s that he plays as his main stage acoustics. One, used during live performances of, among other songs, has an Adidas sticker just above the neck joint and classic Gibson 'crown'-type fret markers. This guitar has a retrofitted soundhole single-coil pick-up. Gallagher's second SJ-200 is slightly different; rather than the 'crown' fret markers, it has "M"-shaped inlays. The second instrument has a similar pick-up to the first, but is different in that it has a brown pickguard. Perhaps most notably, this guitar was used for portions of Gallagher's solo tour, which culminated in a recorded concert in Paris on 28 November 2006.

Gallagher also owns a wide array of vintage Gibson and Martin guitars. On "Dig Out Your Soul," for instance, he played a 1970 Martin D-28. Other acoustics known to have been employed either in the studio or on-stage are a Takamine EF-325SRC, a Takamine FD -460SC, Takamine EG 335 12-string and a Takamine NV360S.:

In the beginning of Oasis, before Gallagher had his Gibson SJ-200s, he extensively played an Epiphone EJ-200, which can be seen in both the Wonderwall video and the live performance of "Talk Tonight" with Paul Weller. It's also the guitar he holds on the cover of Definitely Maybe and is seen on the cover of the Cigarettes and Alcohol single.

Effect pedals

In the early days of Oasis, Gallagher's effect setup was quite limited: he used a delay pedal and a Roland Space Echo. By 2002, in contrast, his pedal board had ballooned to include a large array of stomboxes as well as a large MIDI controller. Following is a list of all the guitar effects known to have been used from 1994 to 2009:

Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer

Pete Cornish SS-2 Fuzz

THC Hotplate Power Attenuator

Roland Space Echo

Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

Boss PH-2 Super Phaser

Boss CS-3 Compression/Sustainer

Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner

Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler

Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere (which simulates a Leslie speaker)

Boss AC-2 and AC-3 Acoustic Simulators

Way Huge Aqua Puss Delay

Dunlop Cry Baby

Various Vox Wah pedals

Boss RV-3 and RV-5 Reverb

Boss PN-2 Tremolo/ Pan

SIB Echodrive

Boss LS-2 Line Selector

Analogman King Of Tone Overdrive

Danelectro Dan-Echo Delay

Boss HR-2 Harmonist

Amplification

Gallagher is well known for his changing amplification preferences. During the band's early days and the recording of its seminal album Definitely Maybe, Gallagher utilised a Marshall Valvestate 8080 solid-state combo run through an overdriven Vox AC-30. When the band first appeared on television, the Vox had been replaced with a WEM Dominator 25-watt tube combo. By the time Oasis toured behind the album, however, the recording setup had been abandoned in favour of a 100-watt Marshall JCM-900 head and one or two matching 4x12 cabinets. Following the release of (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, Gallagher appeared with various amplifiers. Some sources indicate that he used a pair of Orange Overdrive 120 heads with four matching 4x12 cabinets, but photographs from this period clearly show him playing through a JCM 900 stack, in this tour, in 1995-1996 he uses also two Laney combo: Lc30 and Lc50 as we can see in the DVD "...There and Than". It is quite possible, especially considering the wide variety of amplifiers used during this period, that no definitive record will ever be assembled. Indeed, between 1997 and 2000, there appear to be no extant records of what Gallagher was playing through or even whether he was consistent in his choices.

From 2000 onwards, however, Gallagher's setup has remained more or less intact in that it has revolved around the entrance of the 15-watt Fender Blues Junior. At one point he ran a pair of Blues Juniors into Marshall 4x12 cabinets loaded with Celestion G-12s. Other amps to have made appearances in his rig during this period are the Clark Beaufort Combo and the Clark Tyger Combo. Also present in his quite substantial rig were a vintage Vox AC-50 head, and an unidentified Orange head which could very well be another Overdrive 120. During the "Don't Believe The Truth" tour he used a Fender Bassman head and matching cabinet with the two 4x12 Marshall cabs driven by a Blues Junior and the Vox AC50 Head. By 2008, Gallagher's rig had evolved again: a single Blues Junior coupled with three 2x12 Vertical Custom Hiwatt 100 combos. At the iTunes Festival at Camden Roundhouse, the rig had changed again; Gallagher had replaced one of the 2x12 Hiwatt combos with a Hiwatt amplifier head and matching 2x12 cabinet.

Discography

Albums

2009: The Dreams We Have as Children (Live for Teenage Cancer Trust)

Also featured on:-

1995: "Stanley Road" by Paul Weller, acoustic guitar on "I Walk on Gilded Splinters"

1997: "Dig Your Own Hole" by The Chemical Brothers, vocals on "Setting Sun"

1998: "Saturnzreturn" by Goldie , guitar on Temper Temper

1998: "", the track "Teotihuacan"

1999: "Surrender" by The Chemical Brothers, vocals on "Let Forever Be"

2000: "Tailgunner" by Tailgunner, drums

2000: "The Same Old Blues" by Proud Mary, production, plus additional vocals, guitars, bass and percussion

2002: "Illumination" by Paul Weller, drums, percussion & bass on "One X One"

2003 (Recorded in 2000): "Live at the Royal Albert Hall" by The Who, guitar on "Won't Get Fooled Again"

2004: "Solarized" by Ian Brown: collaboration on the song "Keep What Ya Got".

2004: "All Years Leaving" by The Stands, guitar on "Some Weekend Night"

2008: "22 Dreams" by Paul Weller, bass, piano, mellotron and wurlitzer on "Echoes Round The Sun"

Charted Songs

Further reading

Gallagher, Paul; Christian, Terry. Brothers, From Childhood to Oasis (Virgin Books)

Harris, John. Britpop!: Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock. Da Capo Press, 2004. ISBN 0-306-81367-X

Hewitt, Paolo. Getting High: The Adventures of Oasis (Boxtree Press)

Mathur, Paul. Take Me There: The Story Of Oasis (Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)

Middles, Mick. Oasis: Round Their Way (Independent Music Press)

Moody, P. Oasis: Lost Inside (UFO Music Ltd)

Robertson, I. Oasis: What's The Story? (Blake Books)

Wheeler, J. Oasis: How Does It Feel? (UFO Books Ltd)

Williams, J. & Cook J. Oasis member attacked on stage (Canoe.ca)

References

External links

Category:1967 births Category:English male singers Category:English people of Irish descent Category:English rock guitarists Category:English singer-songwriters Category:Lead guitarists Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Manchester Category:Oasis (band) members Category:People from Burnage Category:Road crew

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), better known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American pop musician. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents; Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her freshman year of high school, she began to pursue a career in music. As Katy Hudson, she released a self-titled gospel album in 2001, which due to the closing of her record label, was deemed unsuccessful. She later recorded an album with production team The Matrix and completed the majority of a solo album from 2004–5; neither of which were released.

After signing with Capitol Music Group in 2007, her fourth record label in seven years, she adopted the stage name Katy Perry and released her first Internet single "Ur So Gay" that November, which garnered public attention; but failed to chart. She rose to fame with the release of her second single "I Kissed a Girl" in 2008, which went on to top international charts. Perry's first mainstream studio album One of the Boys followed later that year and subsequently, became the thirty-third best selling album worldwide of 2008. It was accredited platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, while "I Kissed a Girl" and her second single "Hot n Cold" both received multi-platinum certifications. Her sophomore studio album Teenage Dream was released in August 2010 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album included hit singles "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream" and "Firework", all of which topped the charts on the Billboard Hot 100 and worldwide.

Perry was credited as a guest judge on the seventh series of the British television show The X Factor; has released a fragrance called "Purr"; and will appear in the upcoming 2011-film The Smurfs. Perry had a long relationship with Travie McCoy; she married Russell Brand on October 23, 2010.

Biography

1984–2006: Early life and career beginnings

Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, California on October 25, 1984 to Mary (née Perry), an evangelist who grew up in Southern California and had "a tempestuous first marriage in Zimbabwe", She has an older sister and younger brother. Perry's maternal aunt and uncle were screenwriter Eleanor Perry and director Frank Perry, through whom she is also related to Charles M. Schwab, the founder of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

Perry was incorporated into her parents' ministry She grew up listening to gospel music, was not allowed to listen to what her mother called "secular music", and attended Christian schools and camps. She took her GED after her freshman year at Dos Pueblos High School and decided to leave school in the pursuit of a career in music. Her sister practiced with cassette tapes, while Perry took the tapes herself when her sister was not around. She rehearsed the songs and performed them in front of her parents, who suggested she take vocal coaching. She grabbed the opportunity and began taking lessons at the age of nine and continued until she was sixteen. She later enrolled in at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and studied Italian opera for a short period of time. In Nashville, Perry started recording demos and was taught by country music veterans on how to craft songs and play guitar. Performing as Katy Hudson, she released the self-titled Gospel-rock album in 2001. The album was due for release in 2005,

Perry signed to Columbia Records in 2004. However, the label was not amenable with her vision, not putting her in the "driver's seat". She made a cameo appearance in Carbon Leaf's video, "Learn to Fly".

2007–09: One of the Boys and MTV Unplugged

Before being dropped by Columbia, its then publicity executive Angelica Cob-Baehler recommended Perry to Capitol A&R; Chris Anokute while at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Keen to hear more, Anokute was sent a DVD, featuring a video of "Simple", and a three-song demo. It was after hearing the demo of "Waking Up in Vegas" that Anokute became convinced of Perry's star talent. He showed the demo to his boss Jason Flom, then head of Capitol Music Group, telling him, "I've found the next Avril Lavigne meets Alanis Morissette." Flom proved to be less enthusiastic, however; he wasn't convinced the demos were good enough and was wary about an artist that had already been dropped by two major labels. Anokute refused to give up and eventually his persistence together with that of new Virgin employee, Cob-Baehler, paid off. Perry was signed to Capitol Music in early 2007.

She went on the next step of promoting the album, undertaking a two-month tour of radio stations. The album's official lead single, "I Kissed a Girl", was released on May 6, 2008. Perry's A&R;, Chris Anokute, told HitQuarters how, despite being himself convinced it was a "career record", the song and its controversial theme met with strong resistance at the label, "People said, 'This is never going to get played on the radio. How do we sell this? How’s this going to be played in the bible belt?'" On June 12, 2008, Perry appeared as herself on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless,

One of the Boys was released on June 17, 2008 to mixed critical reviews. The album has reached number nine on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Perry released her second single, "Hot n Cold", which became her second top three single in dozens of countries around the world, including the United States where it reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, Perry was nominated in five categories at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, including Best New Artist and Best Female Video, but lost to Britney Spears. She won Best New Act at the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards, which she co-hosted, and Best International Female Artist at the 2009 BRIT Awards. On February 9, 2009, both "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold" were certified three-time platinum by Recording Industry Association of America for individual digital sales of over three million.

The Matrix's self-titled debut album, which features Perry, was later released via the team's label, Let's Hear It, during Perry's solo tour. When the release date was scheduled, "I Kissed a Girl" had been charting well. Matrix member Lauren Christy spoke to Perry about the decision, but she wanted to hold the release until the fourth single of One of the Boys had been dispatched. Despite their communication, The Matrix was released on January 27, 2009, via iTunes Store. In December 2008, Perry apologized to British singer Lily Allen for remarks in which she called herself a "skinnier version" of her, saying she meant it as a joke. Allen retaliated and told a British radio station that she "happen[ed] to know for a fact that she [Perry] was an American version" of her because their record company needed "to find something controversial and 'kooky'" like her.

On May 16, 2009, Perry performed at the opening ceremony of the annual Life Ball in Vienna, Austria. In June 2009, lawyers acting for Katy Perry opposed the recent trademark of Australian fashion designer Katie Perry who uses her own name to market loungewear. Some media outlets reported this as a lawsuit, which Katy Perry has denied on her blog. Katie Perry the designer reports on her blog that at a hearing with IP Australia on July 10, 2009, the singer's lawyers withdrew their opposition to the trademark. During the summer of 2009 Perry filmed a cameo appearance for Get Him to the Greek; her scene, in which she kisses her future fiancé Russell Brand was cut, and does not appear in the final film. Discussing the issue with MTV, Perry hypothesized there may have been some fear that seeing the two make out would have taken viewers out of the experience. In 2009, Perry was featured on two singles: a remix of Colorado-based band 3OH!3's song "Starstrukk" in August (the idea for the collaboration came after Perry's tour that featured 3OH!3 as the supporting act). The song was released over iTunes on September 8, 2009; and "If We Ever Meet Again", the fourth single off Timbaland's album Shock Value II in December. In October 2009, MTV Unplugged revealed that Perry was one of the artists to perform for them, and that she would be releasing a live album of the performance, including two new tracks, "Brick by Brick" and Fountains of Wayne cover "Hackensack". The album was released on November 17, and includes both a CD and a DVD.

2010–present: Teenage Dream

Perry appeared as a guest judge alongside Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh during the Dublin audition stage of the seventh series of the British television show The X Factor on June 28, 2010 (later televised on August 28). She was one of the many celebrities chosen to fulfil the role of judge whilst Dannii Minogue was on maternity leave. She later returned to the show on October 17 to perform "Firework". Perry's second mainstream studio album was titled Teenage Dream and was released in August 2010. The first single from the album was titled "California Gurls". The single peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the fastest rising single from a Capitol Records artist since Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" in 1967. The cover art for Teenage Dream is a painting by Will Cotton in which depicts Perry lying naked on clouds of cotton candy; resembling the shots of Perry in the video for "California Gurls". The booklet of the physical edition of the album, in keeping with the theme of cotton candy, has a cotton candy scent. The album's second single "Teenage Dream" was released in July 2010. "Firework" is the album's third single.

Katy Perry appeared at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. She was nominated for two awards and presented the award of "Best Male Video" with Nicki Minaj to Eminem. On September 14, she returned to her old high school, Dos Pueblos High School, where she performed a short set for the school's students. Perry performed "Hot n Cold" with Elmo from Sesame Street, which was originally to appear on the forty-first-season premiere of the educational children's program on September 27, 2010. However, four days before the scheduled airing, Sesame Workshop announced, "In light of the feedback we've received on the Katy Perry music video ... we have decided we will not air the segment on the television broadcast of Sesame Street, which is aimed at preschoolers. Katy Perry fans will still be able to view the video on YouTube." The main reason was that parents complained about what appeared to be a great amount of cleavage shown by her dress. Perry shot the video for Firework in Budapest in September 2010. An open casting call drew an unprecedented 38,000 applicants. She proceeded to perform at a concert in Budapest on October 1, her first concert in Central and Eastern EuropePerry has announced her own fragrance to be released in autumn of this year, named "Purr". It will come in a cat-shaped bottle, and will be available through Nordstrom stores.

Musical style and themes

Perry has a contralto vocal range. Among Perry's musical influences are Alanis Morissette, pop rockers Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benatar, Joan Jett, Shirley Manson, and Freddie Mercury, Perry expects to record more pop songs for her next album.

Perry is artistically involved in her projects, especially in the writing process. Since she could play guitar, she would start writing songs at home and present it to her producers. Perry is mostly inspired by specific moments of her life. She said it is easy for her to write songs about heartbreak. The songs have been respectively labeled as being homophobic and promoting homosexuality, as well as "lez ploitational".

Public image

Perry is known for her unconventional style of dress. Her fashion has caught the attention of designers, who were giving her nearly as much attention as fans of her music. The picture was defended as only an effort to give Perry a "sexy, harder edge". She has appeared in FHM Magazine's 100 Sexiest Women poll twice, ranking at #23 in 2009 and #37 in 2010.

Personal life

Perry dated Gym Class Heroes frontman Travie McCoy, whom she met in a recording studio in New York, on and off for several years. After more than a year of friendship and casual dating, they became serious with their relationship right before they embarked on the 2008 Warped Tour. Perry and McCoy broke up in December 2008. The two began dating again in early 2009 and broke up again a few months later. Perry first met British comedian Russell Brand in the summer of 2008 when Perry filmed a cameo for Brand's film Get Him to the Greek. Perry and Brand 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." The couple became engaged in December 2009 when Brand proposed to Perry while vacationing in India. In a July 2010 YouTube interview, Perry said Brand would be a "perfect" father. Perry has stated that she plans to take dual British citizenship when she marries Brand. "One of the first things I'll do is apply for dual citizenship. I'm not too sure if I have to take a test as I've not had time to look into it. But England is like my second home". Perry and Brand married on October 23, 2010 near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan, India, the same location where Brand had proposed. They were married in a traditional Hindu ceremony.

Discography

Katy Hudson (2001)

One of the Boys (2008)

Teenage Dream (2010)

Tours

Hello Katy Tour (2009)

California Dreams Tour (2011)

Filmography

Television

{| class="wikitable sortable" !Year !Title !Role !class="unsortable"|Notes |- |2008 | |Herself |Episode 8914 |- |2008 |Wildfire |Herself |"" (Season 4, episode 8) |- |2010 | American Idol |Guest judge |"Season 9, episode 5" |- |2010 |The X Factor |Guest judge |"Series 7, episode 2" |- |2010 |Sesame Street | Herself | Online special (deleted from televised episode) |- |2010 | The Simpsons | Herself | 1 episode, "The Fight Before Christmas" |- |2011 | How I Met Your Mother | Zoey's cousin | 1 episode, "Oh Honey" |}

Films

{| class="wikitable sortable" !Year !Title !Role ! class="unsortable"|Notes |- |2011 | |Smurfette |Voice |- |2011 | |TBA |Cameo |- |}

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from California Category:American bloggers Category:American Christians Category:American contraltos Category:American dance musicians Category:American female guitarists Category:American female pop singers Category:American film actors Category:American musicians of German descent Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:American pop rock singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American voice actors Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Capitol Records artists Category:English-language singers Category:Female rock singers Category:Musicians from California Category:People from Santa Barbara, California Category:The X Factor judges

Name	Jeremy Clarkson
Caption	Clarkson in 2006.
Birth name	Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson
Birth date	April 11, 1960
Birth place	Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England
Residence	Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England; Langness, Isle of Man
Nationality	English
Other names	Jezza
Height
Education	Repton School Hill House School, Doncaster
Employer	BBC, The Sun, The Sunday Times
Occupation	Author, writer, journalist, broadcaster, talk show host,media personality
Home town	Doncaster, England
Years active	1988–present
Spouse
Website	topgear.com

Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May. He also writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun.

From a career as a local journalist in the North of England, Clarkson rose to public prominence as a presenter of the original format of Top Gear in 1988. Since the mid-1990s Clarkson has become a recognised public personality, regularly appearing on British television presenting his own shows and appearing as a guest on other shows. As well as motoring, Clarkson has produced programmes and books on subjects such as history and engineering. From 1998 to 2000 he also hosted his own chat show, Clarkson.

His opinionated but humorous tongue-in-cheek writing and presenting style has often generated much public reaction to his viewpoints. His actions both privately and as a Top Gear presenter have also sometimes resulted in criticism from the media, politicians, pressure groups and the public.

Despite the criticism levelled against him, Clarkson has also generated a significant following from the public at large, being credited as a major factor to the resurgence of Top Gear as the most popular show on the BBC.

Personal life

Clarkson was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire (West Riding at the time of his birth), to teacher Shirley Gabrielle Ward and travelling salesman Edward Grenville "Eddie" Clarkson; his parents ran a business selling tea cosies. They put the young Jeremy Clarkson's name down in advance for a number of private schools with no idea how they were going to pay the fees, until at the last moment, when he was 13, they made two Paddington Bear stuffed toys for each of their children. These proved so popular that they started selling them through the business with sufficient success to be able to pay the fees for Clarkson to attend Hill House School, Doncaster and later Repton School. By his own account, he was expelled from Repton School for "drinking, smoking and generally making a nuisance of himself."

Clarkson played the role of a public schoolboy, Taplin, in a BBC radio Children's Hour serial adaptation of Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings novels until his voice broke.

Clarkson is twice-married. His first marriage was in September 1989 to Alexandra James (now Hall). This marriage was short-lived, and in May 1993 he married his manager,

Clarkson's fondness for wearing jeans has been blamed by some for the decline in sales of denim in the mid 1990s, particularly Levi's, because of their being associated with middle aged men, the so-called 'Jeremy Clarkson effect'. After fashion gurus Trinny and Susannah labelled Clarkson's dress sense as that of a market trader, he was persuaded to appear on their fashion makeover show What Not to Wear in order to avoid being considered for their all-time worst dressed winner award. Their attempts at restyling Clarkson were however all rebuffed, and Clarkson stated he would rather eat his own hair than appear on the show again.

For an episode of the first series of the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? broadcast in November 2004, Clarkson was invited to investigate his family history. It included the story of his great-great-great grandfather John Kilner (1792–1857), who invented the Kilner jar: a container for preserved fruit.

In 2007, Clarkson and co-presenter James May were the first people to reach the magnetic North Pole in a car, chronicled in a . Clarkson more recently sustained minor injuries to his legs, back and hand in an intentional high-speed head-on collision with a brick wall while making the 12th series of Top Gear.

Clarkson is reportedly a big fan of the rock band Genesis and attended the band‘s reunion concert at Twickenham Stadium in 2007. He also provided sleeve notes for the reissue of the album Selling England by the Pound as part of the Genesis 1970–1975 box set..

Political views

Clarkson claims to be in favour of personal freedom and very much against government regulation, stating that government should "build park benches and that is it. They should leave us alone." He has a particular contempt for the Health and Safety Executive. He has often criticised the Labour Governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, especially the 'ban' culture, frequently fixating on the bans on smoking and 2004 ban on fox hunting. Clarkson is opposed to the opening up of the countryside to ramblers, under the right to roam, and became involved in a protracted legal dispute about access to a "permissive path" across the grounds of his second home on the Isle of Man since 2005.

Clarkson is often critical of political correctness. He often comments on the media-perceived social issues of the day such as the fear of challenging adolescent youths, known as 'hoodies'. In 2007 Clarkson was cleared of allegations of assaulting a hoodie while visiting Central Milton Keynes, after Thames Valley Police said that if anything, he had been the victim. Clarkson is a prominent Eurosceptic. In the five-part series Jeremy Clarkson Meets the Neighbours he travelled around Europe in a Jaguar E-Type, examining (and in some cases reinforcing) his stereotypes of other countries.

As a motoring journalist, he is frequently critical of government initiatives such as the London congestion charge or proposals on road charging. He is also frequently scornful of caravanners and cyclists. He has often singled out John Prescott the former Transport Minister, and Stephen Joseph the head of the public transport pressure group Transport 2000 for ridicule.

Clarkson has long been noted for his pro-smoking viewpoint, with him even publicly smoking as much as possible on National No Smoking Day. He announced on 14 April 2006 that he had given up smoking. He cited that he had found a cure for the urge — the Koenigsegg CCX. He also said: "(the cure) is called smoking", in reference to "smoking the tyres". He later revealed that he had started smoking again, with a cigarette lighter visible on screen with him.

Clarkson is unsympathetic to the green movement and has little respect for groups such as Greenpeace—he believes that the "eco-mentalists" are a by-product of the "old trade unionists and CND lesbians" who had found a more relevant cause— but "loves the destination" of environmentalism and believes that people should quietly strive to be more eco-friendly. but is aware of the negative consequences of global warming, saying "let's just stop and think for a moment what the consequences might be. Switzerland loses its skiing resorts? The beach in Miami is washed away? North Carolina gets knocked over by a hurricane? Anything bothering you yet?"

Clarkson has been highly critical of the United States and more recently President Barack Obama. In the Season 15 - Episode 1 of Top Gear, Clarkson openly mocked the President and the Gulf Coast Oil Spill. In another episode, Clarkson mistakenly referred to the president as "Obama Barack" and commented that it seemed like Obama had picked his name from Scrabble tiles. In an article after Obama was sworn into office, Clarkson wrote "they have got it into their heads that Barack Obama is actually a blend of Jesus, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King." Clarkson has also been very critical of the Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, advocating an end to the special diplomatic relations with America. He referred to America as the United States of Total Paranoia, commenting that one needs a permit to do everything except for purchasing firearms.

Whilst Clarkson states such views in his columns and in public appearances, his public persona does not necessarily represent his personal views, as he acknowledged whilst interviewing Alastair Campbell saying "I don't believe what I write, any more than you (Alastair Campbell) believe what you say"

Public reactions

Clarkson has been described as a "skilful propagandist for the motoring lobby" by The Economist and a "dazzling hero of political incorrectness" by the Daily Mirror. With a forthright and sometimes deadpan delivery, Clarkson is said by some to thrive on the notoriety his public comments bring, and has risen to the level of the bête noire of the various groups who disagree with his views. On the Channel 4 organised viewer poll, for the 100 Worst Britons We Love to Hate programme, Clarkson polled in 66th place. By 2005, Clarkson was perceived by the press to have upset so many people and groups, The Independent put him on trial for various 'crimes', declaring him guilty on most counts.

Responses to Clarkson's comments are often directed personally, with derogatory comments about residents of Norfolk leading to some residents organising a "We hate Jeremy Clarkson" club. In The Guardian's 2007 'Media 100' list, which lists the top 100 most "powerful people in the [media] industry", based on cultural, economic and political influence in the UK, Clarkson was listed as a new entrant at 74th. Some critics even attribute Clarkson's actions and views as being influential enough to be responsible for the closure of Rover and the Luton manufacturing plant of Vauxhall. Clarkson's comments about Rover prompted workers to hang an "Anti-Clarkson Campaign" banner outside the defunct Longbridge plant in its last days.

However, the BBC often plays down his comments as ultimately not having the weight they are ascribed. In 2007 they described Clarkson as "Not a man given to considered opinion", Some of his opponents state they take the view he is a man that should be ignored. Kevin Clinton, head of Road Safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has stated "We don't take what he says too seriously and hopefully other people don't either."

On his chat show, Clarkson, he caused upset to the Welsh by placing a 3D plastic map of Wales into a microwave oven and switching it on. He later defended this by saying, "I put Wales in there because Scotland wouldn't fit."

His views on the environment once precipitated a small demonstration at the 2005 award ceremony for his honorary degree from Oxford Brookes University, when Clarkson was pied by road protestor Rebecca Lush. Clarkson took this incident in good humour, responding 'good shot' and subsequently referring to Lush as "Banana girl". Clarkson has spoken in support of hydrogen cars as a solution.

In a 2008 poll of 5,000 female members of an online dating website, Clarkson came third in a poll of MISAs—Men I Secretly Adore—behind Jonathan Ross and Phillip Schofield. Characteristically, Clarkson was upset not to have come top.

In response to the reactions he gets, Clarkson has generally and consistently dismissed his importance, stating "I enjoy this back and forth, it makes the world go round but it is just opinion" On the opinion that his views are influential enough to topple car companies, he has argued that he has proof that he has had no influence. "When I said that the Ford Orion was the worst car ever it went on to become a best-selling car." He later trained as a journalist with the Rotherham Advertiser, before also writing for the Rochdale Observer, Wolverhampton Express and Star, Lincolnshire Life and the Associated Kent Newspapers.

In 1984 Clarkson formed the Motoring Press Agency (MPA), in which, with fellow motoring journalist Jonathan Gill, he would conduct road tests for local newspapers and automotive magazines. This developed into pieces for publications such as Performance Car. He has regularly written for Top Gear magazine since its launch in 1993.

Clarkson went on to writing articles for a diverse spectrum of readers through regular columns in both the mass-market tabloid newspaper The Sun, and for the more 'up market' broadsheet newspaper The Sunday Times. Both are owned by News International.

In addition to newsprint, Clarkson has written books about cars and several other, humorous, titles. Many of his books are aggregated collections of articles that he has written for The Sunday Times.

Television

Clarkson's first major television role came as one of the presenters on the British motoring programme Top Gear, from 27 October 1988 to 3 February 2000, in the programme's original format, and then again from 20 October 2002, when it was relaunched in a new format after a brief period off the air. He is credited with co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond as turning Top Gear into the most-watched TV show on BBC Two, rebroadcast to over 100 countries around the world. While closely associated with presenting motoring shows through the original Top Gear and Motorworld, by the late 1990s Clarkson had diversified into presenting programmes on other topics, beginning as presenter of the UK version of Robot Wars. At the same time his television presence also branched out into appearances on a number of other shows, both as guest and guest host. From 1998 for three years he had his own talk show, Clarkson, hosting 27 half-hour episodes aired in the United Kingdom between November 1998 and December 2000, and featured guest interviews with musicians, politicians and television personalities. In his television career, Clarkson went on to present a number of documentaries focused on non-motoring themes such as history and engineering, although the motoring shows and videos continued. Alongside his stand-alone shows, many often mirror the format of his newspaper columns and books, combining his love of driving and motoring journalism, with the examination and expression of his other views on the world, such as in Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld, Jeremy Clarkson's Car Years and Jeremy Clarkson Meets the Neighbours.

Clarkson's views are often showcased on television shows. In 1995 Clarkson appeared on the light hearted comedy show Room 101, in which a guest nominates things they hate in life to be consigned to nothingness. Clarkson despatched caravans, flies, Last Of The Summer Wine, the mentality within golf clubs, and vegetarians. His public persona has seen him make several appearances on the prime time talk shows Parkinson and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross since 2002. By 2003 his persona was deemed to fit the mould for the series Grumpy Old Men, in which middle-aged men talk about any aspects of modern life which irritate them. Since the topical news panel show Have I Got News for You dismissed regular host Angus Deayton in October 2002, Clarkson has become one of the most regularly used guest hosts on the show in a role which attracts a sideways look at current affairs. On a more serious platform, Clarkson has appeared as a panellist on the political current affairs television show Question Time twice since 2003.

In 2007 Clarkson won the National Television Awards' Special Recognition Award. Also in 2007, it was reported that Clarkson earned £1 million a year for his role as a Top Gear presenter, and a further £1.7 million from books, DVDs and newspaper columns.

Military interests

Clarkson has a keen interest in the British Armed Forces, with several Clarkson focused Top Gear spots having a military theme, be it Clarkson escaping a tank in a Range Rover, an Apache helicopter in a Lotus, a platoon of Irish Guardsmen in a Porsche and Mercedes, or using a Ford Fiesta as a Royal Marine landing craft. Several of his DVDs and television shows have featured military hardware, and he has flown in military jets.

Clarkson visited British Troops in Baghdad in October 2005.

Clarkson presented a programme looking at recipients of the Victoria Cross, in particular focusing on his father-in-law, Robert Henry Cain, who received a VC for actions during the Battle of Arnhem in World War II.

In 2007 Clarkson wrote and presented Jeremy Clarkson: Greatest Raid of All Time, a documentary about the World War II Operation Chariot, a 1942 Commando raid on the docks of Saint-Nazaire in occupied France.

At the end of 2007 Clarkson became a patron of Help for Heroes, a charity aiming to raise money to provide better facilities to wounded British servicemen. His effort led to the 2007 Christmas appeal in The Sunday Times supporting Help for Heroes.

Clarkson borrowed a Lightning (serial XM172), an RAF supersonic jet fighter of the Cold War era, which was temporarily placed in his garden and documented on his TV show Speed.

Engineering interests

Clarkson is passionate about engineering, especially pioneering work. In Inventions That Changed the World Clarkson showcased the invention of the gun, computer, jet engine, telephone and television. He has previously criticised the engineering feats of the 20th century as merely improvements on the truly innovative inventions of the Industrial Revolution. He cites the lack of any source of alternative power for cars, other than by "small explosions". In Great Britons, as part of a public poll to find the greatest historical Briton, Clarkson was the chief supporter for Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a prominent engineer during the Industrial Revolution credited with numerous innovations. Despite this, he also has a passion for many modern examples of engineering. In Speed and Extreme Machines Clarkson rides and showcases numerous vehicles and machinery. Clarkson was awarded an honorary degree from Brunel University on 12 September 2003, partly because of his work in popularising engineering, and partly because of his advocacy of Brunel.

In his book, I Know You Got Soul he describes many machines that he believes possess a soul. He cited the Concorde crash as his inspiration, feeling a sadness for the demise of the machine as well as the passengers. Clarkson was a passenger on the last BA Concorde flight on 24 October 2003. Paraphrasing Neil Armstrong he described the retirement of the fleet as "This is one small step for a man, but one huge leap backwards for mankind", and that the challenge of building Concorde had been a greater human feat than landing a man on the Moon.

His known passion for single- or two-passenger high-velocity transport led to his brief acquisition of an English Electric Lightning F1A jet fighter XM172, which was installed in the front garden of his country home. The Lightning was subsequently removed on the orders of the local council, which "wouldn't believe my claim that it was a leaf blower", according to Clarkson on a Tiscali Motoring webchat. In fact, the whole affair was set up for his programme Speed, and the Lightning is now back serving as gate guardian at Wycombe Air Park (formerly RAF Booker).

In a Top Gear episode, Clarkson drove the Bugatti Veyron in a race across Europe against a Cessna private aeroplane. The Veyron was an £850,000 technology demonstrator project built by Volkswagen to become the fastest production car, but a practical road car at the same time. In building such an ambitious machine, Clarkson described the project as "a triumph for lunacy over common sense, a triumph for man over nature and a triumph for Volkswagen over absolutely every other car maker in the world." After winning the race, Clarkson announced that "It's quite a hollow victory really, because I've got to go for the rest of my life knowing that I'll never own that car. I'll never experience that power again."

Cars

Ownership

Clarkson and his family own or have owned:

Volvo 850 R (his wife called it the Terminator)

Austin-Healey Sprite (As appeared in Top Gear when they entered the Classic Car Challenge)

Alfa Romeo 164

Ford Escort RS Cosworth

Custom Ford Sierra GL

Ford GT

Ford Cortina

Ford Mondeo

1980s Alfa Romeo GTV6

Ferrari F355

2 VW Sciroccos

Jaguar XJR

BMW 3.0 CSL

BMW Z1 (his wife)

Toyota Land Cruiser Amazon

Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG

Aston Martin V8 Vantage (for his wife)

Ford Focus

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X

Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG

Mercedes-Benz 600 Grosser

Lamborghini Gallardo

Land Rover Defender

Mercedes-Benz CLK63 AMG Black Series

Volvo XC90

Caterham Seven R400 (for his wife)

Range Rover TDV8 Vogue SE Lotus Elise 111S (his wife's, who apparently "sent it back for sports exhausts because it wasn't loud enough")

In addition to the many cars he has owned, as a motoring journalist Clarkson regularly has car companies deliver a choice of cars to his driveway for testing.

Clarkson wanted to purchase the Ford GT after admiring its inspiration, the Ford GT40 race cars of the 1960s. Clarkson was able to secure a place on the shortlist for the few cars that would be imported to Britain to official customers, only through knowing Ford's head of PR through a previous job. After waiting years and facing an increased price, he found many technical problems with the car. After "the most miserable month's motoring possible," he returned it to Ford for a full refund. After a short period, including asking Top Gear fans for advice over the Internet, he bought back his GT. He called it "the most unreliable car ever made", owing to never being able to complete a return journey with it. In 2006 Clarkson ordered a Gallardo Spyder and sold the Ford GT to make way for it. In August 2008 he reportedly sold the Gallardo. In October, he also announced he sold his Volvo XC90. But in January 2009, in a review of the car printed in The Times, he said, "I’ve just bought my third Volvo XC90 in a row and the simple fact is this: it takes six children to school in the morning." Despite his love for Alfa Romeos, he was very critical of the company's supercar, the 8C Competizione. In both Top Gear and his 2009 video special Thriller, Clarkson had no doubts about the car's beauty, but panned the poorly-designed suspension, comparing it to a Ford Mustang.

Clarkson has had mixed views on the Porsche 911 sports cars, feeling them to have uninspiring styling. He is also not a fan of the rear-engined flat six layout, feeling it a fundamentally flawed design. He has, however, often complimented the technical aspects and practicalities of many Porsches, over say the equivalent Ferrari of the time. In reviewing a 2003 Porsche 911 GT3 though, Clarkson conceded that Porsche had finally overcome the natural tendency of a Porsche mechanical layout to lose the grip in the rear tyres in a bend, and stated it was the first Porsche he had ever seriously considered buying. Clarkson also praised Porsche's supercar, the Carrera GT, in an October 2004 episode of Top Gear, and even commented that it's one of the most beautiful cars he has ever driven.

Clarkson has also expressed fondness for late-model V8 Holdens, available in the UK rebadged as Vauxhalls. Of the Monaro VXR he said, "It's like they had a picture of me on their desk and said [Australian accent] 'Let's build that bloke a car!'" and "I can't believe it... I've fallen in love... with a Vauxhall!" Clarkson suffered two slipped discs that he attributed to driving this car he described as being "back-breakingly marvellous".

Dislikes

Clarkson often derides any car that in his view might be bought by a Premier League footballer such as Wayne Rooney. Clarkson will often pick faults in the trim or build quality in any car he dislikes. He will also use his substantial frame to criticise any model with inadequate front or rear leg room or head room, and to criticise the throttle or brake pedal positions. Clarkson is also not a great fan of technological gadgetry where it detracts from or seeks to control the experience of driving, commenting that the only saving grace of the increasingly hi-tech BMW M5 was that in M mode all gadgetry was switched off, and it subsequently still retained the performance characteristics of historical M5s. He has frequently criticised the Mercedes-Benz practice of releasing a model and option list to suit every conceivable customer demand.

One of Clarkson's most infamous dislikes was of the British car brand Rover, the last major British owned and built car manufacturer. This view stretched back to the company's time as part of British Leyland. Describing the history of the company up to its last flagship model, the Rover 75, he stated "Never in the field of human endeavour has so much been done, so badly, by so many." In the latter years of the company Clarkson blamed the "uncool" brand image as being more of a hindrance to sales than any faults with the cars. On its demise, Clarkson stated "I cannot even get teary and emotional about the demise of the company itself — though I do feel sorry for the workforce."

Clarkson is also well known for his criticism of Vauxhalls and has described Vauxhall's parent company, General Motors, as a "pensions and healthcare" company which sees the "car making side of the business as an expensive loss-making nuisance". After a Top Gear piece by Clarkson for its launch, described by The Independent as "not doing [GM] any favours", Vauxhall complained to the BBC and announced, "We can take criticism but this piece was totally unbalanced."

Clarkson is known for destroying his most hated cars in various ways, including crushing a Yugo with a tank, catapulting a Nissan Sunny with a trebuchet, dropping a Porsche 911 onto a caravan (after plunging a piano onto the bonnet and dousing it in hydrochloric acid, amongst other things), getting a Land Rover and a box labelled "CND" to destroy a Citroën 2CV, allowing his American friend "Billy Bob" to destroy a Toyota Prius by shooting it with an arsenal of weaponry, shooting a Chevrolet Corvette with a helicopter gunship, dismantling a Buick Park Avenue with a bulldozer, or tearing a Lada Riva in half. In an episode of Top Gear, Clarkson bought a Maserati Biturbo just to drop a skip on it to show how much the model ruined Maserati's reputation. In Jeremy Clarkson: Heaven and Hell (2005), he bought a brand-new Perodua Kelisa, proceeded to attack it with a sledgehammer, tore it apart with a heavy weight while being suspended in mid-air and finally blew it up. He described the Kelisa as "Built with no soul, no flair and no passion; like a washing machine or fridge" and "A piece of un-imaginative junk".

Controversy

Clarkson's comments and actions have sometimes resulted in complaints from viewers, car companies, and even national governments.

Racist and Offensive remarks

In October 1998 Hyundai complained to the BBC about what they described as "bigoted and racist" comments he made at the Birmingham Motor Show, where he was reported as saying that the people working on the Hyundai stand had "eaten a dog" and that the designer of the Hyundai XG had probably eaten a spaniel for his lunch. Clarkson also allegedly referred to those working on the BMW stand as "Nazis", although BMW said they would not be complaining.

In April 2007 he was criticised in the Malaysian parliament for having described one of their cars, the Perodua Kelisa, as the worst in the world, built "in jungles by people who wear leaves for shoes". A Malaysian government minister countered, pointing out that no complaints had been received from UK customers who had bought the car.

While in Australia, Clarkson made disparaging remarks aimed at Gordon Brown, in February 2009, calling him a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" and accused him of lying. These comments were widely condemned by the Royal National Institute of Blind People and also Scottish politicians who requested that he should be taken off air. Furthermore, the comments were condemned as racist. He subsequently provided a qualified apology for remarks regarding Brown's "personal appearance".

In July 2009 though, Clarkson made another indignant remark about the British Prime Minister during a warm-up while recording a Top Gear show, apparently describing Brown as "a silly cunt". Although several newspapers reported that he had subsequently argued with BBC 2 controller Janice Hadlow, who was present at the recording, the BBC denied that he had been given a "dressing down". John Whittingdale, Conservative chair of the Culture Select Committee remarked: "Many people will find that offensive, many people will find that word in particular very offensive [...] I am surprised he felt it appropriate to use it."

Road safety

Clarkson readily discusses high speed driving on public roads, and criticizes road safety campaigns involving cameras and speed bumps. In 2002 a Welsh Assembly Member Alun Pugh wrote to BBC director general Greg Dyke to complain about Clarkson's comments that he believed encouraged people to use Welsh roads as a high speed test track. A BBC spokesman said that suggestions Clarkson had encouraged speeding were "nonsense". Clarkson has also made similar comments about driving in Lincolnshire. As of 2004 Clarkson was reported as having a clean licence. In a November 2005 Times article, Clarkson wrote on the Bugatti Veyron, "On a recent drive across Europe I desperately wanted to reach the top speed but I ran out of road when the needle hit 240mph", and "From the wheel of a Veyron, France is the size of a small coconut. I cannot tell you how fast I crossed it the other day. Because you simply wouldn’t believe me." In 2007 the celebrity lawyer Nick 'Mr. Loophole' Freeman got a charge against Clarkson of driving at 86 mph in a 50 mph zone on the A40 road in London dropped, on the basis that the driver of the car loaned to Clarkson from Alfa Romeo could not be ascertained. In 2008 the BBC faced calls to sack Clarkson after he claimed in a talk at the Hay Festival to have been given a speeding ticket for driving at 186 mph on the A1203 Limehouse Link road in London. At the same talk he stated he had "never been pulled over for speed while working on Top Gear. I don't drive very fast."

On the final Concorde flight, Clarkson threw a glass of water over Morgan during an argument. In 2006 Morgan revealed that the feud was over, saying "There should always be a moment when you finally down cudgels, kiss and make up." In December 2006 the BBC complaints department upheld the complaint of four Top Gear viewers that Clarkson had used the phrase "ginger beer" (rhyming slang for "queer") in a derogatory manner, when Clarkson picked up on and agreed with an audience member's description of the Daihatsu Copen as being a bit "gay". The was criticised by the BBC Trust for glamorising drunk driving in a scene showing Clarkson and James May in a vehicle, despite Clarkson saying to the camera "Don't write in to complain about us drinking and driving, because we're sailing!" (As they were on top of frozen water.) They stated the scene "was not editorially justified" despite occurring outside the jurisdiction of any drink driving laws. In October 2007 following complaints, Waverley Borough Council were due to investigate a breach of the recently introduced smoking ban in enclosed places, when Clarkson and fellow presenter James May lit Porsche branded pipes in the studio, in a mistaken belief that by using herbal tobacco they were not breaking the law. In fact, the ban applies to anything producing smoke, and was not covered by the theatrical performance exemption.

In November 2008 Clarkson attracted over 500 complaints to the BBC when he joked about lorry drivers murdering prostitutes. The BBC stated the comment was a comic rebuttal of a common misconception about lorry drivers and was within the viewer's expectation of Clarkson's Top Gear persona. On the next Top Gear programme, Clarkson appeared sincerely apologetic and stated "It has been all over the news and the internet and after many complaints I feel I must apologise." However, instead of apologising for his comments, he went on to say "I'm sorry I didn't put the [Porsche] 911's time on the board last week" (after he set it on fire in the previous week's show), much to the studio audience's amusement. Andrew Tinkler, chief executive of the Eddie Stobart Group, a major trucking company, stated that "They were just having a laugh. It’s the 21st century, let’s get our sense of humour in line."

Public right of way

Clarkson was involved in a long-running dispute over a public right of way at his residence in Langness after diverting a footpath away from his home in 2005. He eventually lost the dispute after the Isle of Man government started a public enquiry and was told to re-open the footpath in May 2010.

Filmography

Presenter

{|class=wikitable |-

! Year !! Title |- | 1988–2000 || Top Gear (Original Format) |- | 1995–96 || Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld |- | 1996 || Jeremy Clarkson - Unleashed On Cars |- | 1997 || Jeremy Clarkson - Apocalypse Clarkson |- | 1997 || Jeremy Clarkson's Extreme Machines |- | 1998 || Jeremy Clarkson - The Most Outrageous |- | 1998 || Robot Wars |- | 1999 || Jeremy Clarkson - Head To Head |- | 1998–2000 || Clarkson (chat show) |- | 2000 || Jeremy Clarkson - At Full Throttle |- | 2000 || Clarkson's Car Years |- | 2001 || Jeremy Clarkson - Top 100 Cars |- | 2001 || Speed |- | 2001 || You Don't Want To Do That |- | 2002 || Jeremy Clarkson - No Limits |- | 2002–Present|| Top Gear (current format) |- | 2002 || Jeremy Clarkson Meets The Neighbours |- | 2003 || Jeremy Clarkson - Shootout |- | 2003 || |- | 2004 || Jeremy Clarkson - Hot Metal |- | 2004 || Inventions That Changed the World |- | 2005 || Jeremy Clarkson - Heaven And Hell |- | 2006 || Jeremy Clarkson - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly |- | 2007 || Jeremy Clarkson - Supercar Showdown |- | 2007 || |- | 2008 || Jeremy Clarkson - Thriller |- | 2009 || Jeremy Clarkson - Duel |- | 2010 || Jeremy Clarkson - The Italian Job |}

Other roles

{|class=wikitable |-

! Year !! Title !! Role |- | 1993 || ''Mr Blobby's Christmas (Music Video) || Guest |- | 1997 || Room 101 || Guest |- | 1997 || The Mrs Merton Show || Guest |- | 2002 || 100 Greatest Britons || Guest |- | 2002 || Have I Got News for You || Guest Host |- | 2002 || Friday Night with Jonathan Ross || Guest |- | 2003 || Patrick Kielty Almost Live || Guest |- | 2003 || Parkinson || Guest |- | 2003 || Question Time || Participant |- | 2003 || Grumpy Old Men || Participant |- | 2004 || Call My Bluff || Participant |- | 2004 || QI || Participant |- | 2004 || Who Do You Think You Are? || Participant |- | 2005 || Top of the Pops || Guest Host |- | 2006 || Cars || Voice Artist of Harv in U.K. Version. |- | 2006 || Never Mind the Buzzcocks || Guest Host |- | 2006 || ''The F Word || Participant |- | 2008 || The One Show || Guest |- | 2008 || Have I Got News for You || Guest Host |- | 2009 || The Chris Moyles Show || Guest |- | 2009 || Love the Beast || Guest |- | 2009 || 8 out of 10 Cats || Guest |- | 2009 || Have I Got News For You || Guest |- | 2010 || Have I Got News For You || Guest Host |- | 2010 || QI || Participant |}

Videos/DVDs

Running Series

# Jeremy Clarkson's Motor Mayhem (1995, VCI Video, VHS/DVD). # Clarkson - Unleashed On Cars (1996, VCI Video, VHS/DVD). # Apocalypse Clarkson (1997, VCI Video, VHS/DVD). # The Most Outrageous Jeremy Clarkson Video In The World...Ever! (1998, VCI Video, VHS/DVD). # Clarkson - Head To Head (1999, VCI Video, VHS/DVD). # Clarkson - At Full Throttle (2000, VCI Video, VHS/DVD). # Clarkson's Top 100 Cars (2001, VCI Video, VHS/DVD). # Clarkson - No Limits (2002, VCI Video, VHS/DVD). # Clarkson - Shoot Out (2003, VCI Video, VHS/DVD). # Clarkson - Hot Metal (2004, VCI Video, VHS/DVD). # Clarkson - Heaven & Hell (2005, 2|Entertain, DVD). # Clarkson - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (2006, 2|Entertain, DVD). # Clarkson - Supercar Showdown (2007, 2|Entertain, DVD). # Clarkson - Supercar Showdown - Behind The Scenes (2007, 2|Entertain, DVD). # Clarkson - Thriller (2008, 2|Entertain, DVD). # Clarkson - Duel (2009, 2|Entertain, DVD). # Clarkson - Duel - Behind The Scenes (2009, 2|Entertain, DVD). # Clarkson - The Italian Job (2010, 2|Entertain, DVD).

Voice-Over Compilations

# Jeremy Clarkson's Motorsport Mayhem (1995, Arison International, VHS/DVD). # Jeremy Clarkson's More Motorsport Mayhem (1996, Arison International, VHS).

Television Compilations

# Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld (1996, BBC Video, VHS). # Jeremy Clarkson's Extreme Machines (1997, BBC Video, VHS). # Jeremy Clarkson's Speed (2001, BBC Video, VHS). # The Jeremy Clarkson Collection (2008, 2|Entertain, DVD).

Bibliography

{| class=wikitable |-

! Book !! Publisher !! Year |- | Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld || BBC Books Penguin Books || 1996 Reprinted 2004 |- | Clarkson On Cars || Virgin Books Penguin Books || 1996 Reprinted 2004 |- | Clarkson's Hot 100 || Virgin Books Carlton Books || 1997 Reprinted 1998 |- | Planet Dagenham || Andre Deustch Carlton Books || 1998 Reprinted 2006 |- | Born To Be Riled || BBC Books Penguin Books || 1999 Reprinted 2007 |- | Jeremy Clarkson On Ferrari || Lancaster Books Salamander Books || 2000 Reprinted 2001 |- | The World According To Clarkson || Icon Books Penguin Books || 2004 Reprinted 2005 |- | I Know You Got Soul || Micheal Joseph Penguin Books || 2005 Reprinted 2006 |- | And Another Thing... || Micheal Joseph Penguin Books || 2006 Reprinted 2007 |- | Don't Stop Me Now!! || Micheal Joseph Penguin Books || 2007 Reprinted 2008 |- | For Crying Out Loud! || Micheal Joseph Penguin Books || 2008 Reprinted 2009 |- | Driven To Distraction || Micheal Joseph Penguin Books || 2009 Reprinted 2010 |- | How Hard Can It Be? || Micheal Joseph Penguin Books || 2010 Reprinted 2010 |}

Two books containing the best columns from previous publications, entitled "The Collected Thoughts Of Clarkson" and "Never Played Golf" were issued by Top Gear Magazine, in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

Footnotes

References

Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld (1996), ISBN 0-563-38730-0

Clarkson on Cars: Writings and Rantings of the BBC's Top Motoring Correspondent (1996), ISBN 0-86369-964-2

Clarkson's Hot 100 (1997), ISBN 1-85227-730-0

Jeremy Clarkson's Planet Dagenham: Drivestyles of the Rich and Famous (1998), ISBN 0-233-99335-5

Born to Be Riled: The Collected Writings of Jeremy Clarkson (1999) (re-published 2007), ISBN 0-563-55146-1

Jeremy Clarkson's Ultimate Ferrari (2001), ISBN 1-84065-358-2

The World According To Clarkson (2004), ISBN 0-7181-4730-8

Clarkson on Cars (2004), ISBN 0-14-101788-0

I Know You Got Soul (2004), ISBN 0-7181-4729-4

Motorworld (2004), ISBN 0-14-101787-2

The World According to Clarkson 2: And Another Thing... (2006), ISBN 0-7181-4985-8

External links

Archive of Clarkson's Sunday Times columns

Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear

Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:Critics of the European Union Category:English writers Category:English journalists Category:English television presenters Category:Motoring journalists Category:Never Mind the Buzzcocks Category:Old Reptonians Category:People from Doncaster Category:The Sunday Times people Category:Top Gear

Name	Adrian Chiles
Caption	Chiles at the BAFTAs 2009
Birth date	March 21, 1967
Birth place	Quinton, Birmingham, England
Known for	presenting:MOTD2,Working Lunch,The One Show,Daybreak
Occupation	Broadcaster, writer
Nationality	British
Ethnicity	Anglo-Croatian
Years active	1994-present
Employer	ITV, previously BBC
Spouse
Children	2 daughters

Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British television and radio presenter, currently working for ITV presenting Daybreak and football coverage for ITV Sport.

His journalistic training and love of football resulted in the development of a career in two streams of broadcasting when he was at the BBC: fronting general and notably business programmes such as The One Show, Working Lunch and The Money Programme; and sports programmes like Match of the Day 2. His radio programme Chiles on Saturday for Radio 5 Live was awarded the sports category Gold Medal at the Sony Radio Academy Awards in 2002.

Early life and career

Chiles was born in Quinton, Birmingham, to an English father and Croatian mother, and moved a few miles away to Hagley, Worcestershire at age four. A feature of his presentations is his Birmingham accent. He also speaks Croatian, despite having a self-confessed imperfect understanding of the language's verbs, declensions, and cases. Chiles started his education at Haybridge High School, and then worked in his father's scaffolding business, before graduating with a degree in English Literature from the University of London (studying at Westfield College, now part of Queen Mary, University of London).

Before going to university he was a keen amateur actor, appearing in the Crescent Theatre's (Birmingham) production of Mary O'Malley's Once A Catholic and Sandy Wilson musical The Cheese. After university, while waiting for his broken leg to heal from an amateur football incident he applied for and failed both Civil Service exams, before being asked to apply for MI5 — he failed the second interview.

Chiles studied journalism at Cardiff and then worked, at one time, as a sports reporter for the News of the World.

During August 2006 Adrian Chiles co-presented a pilot of a new BBC One early-evening magazine programme, The One Show. The programme was re-commissioned for 2007 with Chiles returning as host, leaving Working Lunch. Chiles' last appearance on The One Show was on 30 April 2010 and his favourite guest from the programme rock singer Robert Plant appeared again. His final show also saw video tributes to an emotional Chiles from Prime Minister Gordon Brown and political leaders David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

In April 2007, Chiles was a guest host of BBC One's popular satirical news quiz, Have I Got News for You. He stated that he is frequently mistaken for author and presenter Ray Mears.

BBC Sport

When the BBC won back the rights to Premier League football, Chiles became the host of Match of the Day 2 on Sundays. In the run-up to the 2006 World Cup, he was an integral part in BBC Three's African Cup of Nations coverage. He was also a member of the BBC's World Cup team often bringing viewers late night highlights. He was a main presenter of the BBC's Euro 2008 coverage and was one of the anchors of the morning 2008 Olympics coverage from Beijing.

Departure to ITV

After news media speculation suggesting that the BBC wished to increase the popularity of The One Show on Fridays by introducing Chris Evans alongside Christine Bleakley in an extended one-hour format, Chiles was said to be discussing a contract with ITV. After Evans was confirmed as the new Friday presenter in a revamped one-hour format, Chiles left the BBC for ITV in a four year contract, speculated to be worth £1million per year. Chiles left the BBC on 30 April 2010.

From May 2010, Chiles fronted ITV's football coverage. He made his ITV debut on 24 May 2010, presenting the England v Mexico friendly at Wembley (England won the match 3-1).

On 6 September 2010 he made his first appearance on Daybreak, ITV's new breakfast television programme.

Charity work

In March 2008, Chiles embarked on a charity cycling trip with footballer Alan Shearer from Newcastle upon Tyne to London via West Bromwich for Sport Relief. The duo raised £371,065 for their feat.

In 2010, Chiles grew a beard, which was later shaved off by his One Show co-host Christine Bleakley for Sport Relief, raising £60,000 in the process.

Other activities

Chiles is the author of We Don't Know What We're Doing. Published in 2007, the book recounts the stories of a varied cast of avid West Bromwich Albion supporters whom Chiles met over the course of the 2005/06 season, at the end of which the team was relegated from the Premier League. The book also documents Chiles' own obsession with his beloved "Baggies."

He was the World Record holder for highest number of kisses received in 60 seconds until 2009, with 78.

In 2004, Chiles appeared with Johnny Vegas and Mackenzie Crook in the movie Sex Lives of the Potato Men in a cameo role as the host of a sex party.

He appeared on the second series of Al Murray's Happy Hour as himself, and also had a cameo as himself in Series Two of That Mitchell and Webb Look.

On 23 November 2009, Chiles released a 2 Good 2 Bad: The World Cup DVD based on the popular segment from Match of the Day 2.

Personal life

Chiles married Jane Garvey, now a regular presenter of Woman's Hour on Radio 4, in September 1998 in Swansea. Chiles and Garvey have two daughters, both born in Hammersmith and Fulham, London: Evelyn Katarina (born January 2000) and Sian Mary (born March 2003). In June 2008, the couple separated; they divorced in October 2009. He is a Roman Catholic.

Chiles is well known for his support of West Bromwich Albion Football Club, where he is a season-ticket holder and presenter on some of the club's official DVDs. Both of his cars have WBA in their registration and he has a stained glass West Bromwich Albion crest above his door. He also supports the Croatian national team, because of his Croatian mother.

Chiles plays the double bass, as revealed when he dueted with violinist Nigel Kennedy playing "Fever" on The One Show. On 7 May 2008 his co-presenter on The One Show, Christine Bleakley, sang part of a song with Chiles accompanying on piano. Chiles also plays the organ at St Martin on occasions.

Chiles was one of several BBC personalities sent soiled toilet paper by post in February 2007. He said of the incident, "The smell is not something you want first thing in the morning." Chiles readily admits to being "ugly" and feels his Brummie accent has actually worked in his favour at the BBC.

References

Celebrity guests gallery BBC - The One Show

Celebrity Fan Adrian Chiles Talks Everything West Brom Exclusively to TF90M TF90M - The First 90 Minutes

Adrian Chiles profile BBC Sport Match of the Day, 11 August 2004

External links

Category:1967 births Category:Alumni of Cardiff University Category:Alumni of Westfield College Category:BBC Radio 5 Live presenters Category:British sports broadcasters Category:English journalists Category:English people of Croatian descent Category:English radio personalities Category:English Roman Catholics Category:English television presenters Category:ITV Breakfast presenters and reporters Category:Living people Category:People from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:People from Worcestershire Category:Sony Radio Academy Award Gold winners Category:The Apprentice UK Category:World record holders