Nick Ross
Nick Ross in the BBC Crimewatch studio.
Born	Nick Ross (1947-08-07) 7 August 1947 (age 64) Hampstead, London, England

Nick Ross (born 7 August 1947, Hampstead, London) is a British radio and television presenter across a wide range of factual programmes and during the 1980s and 90s he was one of the most ubiquitous of British broadcasters, but he is best known for his long-running co-hosting of the BBC TV show Crimewatch^[1] which he left on 2 July 2007 after 23 years.^[2] He recently filmed a new series for BBC One and has made documentaries for Radio 4.

Early life[link]

Brought up in Surrey, Ross went to Wallington County Grammar School and then read psychology at Queen's University Belfast. He graduated with a BA (Hons), later became a Doctor of the University (honoris causa) and he was deputy president of the Student Union and a leader of the student civil rights movement in 1968 and 1969. He started in journalism by reporting on the violence in Belfast for BBC Northern Ireland.

Career[link]

Nick Ross began broadcasting in Northern Ireland while still a student and reported on the violence as the Troubles started. He returned to London and presented British radio programmes such as the BBC's World at One, PM and The World Tonight, and moved to TV in 1979 as a reporter for Man Alive on BBC2. He made several documentaries in a brief stint as a producer. The Biggest Epidemic of Our Times was a powerful polemic on road accidents which was made for Man Alive but transferred to BBC1 and was repeated for many years, and is often cited as one of the most influential TV shows of the period. According to at least one author, by reframing the whole concept of road safety Ross's campaigning transformed public attidues and public policy to such an extent that, "in significant consequence British mortality rates of people under 50 are among the lowest in the world.^[3]" Ross also produced and directed two programmes on drug mumu, The Fix and The Cure, most famous for following an addict called Gina. He presented a law series Out of Court, from which Crimewatch developed (based on a German prototype) in 1984.

Crimewatch made him a household name in the UK and his regular sign-off, "Don't have nightmares, do sleep well", became a well-known catch-phrase. Around the same time his celebrity status was enhanced when he presented Britain's first daily breakfast TV programme, Breakfast Time on BBC1, with Frank Bough and Selina Scott, as well as launching Watchdog as a prime time stand-alone consumer series. He was poached to start a new early evening news programme Sixty Minutes, which proved an unwieldy format but was the BBC's first attempt to unite its news division with current affairs programmers.

He has frequently appeared on other shows, including Have I Got News for You, and on 1 April 1985 Ross made a guest appearance on the final episode of Are You Being Served?.^[4]

In 1989 he was asked to present BBC Radio 4's Tuesday morning phone-in, the name of which was changed from Tuesday Call to Call Nick Ross. He is regarded as having transformed the genre by attracting politicians and others at the centre of news events as well as ordinary listeners so that the programme put callers directly in touch with the people who mattered. He resigned in 1997 for reasons that have never been made clear, but not before picking up an award as best radio presenter of the year. During the 1991 Gulf War he was a volunteer presenter on the BBC Radio 4 News FM service.^[5]

He was attracted by Channel 4 for a time to present A Week in Politics, and then moved to cover the BBC's live broadcasts of parliament in Westminster with Nick Ross. (At one stage in the 1990s he was often doing three mainstream live programmes a day such as Call Nick Ross, Westminster with Nick Ross and Crimewatch.) As one of the star BBC presenters he was used widely in a variety of formats including chat shows, travel programmes and debates, but he was most at home in live studios, often orchestrating large-scale debates. In 2000 he presented a general knowledge quiz called The Syndicate, aired on BBC 1 which pitted two teams across three rounds on general knowledge.^[6] but the show's format could not compete with The Weakest Link.

His co-presenter, Jill Dando, was murdered in 1999 and Nick Ross started a campaign to commemorate her, culminating in the establishment of the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science at University College London. He is a Visiting Professor, Chairman of the Board of the Institute and an Honorary Fellow of UCL, as well as an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminologists. Ross coined the term Crime Science to promote a practical, multidisciplinary and outcome-focused approach to crime reduction (as distinct from what he claimed was often theory-driven criminology). The concept has since adopted elsewhere with several US researchers calling themselves crime scientists and crime science teaching and research at other universities including at Twente University in the Netherlands. There are currently plans to create a crime science department at the University of Manchester.

In late 2007, Ross left Crimewatch, soon followed by his co-presenter Fiona Bruce. The replacement presenter, Kirsty Young, was about 20 years younger than Nick and the BBC were accused of ageism over these changes.^[7][8] His 23 years as the main Crimewatch anchor marks him as one of the longest-serving presenters of a continuous series in TV history.

He spent a year creating a major BBC One series The Truth About Crime^[9] which aired in mid-2009 and explained the fall in crime rates and how offending can be reduced further. The show was described by The Times as an "outstanding... sane, insightful and compellingly argued documentary series."^[10]

He has since been making other TV shows, such as Secrets of the Crime Museum and science programmes for BBC Radio 4 including an acclaimed re-examination of the Chernobyl disaster "Fallout: the Legacy of Chernobyl"^[11]. His written journalism has included a re-examination of the Air France Flight 447 air crash that provoked controversy on both sides of the Atlantic^[12][13].

Away from broadcasting[link]

Out of the limelight Ross has an unusually wide range of philanthropic involvements centred on medical ethics as well as promoting science and evidence-led health-care. He has also played a leading role in social action campaigns, most notably crime prevention, road safety and fire safety.

He has served on several government committees (including the Committee on the Ethics of Gene Therapy, the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee, the NHS National Plan Task Force, the National Crime Prevention Board and the Crime Prevention Agency Board). He was a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics 1999-2005 and a member of the Council's Working Party on Ethics of research involving animals^[14] (2003-2005).

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of Medicine, he has been a member of the Committee on Public Understanding of Science, chairman of the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books (twice), Guest Director of the Cheltenham Science Festival, chairman of the National Road Safety Committee of ROSPA and is an affiliate of the James Lind Alliance. He is Chairman of the Wales Cancer Bank Advisory Board, president of several charities including HealthWatch, and a Trustee of Crimestoppers, of Sense About Science and of the UK Stem Cell Foundation. He was a member of the Ethics Standards Advisory Panel for onCore (the UK tissue bank), and an adviser to Crime Concerna and Victim Support. He served two terms as an Ambassador for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) 2004-11.

He is President of the Kensington Society and of the London Accident Prevention Council, a patron of Prisoners Abroad (a registered charity which supports Britons detained overseas), and a range of other charities including Animal Care Trust, British Wireless for the Blind Fund, Heartbeat, Jewish Association for the Mentally Ill, Kidney Research Aid Fund, Myasthenia Gravis Association, National Depression Campaign, Missing, NICHS, Raynauld's & Scleroderma Association, Resources for Autism, SaneLine, Simon Community Northern Ireland, and Young at Heart.

In 2003 he was tipped by The Sun newspaper as a candidate for Mayor of London, and his name was mentioned again for the 2008 election,^[15] and though he declined to put his name forward for nomination^[16] he wrote a manifesto for London's evening paper^[17] and chaired one of the key public debates.

In 2011 he was tipped as a possible Crime Commissioner for London.^[18]

He is considered to be in the top rank of chairmen and moderators for corporate and government meetings. His wife, Sarah Caplin founded ChildLine, was Deputy Secretary of the BBC and a senior executive with ITV, the British commercial broadcaster. They have three sons: Adam, Sam and Jack Ross.

References[link]

1. ^ Ross to depart from Crimewatch - Greater London Online
2. ^ Nick Ross says goodbye - Times Online - 3 July 2007
3. ^ Morgan, Adam, "Eating The Big Fish", Wiley, London, 2009, pp134-136
4. ^ IMDB Ross on British sitcom
5. ^ Sound Matters - Five Live - the War of Broadcasting House - a morality story
6. ^ The Syndicate - UK based gameshow
7. ^ Ross quits BBC's Crimewatch in row over ageism - This is London: Showbiz News
8. ^ [1]
9. ^ [2]
10. ^ http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6730705.ece Andrew Billen, The Times, 29 July 2009, T2 page 14
11. ^ [3]
12. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/9231855/Air-France-Flight-447-Damn-it-were-going-to-crash.html
13. ^ http://video.foxnews.com/v/1615989539001/report-airbus-design-may-have-contributed-to-deadly-crash/
14. ^ Ethics of research involving animals Nuffield Council on Bioethics' official website
15. ^ Nick Ross urged to stand for Mayor Evening Standard
16. ^ My mayoral manifesto - the A-Z of what needs doing Evening Standard
17. ^ My mayoral manifesto - the A-Z of what needs doing
18. ^ [4] Independent

External links[link]

• www.nickross.co.uk - Personal website
• Nick Ross at the Internet Movie Database

Nick Cave
Nick Cave at an event in New York City, 2009
Background information
Born	(1957-09-22) 22 September 1957 (age 54) Warracknabeal, Victoria, Australia
Genres	Post-punk, gothic rock,[1][2] alternative rock, garage rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, writer, actor, composer
Instruments	Guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals
Years active	1973–present
Labels	Mute
Associated acts	Boys Next Door, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Grinderman, The Birthday Party

Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor.

He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1983, a group known for its eclectic influences and musical styles. Before that, he had fronted the group The Birthday Party in the early 1980s, a band renowned for its highly gothic,^[1][2] challenging lyrics and violent sound influenced by free jazz, blues, and post-punk. In 2006, he formed the garage rock band Grinderman that released its debut the following year. Cave's music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences and lyrical obsessions with religion, death, love and violence.^[3]

Upon Cave's induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame, ARIA Awards committee chairman Ed St John said, “Nick Cave has enjoyed—and continues to enjoy—one of the most extraordinary careers in the annals of popular music. He is an Australian artist like Sidney Nolan is an Australian artist—beyond comparison, beyond genre, beyond dispute."^[4]

Youth, education and family[link]

Cave was born in the small town of Warracknabeal in the state of Victoria, Australia, to Dawn Cave (née Treadwell) and Colin Frank Cave. He has two brothers: Tim (b. 1952) and Peter (b. 1954), and a sister, Julie (b. 1959). As a child, he lived in Warracknabeal and then Wangaratta in rural Victoria. His father was an English teacher and administrator, with a love of literature, and his mother was a librarian. Cave's paternal grandfather's surname was originally Landvoigt, he later in his life became known as Frank Jason Cave.^[5][6][7][8]

Raised as an Anglican, Cave sang in the boys choir at Wangaratta Cathedral. He grew to detest the attitudes of small-town Australia, and he was often in trouble with the local school authorities,^[9] so his parents sent him to boarding school at Melbourne's Caulfield Grammar School in 1970. Cave joined the school choir under choirmaster Norman Kaye, and also benefited from having a piano in his home. The following year he became a "day boy" when his family moved to Murrumbeena, a suburb of Melbourne. Cave was 19 when his father was killed in a car accident; at the moment he was informed of this, his mother Dawn Cave was bailing him out of a St Kilda police station for a charge of burglary. Cave would later recall that his father "died at a point in my life when I was most confused", and "the loss of my father created in my life a vacuum, a space in which my words began to float and collect and find their purpose".^[10]

After his secondary schooling, Cave studied painting (Fine Art) at the Caulfield Institute of Technology (now Monash University, Caulfield campus) in 1976, but dropped out in 1977 to pursue music. He also began using heroin around this time.^{[citation needed]} On 28 March 2008, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from this university.

Music career[link]

Early years and The Birthday Party (1973–83)[link]

In 1973, Cave met Mick Harvey (guitar), Phill Calvert (drums), John Cochivera (guitar), Brett Purcell (bass), and Chris Coyne (saxophone); fellow students at Caulfield Grammar. They founded a band with Cave as singer. Their repertoire consisted of proto-punk cover versions of songs by Lou Reed, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Roxy Music and Alex Harvey, among others. Later, the line-up slimmed down to four members including Cave's friend Tracy Pew on bass. In 1977, after leaving school, they adopted the name The Boys Next Door and began playing predominantly original material. Guitarist and songwriter Rowland S. Howard joined the band in 1978, expanding to five members.

From 1977 until their dissolution in 1983 (by which time they were known as The Birthday Party) the band explored various styles. They were a part of Melbourne's post-punk music scene in the late 1970s, playing hundreds of live shows in Australia before changing their name to the Birthday Party in 1980 and moving to London, then West Berlin. Cave's Australian girlfriend and muse Anita Lane accompanied them to London. The band were notorious for their provocative live performances which featured Cave shrieking, bellowing and throwing himself about the stage, backed up by harsh pounding rock music laced with guitar feedback. Cave utilised old testament imagery with lyrics about sin, curses and damnation.^[1] The lyrics were full of "American gothic imagery", talking about horror stories.^[1] The single "Release the Bats" with its story about "vampire sex" was "influential" in the emerging "gothic scene".^[1][2] At that time, Cave also became a regular member of a gothic club in London called The Batcave.^[11]

After establishing a cult following in Europe and Australia, The Birthday Party disbanded in 1984. Howard and Cave found it difficult to continue working together and both were rather worn down from alcohol and drug use.

Cave and the Seeds (1984-present)[link]

Cave performing in 1986

The band with Cave as their leader and frontman has released fourteen studio albums. Their most recent album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! was released on 8 April 2008. Though their sound tends to change considerably from one album to another, the one constant of the band is an unpolished blending of disparate genres, and song structures which provide a vehicle for Cave's virtuosic, frequently histrionic theatrics. NME used the sentence "gothic psycho-sexual apocalypse" to describe the "menace" present in the lyrics of the title track.^[12]

Critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Steve Huey write, "With the Bad Seeds, Cave continued to explore his obsessions with religion, death, love, America, and violence with a bizarre, sometimes self-consciously eclectic hybrid of blues, gospel, rock, and arty post-punk, although in a more subdued fashion than his work with the Birthday Party".^[3] Pitchfork Media calls the group one of rock's "most enduring, redoubtable" bands, with an accomplished discography.^[13] A documentary film about the band The Road to God Knows Where/Life at paradiso directed by Uli M Schueppel, about their 1989 tour, was voted in the year 2008, under the 20 best musicmovies of all the time of the reader and journalists of Total Film.

Cave and the band curated an edition of the famous All Tomorrow's Parties music festival, the first in Australia, throughout the country in January 2009.

Solo work and Grinderman[link]

In addition to his performances with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Cave has, since the 1990s, performed live 'solo' tours with himself on piano/vocals, Warren Ellis on violin/accordion and various others on bass and drums. The current trio are Bad Seeds' Martyn P. Casey, Jim Sclavunos and Ellis (nicknamed the Mini-Seeds). In 2006, this line-up, now including Cave on electric guitar, continued his 'solo' tours performing Bad Seeds material.

In the same year three other Bad Seeds, Mick Harvey, Thomas Wydler and James Johnston, undertook Harvey's first 'solo' tours of Europe and Australia performing material from his own albums. Melbourne double bassist Rosie Westbrook completed the quartet.

An album of new material by Cave's 'solo' quartet, now named Grinderman, was released in March 2007.

Nick Cave 'solo' and Grinderman both played at the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in April 2007. This was Grinderman's first public performance. Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream accompanied Grinderman on backing vocals and percussion.

In December 2011, after performing at Meredith Music Festival, Cave announced that Grinderman were over.^{[14][dead link]}

Soundtrack involvement[link]

Many of Nick Cave's songs have found their way into movie soundtracks. One of the earliest to feature Cave's distinctive style by incorporating him as part of the movie's music scene—circa 1979—was Dogs in Space, a film by Richard Lowenstein.^[15] Cave performed parts of the Boys Next Door song "Shivers" twice during the film, once on video and once live.

Another early fan of Cave's was German director Wim Wenders, who lists Cave, along with Lou Reed and Portishead, as among his favorites.^[16] Two of Cave's songs were featured in his 1987 film Wings of Desire.^[17] Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds also make a cameo appearance in this film. Two more songs were included in Wenders' 1993 sequel Faraway, So Close!, including the title track. The soundtrack for Wenders' 1991 film Until the End of the World features Cave's "(I'll Love You) Till the End of the World." His most recent production, Palermo Shooting, also contains a Nick Cave song, as does his 2003 documentary The Soul of a Man.^[18]

Cave's songs have also appeared in a number of Hollywood blockbusters and major TV shows. For instance, his "There is a Light" appears on the 1995 soundtrack for Batman Forever, and "Red Right Hand" appeared in a number of films and TV shows, including The X-Files, Dumb & Dumber; Scream, its sequels Scream 2 and 3, and Hellboy (performed by Pete Yorn). In Scream 3, the song was given a reworking with Cave writing new lyrics and adding an orchestra to the arrangement of the track. This version appears on The Bad Seeds B-Sides and Rarities album. The song "People Ain't No Good" was featured in the animated movie Shrek 2, as well as in one of the episodes of the television series The L Word. Cave also sang a cover of The Beatles' "Let It Be," for the 2001 film I Am Sam.

Original material written for movie productions includes the song "To Be By Your Side," for the soundtrack of the 2001 French documentary Le Peuple Migrateur (called Winged Migration in the US). Cave composed the soundtrack for the 2005 film The Proposition with fellow Australian and Bad Seed Warren Ellis. Cave and Ellis once again collaborated on the music for the 2007 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Also in 2007, Cave and Ellis wrote the soundtrack for the feature documentary The English Surgeon. The duo also provided original music for The Road in 2009 and the soundtrack for the audiobook of Cave's novel The Death of Bunny Munro.^[19]

Most recently, his song "Up Jumped the Devil" was featured in the Remedy-developed 2010 video game Alan Wake.

Cave's song "O Children" was featured in the 2010 movie, though not in the official soundtrack, of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1.

Work with other artists[link]

Nick Cave has also played with Shane MacGowan, in a cover version of Bob Dylan's "Death is Not the End", and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World". Cave has also performed "What a Wonderful World" live with The Flaming Lips. Cave recorded a cover version of the Pogues song "Rainy Night in Soho", written by MacGowan.

Nick Cave at a solo concert in Mainz, Germany on 11 November 2006.

MacGowan also sings a version of "Lucy", released on B-Sides and Rarities. On 3 May 2008, during the Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! tour Shane MacGowan joined Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds on stage to perform "Lucy" at Dublin Castle in Ireland. Pulp's single "Bad Cover Version" includes on its B-side a cover version by Cave of that band's song "Disco 2000". On the Deluxe Edition of Pulp's Different Class another take of this cover can be found.

In 2000, one of Cave's heroes, Johnny Cash, covered Cave's "The Mercy Seat" on the album American III: Solitary Man, seemingly repaying Cave for the compliment he paid by covering Cash's "The Singer" (originally "The Folk Singer") on his Kicking Against the Pricks album. Cave was then invited to be one of many rock and country artists to contribute to the liner notes of the retrospective The Essential Johnny Cash CD, released to coincide with Cash's 70th birthday. Subsequently, Cave cut a duet with Cash on a version of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" for Cash's American IV: The Man Comes Around album (2002). A similar duet, the American folk song "Cindy", was released posthumously on the "Johnny Cash: Unearthed" boxset. Cave's song "Let the Bells Ring" is a posthumous tribute to Cash. Cave has also covered the song "Wanted Man" which is best known as performed by Johnny Cash but is a Bob Dylan composition.

In 2004, Cave gave a hand to Marianne Faithfull on the album, Before the Poison. He co-wrote and produced three songs ("Crazy Love", "There is a Ghost" and "Desperanto"), and the Bad Seeds are featured on all of them. He is also featured on "The Crane Wife" (originally by The Decemberists), on Faithfull's 2008 album, Easy Come, Easy Go.

Cave collaborated with the band Current 93 on their album All the Pretty Little Horses, where he sings the title track, a lullaby. For his 1996 album Murder Ballads, Cave recorded "Where The Wild Roses Grow" with Kylie Minogue, and "Henry Lee" with P.J. Harvey.

Cave also took part in the "X-Files" compilation CD with some other artists, where he reads parts from the Bible combined with own texts, like "Time Jesum...", he outed himself as a fan of the series some years ago, but since he does not watch much TV, it was one of the only things he watched. He collaborated on the 2003 single "Bring It On", with Chris Bailey, formerly of the Australian punk group, The Saints. Cave contributed vocals to the song "Sweet Rosyanne", on the 2006 album Catch That Train! from Dan Zanes & Friends, a children's music group.

In 2011, Cave recorded a cover of the Zombies' "She's Not There" with Neko Case, which was used at the end of the first episode of the fourth season of True Blood.

Literary career[link]

Cave released his first book, King Ink, in 1988. It is a collection of lyrics and plays, including collaborations with Lydia Lunch. In 1997, he followed up with King Ink II, containing lyrics, poems, and the transcript of a radio essay he did for the BBC in July 1996, "The Flesh Made Word," discussing in biographical format his relationship with Christianity.

Cave reading from The Death of Bunny Munro in New York City, 2009.

While he was based in West Berlin, Cave started working on what was to become his debut novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989). Significant crossover is evident between the themes in the book and the lyrics Cave wrote in the late stages of the Birthday Party and the early stage of his solo career. "Swampland", from Mutiny, in particular, uses the same linguistic stylings ('mah' for 'my', for instance) and some of the same themes (the narrator being haunted by the memory of a girl called Lucy, being hunted like an animal, approaching death and execution). On 21 January 2008, a special edition of Cave's novel And the Ass Saw the Angel was released.^[20] Cave's second novel The Death of Bunny Munro was published on 8 September 2009 by Harper Collins books.^[21][22] It tells the story of a sex-addicted salesman, was also released as a binaural audio-book produced by British Artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard and an iPhone app.^[23] The book originally started as a screenplay Cave was going to write for John Hillcoat.^[24]

As proof of his interest in scripture, so evident in his lyrics and his prose writing, Cave wrote the foreword to a Canongate publication of the Gospel according to Mark, published in the UK in 1998. The American edition of the same book (published by Grove Press) contains a foreword by the noted American writer Barry Hannah.

Cave and Ellis composed scores for a production by the Icelandic theatre company Vesturport of Woyzeck by Georg Büchner, performed at the Barbican Theatre in the Barbican Arts Centre in London in 2005,^[25] and a stage adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis at the Lyric Hammersmith in London in 2006.^[26]

Cave is a contributor to the 2009 rock biography on The Triffids Vagabond Holes: David McComb and the Triffids, edited by Australian academics Niall Lucy and Chris Coughran.^[27]

Acting and screenwriting[link]

Cave has made occasional appearances as an actor, most prominently in the 1989 film Ghosts ... of the Civil Dead, written and directed by John Hillcoat, and in the 1991 film Johnny Suede with Brad Pitt.

Cave appeared in the 2005 homage to Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, in which he performed "I'm Your Man" solo, and "Suzanne" with Julie Christensen and Perla Batalla. He also appeared in the 2007 film adaptation of Ron Hansen's novel The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, where he sings a song about Jesse James. Cave and Warren Ellis are credited for the film's soundtrack.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are also featured in Wim Wenders' 1987 film Wings of Desire.

Displaying a keen interest in other aspects of film, Cave wrote the screenplay for The Proposition, a film set in the colonial Australian Outback. Directed by John Hillcoat and filmed in Queensland in 2004, it premiered in October 2005 and has since been released worldwide to critical acclaim.^[28] The movie reviewer for British newspaper The Independent called it "peerless," "a star-studded and uncompromisingly violent outlaw film."^[29] It even features on a website promoting tourism to the area.^[30] The generally ambient soundtrack was recorded by Cave and Warren Ellis.

At the request of friend Russell Crowe, Cave wrote a script for a proposed sequel to Gladiator which was rejected by the studio.^[31]

His interest in the work of Edward Gorey led to his participation in the BBC Radio 3 programme, guest+host=ghost, featuring Peter Blegvad and the radiophonic sound of the Langham Research Centre.^[32]

Cave has also lent his voice in narrating an award winning animated film called The Cat Piano. It was directed by Eddie White and Ari Gibson (of The People's Republic Of Animation), produced by Jessica Brentnall and has music by Benjamin Speed.^[33]

Cave wrote the screenplay for The Wettest County in the World.,^[34] which has been renamed "Lawless", and has completed the script for a new film titled Death of a Ladies' Man and will rewrite the script of The Crow remake.

Currently, Cave is collaborating with Andy Serkis to develop a screen version of the Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht musical, The Threepenny Opera.^[35]

Personal life[link]

Cave dated Anita Lane from the late 1970s to mid 1980s. She had an undeniably strong influence upon Cave and his work, often cited as his "muse".^{[citation needed]} Despite this, Cave and Lane recorded together on only a few occasions. Their most notable collaborations include Lane's 'cameo' verse on Cave's Bob Dylan cover "Death Is Not The End" from the album Murder Ballads, and a cover of the Serge Gainsbourg/Jane Birkin song "Je t'aime, moi non plus/ I love you, nor do I". Lane co-wrote the lyrics to the title track for Cave's 1984 LP, From Her to Eternity, as well as the lyrics of the song "Stranger Than Kindness" from Your Funeral, My Trial. Cave, Lydia Lunch and Lane wrote a comic book together, entitled AS-FIX-E-8, in the style of the old "Pussy Galore"/Russ Meyer movies.

After completing his debut novel And the Ass Saw the Angel, Cave left West Berlin shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall and moved to São Paulo, Brazil, where he met Brazilian journalist Viviane Carneiro. The two have a son, Luke (b. 10 May 1991), but never married. Cave's son Jethro (born in 1991) lives with his mother, Beau Lazenby, in Australia and has a career in modelling.^[36]

Cave briefly dated PJ Harvey during the mid 1990s. The love affair and their break-up inspired him to write the album The Boatman's Call.

He met British model Susie Bick in 1997. A cover star of the Damned's 1985 album Phantasmagoria and a Vivienne Westwood model, she gave up her job when they married in summer 1999. They have twin sons, Arthur and Earl (born in 2000).^[37][38] Cave and Bick lived for some time on a houseboat near Hove. They currently live in Brighton and Hove, England.

Cave performed "Into My Arms" at the televised funeral of Michael Hutchence, but refused to play in front of the cameras. Cave is godfather of Hutchence's only child, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.^[39]

In the past, Cave identified as a Christian. In his recorded lectures on music and songwriting, he has claimed that any true love song is a song for God and has ascribed the mellowing of his music to a shift in focus from the Old to the New Testaments. He does not belong to a particular denomination and has distanced himself from "religion as being an American thing, in which the name of God has been hijacked".^[40] He said in a recent Los Angeles Times article: "I'm not religious, and I'm not a Christian, but I do reserve the right to believe in the possibility of a god. It's kind of defending the indefensible, though; I'm critical of what religions are becoming, the more destructive they're becoming. But I think as an artist, particularly, it's a necessary part of what I do, that there is some divine element going on within my songs".^[41]

Discography[link]

Cave performing in 2008

Soundtracks/scores[link]

• And the Ass Saw the Angel, readings of the novel (1988), plus theatre score (1993) – text by Cave, music composed by Harvey and Ed Clayton-Jones
• To Have and to Hold, soundtrack (1996) – composed with Harvey & Bargeld
• Woyzeck, theatre score (2005) – composed with Warren Ellis^[42] (Not available on CD or vinyl.)
• The Proposition, soundtrack (2005) – composed with Ellis
• Metamorphosis, theatre score (2006) – composed with Ellis^[43] (Not available on CD or vinyl.)
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, soundtrack (2007) – composed with Ellis
• The English Surgeon, soundtrack (2007) – composed with Ellis^[44] (Not available on CD or vinyl; only available on White Lunar; see below.)
• The Girls of Phnom Penh, soundtrack (2009) – composed with Ellis^[45] (Not available on CD or vinyl; only available on White Lunar; see below.)
• The Death of Bunny Munro, soundtrack (2009) – composed with Ellis^[46]
• The Road, soundtrack (2009) – composed with Ellis^[47] (Soundtrack released in January 12, 2010)^[48]
• White Lunar, soundtrack compilation (2009) – composed with Ellis^[49] (2CDs. Disc one contains high lights from The Proposition, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and The Road. Disc 2 contains work from The English Surgeon and The Girls of Phnom Penh, as well as four unreleased pieces "from the archives".^[50]
• The Metamorphosis, (Forvandlingen- Norwegian national theatre) soundtrack (2012) –

Contributions/appearances[link]

• Die Haut and Nick Cave: Burnin' the Ice (1982), features Nick Cave's vocals on songs 1,3,5,6 (Stow-A-Way, Truck Love, Pleasure Is The Boss, Dumb Europe).
• Smack My Crack (1987), features Nick Cave performing "The Altra Virago Or The Vargus Barking Spider".
• Wings Of Desire (1987), Nick Cave appears in the film, where he performs "The Carny" and "From Her To Eternity".
• "Helpless" single by Neil Young. He did this in 1989 for the Neil Young tribute album The Bridge.
• Leonard Cohen: I'm your Fan (1991), Nick Cave "Tower Of Song".
• Until The End Of The World (1991), Nick Cave "(I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World".
• In Weiter Ferne, So Nah! (aka Faraway So Close!) (1993), Nick Cave "Faraway So Close" and "Cassiel's Song".
• Zero Effect (1994), Nick Cave "Into My Arms".
• Batman Forever soundtrack (1995). Cave contributes the track "There is a Light".
• Scream (1996), Nick Cave "Red Right Hand".
• X-Files Songs In The Key Of X (1996), Nick Cave "Red Right Hand".
• September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill (1997) produced by Hal Willner. Cave contributes a cover version of "Mack the Knife".
• Nick Cave i Przyjaciele (Nick Cave and Friends) (1991). A tribute album by Polish musicians. Cave appears on tracks 1 & 10. (Into My Arms, The Weeping Song)
• The Acid House (1999), Nick Cave/Barry Adamson "Sweetest Embrace".
• A Tribute to Polnareff, a Tribute album to Michel Polnareff. Nick Cave contributes a cover version of "Goodbye Marylou".
• Ute Lemper's Punishing Kiss (2000). Cave co-wrote (with Bruno Pisek) "Little Water Song".
• He Died With A FelaFel In His Hand (2001) Nick Cave "The Mercy Seat (Live)" & "Into My Arms".
• Intimite (aka Intimacy) (2001), Nick Cave "In The Ghetto".
• "To Be By Your Side" – from the OST for French documentary film Le Peuple Migrateur (2001).
• I Am Sam (2002). Cave contributes a cover version of The Beatles' "Let It Be", which was later issued as a single with a cover version of "Here Comes the Sun" as the B-side.
• "Bad Cover Version" single by Pulp (2002). Cave contributes a cover version of Pulp's "Disco 2000".
• American IV: The Man Comes Around (2003) Duet with Johnny Cash on "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry".
• "Kiss of Love" (duet with Sam Brown) from Jools Holland's 2003 album Small World Big Band Friends 3 – Jack O The Green.
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds appear on the Martin Scorsese series The Blues (2003) singing J. B. Lenoir's "I Feel So Good".
• Shrek 2 (2004), Nick Cave "People Aint' No Good".
• The Passion Of The Christ - Songs Inspired By (2004), Nick Cave "Darker With The Day".
• Harry Smith Project Vol 1 (2006), Nick Cave "John The Revelator" and Vol 2 "Shine On Me".
• Cave performs "I'm Your Man" and "Suzanne" in the documentary/concert film Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (2006).
• Q Covered - Best Of 86/06 (2006), Nick Cave sings Pulp's "Disco 2000".
• Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys (2006). Cave contributes the tracks "Fire Down Below" and "Pinery Boy".
• Seasick Steve's song "Just Like A King", from the album I Started Out With Nothin' (2008)includes Cave's vocals.
• Californication Season 2 (2009), Nick Cave "Moonland".
• Mojo Presents The Score 20 Ultra Cool Soundtracks (2009), Nick Cave "Let It Be".
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song "Up Jumped The Devil" was featured in the video game Alan Wake. (2010)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010). Cave contributed the song "O Children".
• Leonard Cohen By En Boca De (2011), Nick Cave "Avalanche".
• Trentemoller - Late Night Tales (2011), Nick Cave & Warren Ellis "The Proposition #1".
• Nick Cave joins Neko Case to cover the The Zombies song She's Not There for HBO show True Blood.^[51] (2011)

Spoken-word lectures[link]

• The Secret Life Of The Love Song & The Flesh Made Word: Two Lectures (2000).

Bibliography[link]

• King Ink (1988)
• And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989)
• King Ink II (1997)
• The Pocket Canons: Books of the Bible (1998)
  • Cave wrote the introduction to The Gospel According to Mark.
• Complete Lyrics (2001)
• The Complete Lyrics: 1978-2006 (2007)
• The Death of Bunny Munro (2009)

Awards and honours[link]

• 2012 Doctor of Letters, an honorary degree from the University of Brighton.^[52]
• 2011 Straight to you - Triple j's tribute tour to Nick Cave for his work in Australian music for Ausmusic Month
• 2011 MOJO Awards: Song of the Year for "Heathen Child" by Grinderman
• 2010 made an honorary Doctor of Laws, by University of Dundee.^[53]
• 2008 ARIA Awards Male Artist of the Year (Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!).^[54]
• 2008 MOJO Awards: Best Album of 2008 (Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!).
• 2008 Awarded an Honorary degree as Doctor of Laws, by Monash University.^[55]
• 2007 ARIA Awards ARIA Hall of Fame inductee.^[54]
• 2006 Venice Film Festival: Gucci Award (for the script to The Proposition).
• 2005 Q magazine: Q Classic Songwriter Award.
• 2005 AFI Awards: Best Original Music Score with Warren Ellis (The Proposition).
• 2005 Inside Film Awards: Best Music (The Proposition).
• 2005 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards: Best Musical Score (The Proposition).
• 2004 MOJO Awards: Best Album of 2004 (Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus).
• 2001 ARIA Awards: Best Male Artist (No More Shall We Part).^[54]
• 2001 APRA Music Awards: "The Ship Song" voted in the Top 30 Best Australian Songs of the previous 75 years.^[56]
• 1997 APRA Music Awards: Songwriter of the year.
• 1997 ARIA Awards: Best Original Soundtrack (To Have and to Hold).^[54]
• 1996 ARIA Awards: Song of the Year & Single of the Year & Best Pop Release ("Where the Wild Roses Grow").^[54]
• 1996 MTV Europe Music Awards: Nick Cave formally requested that his nomination for "Best Male Artist" be withdrawn as he was not comfortable with the "competitive nature" of such awards.
• 1990 Time Out Magazine: Book Of The Year (And the Ass Saw the Angel).

Further reading[link]

• Bad Seed: A Biography of Nick Cave, Ian Johnston (1997) ISBN 0-316-90833-9
• The Life and Music of Nick Cave: An Illustrated Biography, Maximilian Dax & Johannes Beck (1999) ISBN 3-931126-27-7
• Liner notes to the CDs Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Kim Beissel (1998 & 2004), Rubber Records
• Kicking Against the Pricks: An Armchair Guide to Nick Cave, Amy Hanson (2005), ISBN 1-900924-96-X
• Nick Cave Stories, Janine Barrand (2007)
• Cultural Seeds: Essays on the Work of Nick Cave, eds. Karen Welberry and Tanya Dalziell (2009) ISBN 0-7546-6395-7
• Nick Cave Sinner Saint: The True Confessions, ed. Mat Snow (2011) ISBN 978-0-85965-448-7

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nick Cave

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Nick Cave

• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds official website

Atticus Ross (born 16 January 1968) is an English musician, composer and producer. Ross, along with Trent Reznor, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network in 2010.

Personal life[link]

Atticus Ross is the son of Ian Ross, a founder of Radio Caroline, and Roxana Lampson, daughter of British diplomat Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn and Jacqueline Castellani. His great-grandfather was the noted pathologist and bacteriologist Aldo Castellani, KCMG (Hon.). Liberty Ross, the model, is one of his five siblings. He was educated at Eton College, in the same house as Earl Spencer. David Cameron was also a contemporary.

Early career[link]

Atticus Ross first came to notice in the mid-1990s as a programmer for Tim Simenon's Bomb the Bass during the period of the albums Unknown Territory and Clear. He worked on a number of production and remix projects with Simenon as well as forming a collaborative relationship with former Bad Seed Barry Adamson. He programmed The Negro Inside Me and Oedipus Schmoedipus, and produced As Above So Below before forming his own band 12 Rounds with Claudia Sarne and Adam Holden. They released two albums, Jitterjuice (Polydor Records) and My Big Hero (Nothing Records). A third full-length album was produced by Trent Reznor for Nothing Records, but ultimately never finished.^{[citation needed]} Three songs from that album have since been released at http://www.12rounds.net as of August 2011.

2000 to present[link]

Since moving to the United States in 2000, Ross has been credited as a producer and/or programmer on four Nine Inch Nails albums: With Teeth, Year Zero, Ghosts I-IV (on which he was also credited as co-writer) and The Slip. He performed live with the band at their farewell show at the Wiltern. Beyond Nine Inch Nails, he has worked with Trent Reznor on other acts, including Saul Williams and Zack de la Rocha, and in 2009 they co-produced tracks for a re-formed Jane's Addiction with Alan Moulder.

Other work has included two co-productions with Joe Barresi, the Loverman EP Human Nurture and Coheed and Cambria's Year of the Black Rainbow as well as albums for Korn and Union of Knives. He has also produced tracks or done remixes for such artists as Grace Jones, Perry Farrell and Telepathe.

In May 2010, Ross appeared in a video,^[2] and was named as a member of a somewhat secret project,^[3] How to Destroy Angels, a collaboration known to also include Trent Reznor and Reznor's wife Mariqueen Maandig.^[4][5][6]

Film and television[link]

Ross's work in film music began in 2004 when he scored the Hughes Brothers' TV series Touching Evil with his wife, Claudia Sarne, and brother, Leopold Ross. He has since provided music for two further Hughes Brothers projects: Allen Hughes's vignette in the film New York, I Love You, and Ross's first feature, The Book of Eli (2010) starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. The score was released through Reprise Records on 12 January 2010, and included a Dave Sitek remix of the main title "Panoramic". It won at the BMI awards and earned Ross a nomination as "Discovery of the Year" at the World Soundtrack Awards 2010. On 1 July 2010, Trent Reznor announced he and Ross were scoring David Fincher's new film The Social Network. The soundtrack was released on 28 September 2010 and was praised for portraying "Mark Zuckerberg the genius, developing a brilliant idea over ominous undertones."^[7] Atticus Ross again collaborated with Trent Reznor on the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo soundtrack. His latest music work is on the samurai epic film 47 Ronin directed by Carl Erik Rinsch, starring Keanu Reeves ^[8].

Awards[link]

On 16 January 2011 (Ross's 43rd birthday), he and collaborator Trent Reznor won the award for Best Original Score at the 68th Golden Globe Awards for the original score of The Social Network.^[9]

On 27 February 2011, Ross and Reznor received the Academy Award Best Original Score for The Social Network.

Works[link]

• 47 Ronin, a 2012 soundtrack.
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a 2011 soundtrack with Trent Reznor.
• The Social Network, a 2010 soundtrack with Trent Reznor for which they won an Academy award.
• How to Destroy Angels, a 2010 eponymous EP
• Programmed and/or produced the Nine Inch Nails albums With Teeth, Year Zero, Ghosts I-IV and The Slip
• Composed the score for the 2010 film The Book of Eli
• Remixed the Grace Jones single "Corporate Cannibal" which was included on her album Hurricane
• Programmer and writer for the band 12 Rounds
• Produced Loverman's debut EP, Human Nurture with Joe Barresi for Young and Lost Club Records
• Remixed the Telepathe song "Michael" on their album Dance Mother, as a CD-only exclusive
• Member of the band Error
• Worked on albums with Bad Religion, Rancid, From First to Last and Zach de la Rocha
• Member of the supergroup Tapeworm
• Worked on Saul Williams's The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
• Produced Coheed and Cambria's fifth album, Year of The Black Rainbow, along with Joe Barresi
• With his wife, Claudia Sarne, and his brother, Leopold Ross, composed the score for the USA Network TV series Touching Evil, directed by the Hughes Brothers
• Co-wrote, produced and programmed half of Korn's album See You on the Other Side, and collaborated with the band again for their untitled album
• Remixed the Transplants, From First to Last, Dillinger Escape Plan, Neneh Cherry, Biggie Smalls, and Korn
• Produced the Perry Farrell single "Go All the Way (Into the Twilight)" for the movie Twilight
• Programmed on the Barry Adamson releases "The Negro Inside Me" and "Oedipus Schmoedipus", and produced As Above So Below, with Flood
• Programmed on the Bomb the Bass album Clear

References[link]

Nick Frost
Frost at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010.
Born	Nicholas John Frost (1972-03-28) 28 March 1972 (age 40) Dagenham, East London, England
Other names	Cutmaster Frost
Occupation	Actor, Comedian
Years active	1989–present
Spouse	Christina Frost

Nicholas John "Nick" Frost (born 28 March 1972) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is best known for his work with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg in the role of Mike Watt in the television comedy Spaced, as well as the film characters Ed in Shaun of the Dead, PC/Sgt. Danny Butterman in Hot Fuzz, Clive Gollings in Paul, and drug-dealer Ron in Attack the Block. He is also well known for his various roles in the sketch show Man Stroke Woman.

Early life and career[link]

Frost was born in Dagenham, Essex, the son of office furniture designers.^[1] Frost attended Beal High School.

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010)

He worked as a waiter and appeared in corporate training video clips such as 'Chris Carter and The Coverplan Challenge', a Dixons Group sales video, before gaining fame as Tim's Army-obsessed best friend Mike in the British comedy Spaced, which was written by Pegg and Jessica Hynes and aired on Channel 4 for two series. In 2001, Frost played a small role in a one-off episode of Victoria Wood's Acorn Antiques. This was a specially written episode shown during the series, "The Sketch Show Story" that Victoria narrated, in which Frost played an armed robber who 'shot dead' Acorn Antiques' most lovable character, Mrs Overall (Julie Walters).

In 2002, Frost wrote and presented Danger! 50,000 Volts!, a spoof of the outdoors survival genre in which SAS experts or the like demonstrated how to improvise solutions to dangerous problems. In 2002, Frost also co-wrote and starred in The Sofa of Time with Matt King. In 2004, Frost appeared in Shaun of the Dead, a 'rom-zom-com' (romantic zombie comedy), written once again by Pegg along with Spaced director Edgar Wright. The film follows the life of Shaun, a disaffected store clerk who tries to win back his girlfriend in the midst of a zombie outbreak. Frost played Ed, the lovable oaf and best friend of Shaun. In late 2005 he starred in the comedy sketch show Man Stroke Woman, which aired on BBC Three. A second series of Man Stroke Woman was aired on BBC Three during February/March 2007. In early 2006, Frost played the lead character, Commander Henderson, in two series of the BBC Two science fiction sitcom, Hyperdrive. Also in 2006, he acted in a second feature film, Kinky Boots. Frost had a small appearance in the British comedy Look Around You, a parody of 1970s/80s era technology, and schools programming, parodying the format of programmes like Tomorrow's World, as a member of the crowd during a 'live' broadcast, as well as a caveman in the "music" episode in the first series.

Frost and Pegg appeared in a second Pegg-Wright feature, Hot Fuzz, an action and cop genre homage, set in Gloucestershire (actually filmed in and around Wells, Somerset, England). Frost plays bumbling Constable Danny Butterman, who partners up with Pegg's dynamic Nicholas Angel after the latter is transferred from metropolitan London. The pair teamed up again for the 2011 sci-fi movie Paul whose storyline concerned a fugitive alien. The two also starred in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn as Thomson and Thompson.

Frost narrates UK's Channel 4 reality show Supernanny, and has made fleeting appearances in the Channel 4 TV surreal medical comedy series Green Wing, as "Just a Man" in pub scenes (when asked by Boyce who he is when talking to Dr. Guy Secretan, he responds, "Just a man.").

Personal life[link]

He is a good friend of fellow actor Simon Pegg. He currently resides with his half-Swedish wife, production executive Christina^[2] Frost,^[3] in St Margarets, London.^[4] He previously lived in Finsbury Park,^[5] which was also the filming location for Shaun of the Dead. In a 2005 interview, Frost stated that he was raised Catholic and is now an atheist.^[6] He is a supporter of West Ham United F.C., as well as being a rugby player, formerly playing for Barking RFC. On 22 June 2011, Frost's wife gave birth to a son.^[7]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Film[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nick Frost at the Internet Movie Database
• Frostitution: A Nick Frost Fanpage
• Hamilton Hodell Agency – Nick Frost
• Shaun of the Dead interview
• Hot Fuzz Interview
• Nick Frost – Twitter Page

Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross at Live 8 on 2 July 2005
Born	Jonathan Stephen Ross (1960-11-17) 17 November 1960 (age 51) Camden, London, England[1]
Nationality	British
Occupation	Broadcaster, film critic, Talk show host, Comedian
Years active	1987–present
Spouse	Jane Goldman (m. 1988) «start: (1988)»"Marriage: Jane Goldman to Jonathan Ross" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jonathan_Ross)
Children	2 daughters, 1 son
Parents	Martha Ross

Jonathan Stephen Ross, OBE (born 17 November 1960) is an English television and radio presenter, best known for presenting the BBC One chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross from 2001 until he left the BBC in 2010. Ross began hosting a new chat show on ITV1 starting 3 September 2011. Ross also hosted his own radio show on BBC Radio 2, and acted as a film critic and presenter of the Film programme. Other regular roles have included being a regular panellist on the comedy sports quiz They Think It's All Over from 1999 to 2006, and presenting the annual British Comedy Awards from 1991 to 2007, and 2009 onwards.

Ross began his television career as a programme researcher, before débuting as a television presenter for The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross on Channel 4 in 1987. Over the next decade he had several radio and television roles, many through his own production company, Channel X. In 1995 he sold his stake in Channel X, and embarked on a career with the BBC. In 1999, Ross took over presenting the Film programme from Barry Norman, and also began presenting his own radio show, while two years later he began hosting Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. For the chat show, Ross won three British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards for Best Entertainment Performance, in 2004, 2006 and 2007. By 2006 Ross was believed to be the BBC's highest paid star. In 2005, Ross was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to broadcasting.^[2] Ross has been involved in controversies throughout his broadcasting career.^[3][4] As a result, in 2008 he wrote a semi-autobiographical work titled Why Do I Say These Things?, detailing some of his life experiences.

Ross has been married to the author, journalist and broadcaster Jane Goldman since 1988; they have three children. Ross and Goldman have together established the television production company Hotsauce TV. Ross is known as an avid fan and collector of comic books and memorabilia, and has written his own comic book, Turf. Ross is known for his distinctive voice, flamboyant style of dress,^[2] and his light-hearted banter. He is also known for his characteristic difficulty in pronouncing the sound 'r'.

Personal[link]

Ross was born in Camden, London, England on 17 November 1960, a son of British actress and radio presenter Martha Ross.^[5] He grew up in Leytonstone^[1] and is the brother of journalist, television editor, and media personality Paul Ross; TV producer/actor Miles Ross; TV producer Simon Ross, and music industry professional Adam Ross. He was educated at Norlington School for Boys, a comprehensive school at the same time as his elder brother Paul, and at Leyton County High School for Boys, a comprehensive school. He also attended Southampton College of Art, now known as Southampton Solent University. ^[6] He then studied Modern European History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University of London.^[7]