Michael C. Hall
Hall at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Michael Carlyle Hall (1971-02-01) February 1, 1971 (age 41) Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.
Occupation	Actor Executive Producer
Years active	1999–present
Spouse	Amy Spanger (m. 2002–2007) «start: (2002)–end+1: (2008)»"Marriage: Amy Spanger to Michael C. Hall" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Michael_C._Hall) Jennifer Carpenter (m. 2008–2011) «start: (2008)–end+1: (2012)»"Marriage: Jennifer Carpenter to Michael C. Hall" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Michael_C._Hall)

Michael Carlyle Hall (born February 1, 1971) is an American actor whose television roles include David Fisher on the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and Dexter Morgan on the Showtime series Dexter. In 2009, Hall won a Golden Globe award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his role in Dexter.^[1]

Early life[link]

Hall was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. His mother, Janice Styons Hall, is a high school guidance counselor in Wake Forest, and his father, William Carlyle Hall, worked for IBM.^[2] Hall grew up an only child, a sister having died in infancy before his birth. He has said of growing up a single child, that "There was a very one-on-one, immediate family relationship, my mom and I". His father died of prostate cancer in 1982, when Hall was 11 years old.^[3] In a 2004 interview, he stated

Hall attended Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, graduating in 1989.^[5] He graduated from Earlham College in 1993 and had planned to become a lawyer. He later attended New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 1996.^[6]

Career[link]

Early on in life Hall discovered acting, performing in “What Love Is” while in the second grade at Ravenscroft School. When he was in fifth grade, he began singing in a boy's choir, then graduated to musicals in high school, performing in standards such as The Sound of Music, Oklahoma! and Fiddler on the Roof.

Hall's acting career began in the theater. Off-Broadway, he appeared in Macbeth and Cymbeline at the New York Shakespeare Festival, and in Timon of Athens and Henry V at The Public Theater, The English Teachers at the Manhattan Class Company (MCC), and the controversial play Corpus Christi at the Manhattan Theatre Club. He also performed in the workshop production of what was then known as Sondheim's Wise Guys, later versions of which were titled Bounce and, finally, Road Show. He sang the role of Paris Singer; this character's songs and function in the play were transferred to the character Hollis Bessamer in the final version of the play. In Los Angeles, he appeared in Skylight at the Mark Taper Forum.

Stage[link]

Hall performed from August 4, 1998 to August 30, 1998, on the play called "Cymbeline" as Posthumus Leonatus.

In 1999, director Sam Mendes cast Hall as the flamboyant Emcee in the revival of Cabaret, his first Broadway role.

In 2003, Hall toured as Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago. In 2005 he returned to Off-Broadway theater in the premiere of Noah Haidle's Mr. Marmalade, playing the title character, an emotionally disturbed little girl's imaginary friend.

From July 21 to August 1, 2004, Hall performed at Michael John LaChiusa's musical called "R shomon", at the Williamstown Theatre Festival's Nikos Stage.

[edit] Six Feet Under

Mendes suggested Hall for the role of closeted David Fisher when Alan Ball began casting the TV drama Six Feet Under. "Everything I opened up for Cabaret," Hall reported in a 2004 interview, "I slammed shut for David."^[4]

Hall's work in the first season of Six Feet Under was recognized by an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series^[7] and for an AFI Award nomination for Actor of the Year in 2002 for his role as David Fisher. In addition, he shared in the Screen Actors Guild nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series all five years that the show was in production, winning the award in 2003 and 2004.^[8]

[edit] Dexter

Hall at the 2009 Comic-Con

Hall is currently starring in and co-producing the Showtime television series Dexter, in which he plays the titular character, a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a vigilante serial killer. The series also casts Hall's ex-wife, Jennifer Carpenter as his foster sister, Debra Morgan. The series premiered on October 1, 2006 and its sixth season began on October 2, 2011. For his work on Dexter, Hall has been nominated for three more Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The show itself was also nominated for a 2008, 2009 and 2010 Emmy in the Drama Series category.^[9] He won the 2007 Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama.^[10] Hall was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Drama in 2007, and again in 2008 ^[11] finally winning the award at the 67th Golden Globe Awards in 2010.^[12] Also in 2010, he won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. On December 4, 2010, Showtime announced that Dexter would be renewed for a sixth season and stated that a seventh season was possible.^[13][14] Season 6 premiered on October 2, 2011. Michael C. Hall was nominated for Best Leading Actor in a Drama series at the 2011 Emmy Awards, but did not win the category. Hall was negotiating his contract along with Showtime to raise his salary for the seventh season.^[15] On November 18, 2011, it was announced that Dexter had been renewed for both a seventh and eighth season.^[16]

Film[link]

Hall's film credits include the 2003 thriller Paycheck, the 2009 science fiction thriller Gamer, the 2011 comedy Peep World and 2011 The Trouble with Bliss.

Commercials[link]

In 2009, Hall began doing voice-overs for some Dodge commercials, including the Challenger, Charger, Durango, Grand Caravan, and Journey, as well as the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Personal life[link]

On May 1, 2003, Hall married actress Amy Spanger; he played Billy Flynn opposite her Roxie Hart in the Broadway musical Chicago the summer after their wedding. The couple separated in 2005 and filed for divorce in 2006. On December 31, 2008, he eloped with Jennifer Carpenter, who plays the character of Dexter Morgan's adoptive sister, Debra Morgan, on Showtime's Dexter. They dated for a year prior to getting married.^[17][18] On December 18, 2010, Carpenter filed for divorce from Hall, citing irreconcilable differences. The filing also stated that the two had been separated since August 2010 and that she was seeking spousal support.^[19] Their divorce was finalized on 2 December 2011. Dexter and deb are now back together

Cancer[link]

On January 13, 2010, his agent and spokesman confirmed that he was undergoing treatment for a treatable form of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Hall accepted his Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award in 2010 while wearing a knitted cap over his bald head, having lost his hair due to chemotherapy.^[20] On April 25, 2010, Carpenter announced that Hall was fully cured^[21] and was set to get back to work for a new season of Dexter.^[22]

He is now cancer-free.

Charity[link]

He is currently the face of the Somalia Aid Society's Feed The People campaign. Recently, he has also worked with Kiehl's skin care line to do a limited edition line that benefits the Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental nonprofit that works towards clean and safe water worldwide.^[23]

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

• List of select cases of Hodgkin's Disease

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Michael C. Hall

• Michael C. Hall at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael C. Hall at Emmys.com

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008)

The Marwar Hall at Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur, India

Hall in religious buildings : prayer hall of the Great Mosque of Kairouan, in Kairouan, Tunisia

A hallway at the Royal York Hotel

Hallway during and after construction in an apartment building in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

An outdoor passageway near the Alamo

In architecture, a hall is fundamentally a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a mead hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord and his retainers. Later, rooms were partitioned from it, so that today the hall of a house is the space inside the front door through which the rooms are reached....

This:

• Deriving from the above, a hall is often the term used to designate a British or Irish country house.
• In later medieval Europe, the main room of a castle or manor house was the great hall.
• Where the hall inside the front door of a house is elongated, it may be called a passage, corridor, or hallway.
• In a medieval building, the hall was where the fire was kept. With time, its functions as dormitory, kitchen, parlour and so on were divided off to separate rooms or, in the case of the kitchen, a separate building.

On the same principle:

• Many buildings at colleges and universities are formally titled "_______ Hall", typically being named after the person who endowed it, for example, King's Hall, Cambridge. Others, such as Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, commemorate respected people. Between these in age, Nassau Hall at Princeton University began as the single building of the then college. In medieval origin, these were the halls in which the members of the university lived together during term time. In many cases, some aspect of this community remains.
• At colleges in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Hall is the dining hall for students, with High Table at one end for fellows. Typically, at "Formal Hall", gowns are worn for dinner during the evening, whereas for "informal Hall" they are not.
• Many Livery Companies (e.g., in the City of London) have a Hall that is their headquarters and meeting place.

Similarly:

• A hall is also a building consisting largely of a principal room, that is rented out for meetings and social affairs. It may be privately or government-owned, such as a function hall owned by one company used for weddings and cotillions (organized and run by the same company on a contractual basis) or a community hall available for rent to anyone.
• In religious architecture, as in Islamic architecture, the prayer hall is a large room dedicated to the practice of the worship.^[1] (example : the prayer hall of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia)

Following a line of similar development:

• In office buildings and larger buildings (theatres, cinemas etc.), the entrance hall is generally known as the foyer (the French for fire-place). The atrium, a name sometimes used in public buildings for the entrance hall, was the central courtyard of a Roman house.

Firehall (London, Ontario) in 1923

References[link]

1. ^ Stanford Anderson and Colin St. John Wilson, The Oxford companion to architecture, Volume 1, Oxford University Press, 2009, page 477

Look up Hall or hall in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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]

Ross with his wife Jane Goldman at the British Academy Television Awards 2009

Ross married author/journalist/broadcaster Jane Goldman, ten years his junior, in 1988, when Goldman was 18. They have since had three children: Betty Kitten (named after Bettie Page), Harvey Kirby (named after Jack Kirby, a comic book creator whom Ross especially admires), and Honey Kinney. The family lives in Hampstead Garden Suburb.^{[citation needed]}

Ross and others have used his rhotacism for comic effect and he is sometimes known as "Wossy,"^[8] including on his Twitter feed (@wossy).

Ross is known for owning exotic pets. He is a big music fan and the first band he saw live was punk rockers X-Ray Spex at Islington's Hope and Anchor pub in North London.^[9] He is a big fan of David Bowie, Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry, Queen (he was in the audience for Queen at Wembley), British punk rock, Spandau Ballet, Sparks, Star Trek, Doctor Who (his favourite Doctor was Jon Pertwee), and comic books. Ross has even co-owned a comic shop in London with Paul Gambaccini and released Turf, his first comic book, in 2010, with American artist Tommy Lee Edwards.^[10] He was also the visual inspiration for the main character in the comic book Saviour. Ross is also greatly interested in Japan, presenting a BBC-TV series on many different aspects of Japanese culture, Japanorama, for three series between 2002–07. He was a regular at London's Blitz club during the early 1980s (famous for the Blitz Kids). He is a fan of the singers Morrissey and George Michael.^{[citation needed]}

He is a friend of comedian Ricky Gervais and bought him a kitten after Gervais' previous cat, Colin, had died. The cat's name is Ollie and was presented to him on an episode of Ross' talk show Friday Night With Jonathan Ross.^[11] He was one of the special celebrity guests in the final episode of Gervais's second season of Extras, in which Gervais's character, Andy Millman, and Ross were shown to be the best of friends after a fictional appearance on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross.^[12]

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

In 2005, Ross was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.^[13] He celebrated the news by playing "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols on his Radio 2 show.^[14]

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

Ross has attended a fund raiser for the James Randi Educational Foundation called The Amazing Meeting in London in 2009 and 2010. Interviewed by Rebecca Watson, Ross described himself as a big fan of James Randi and the other speakers – who were mainly prominent sceptics – and said that he and his wife had come to have a sceptical view of the world.^[15] Ross has been supportive of Simon Singh's efforts to defend an accusation of libel by the British Chiropractic Association and Ross has posed for the Geek Calendar 2011, a fund raiser for the libel reform in the UK.^[16]

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

On 6 June 2011, it was announced that Ross' beloved pug Mr Pickle had been killed in an accident on board a train while Ross was filming a new travelogue show for ITV.^[17] Mr Pickle was well known to both viewers and listeners of Ross' TV and radio shows.

Career[link]

Child actor[link]

Following the acting lead of his mother, who appeared as an extra on television shows such as East Enders, Ross appeared in television ads as a child actor. His first, for the breakfast cereal Kellogg's Rice Krispies, gave him his television debut in 1970, when he was 10 years old.^[18][19] He also appeared in an ad for the laundry detergent Persil.^[20]

Early career[link]

Ross began his adult career as a researcher on the Channel 4 show Loose Talk. After leaving this, he worked on various other shows before beginning another research job on Soul Train, which became Solid Soul. It is believed his first appearance on television was as an extra in the 1981 It Ain't Half Hot, Mum episode, The Last Roll Call.^[21]

Channel X: 1987–95[link]

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

The pair based their concept on the successful American show Late Night with David Letterman, and formed a new production company called Channel X, to produce a pilot. Ross was not originally slated as the show's host, but with little time to find one Jonathan Ross stepped in and made his debut on the show in January 1987.^[22]

While the series was initially a co-production with Colin Calendar, ownership transferred to Marke and Ross, meaning that the latter retained a great deal of control as well as being presenter.^[23] The show proved popular for both Ross and for Channel 4, making him one of the major personalities on the channel.

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

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

In 1991, he presented the annual British Comedy Awards on ITV. He has presented the event each year since, but in 2008 announced he would be stepping down from the role following his suspension from the BBC.^[24] In 1992 he presented an interview with Madonna about her Erotica album and Sex Book promotion.

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

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

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

It was to do with a deliberate change in my life, moving away from TV as the core of my existence to focus on my family more. So I had to give up everything to do with Channel X, and I literally got only £1 for my share, which was unbelievable.^[25]

Television 1995–2006[link]

In 1995 he presented Mondo Rosso, a programme about old cult films. He took over presenting of the Film programme, the BBC's long-running cinema review series, in 1999 after Barry Norman left the show. Ross himself has made a number of cameo appearances in films, playing himself in the Spice Girls' film Spice World (1997) and voicing the character of Doris in the UK version of Shrek 2 (2004). He also played himself in Only Fools and Horses, presenting Goldrush, a fictional television quiz on which the main character, Del, was a contestant. In 2001 he voiced characters in two episodes of the animated comedy series Rex the Runt. In the 30 October episode of Film 2006, Ross also claimed that he had appeared as an extra in the 1981 film 'The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin', as an Israeli soldier raiding Entebbe Airport.^{[citation needed]} He also appeared on the first pilot show for Shooting Stars, acting as a team captain.

BBC Radio: 1999–2010[link]

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

From 23 May 2009, Ross' BBC Radio 2 show was pre-recorded 24 hours before broadcast.^[26] This decision was made to make the show more watertight and, according to the press, to make sure any of Ross's off-the-cuff comments might be edited out.^[27]

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

[edit] Friday Night with Jonathan Ross: 2001–10

Ross with friend Ricky Gervais at Live 8 in July 2005

On 2 November 2001, Ross began presenting his chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

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

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

I’ve had a great time on They Think It's All Over, imparting my vast sporting knowledge to the nation, but I need time now to focus on my other commitments and so regrettably I won't be back for the 20th series. It's a fantastic show and from now on I'll be able to actually watch it.

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

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

In June 2006, a bidding war was sparked between BBC and other broadcasters for Ross' services. Although other broadcasters were unsuccessful in poaching Ross, it is believed that their bids were higher than the BBC during negotiations. ITV, who bid for Ross, poached chat host Michael Parkinson around the same time. Ross became the highest paid television personality in Britain, when a new BBC contract secured his services until 2010, for a reported £18 million (£6 million per year).^[28]

On 25 June 2006, he performed at the Children's Party at the Palace for the Queen's 80th birthday. In August 2006, Ross was enlisted to ask the first question^[29] since the transition from beta for the Yahoo Answers in UK and Ireland. On 16 March 2007, Ross hosted Comic Relief 2007 alongside Fearne Cotton and Lenny Henry. On 7 July 2007 Ross presented at the Live Earth concert.

Starting on 10 September 2007 he presented the BBC Four series Comics Britannia, about the history of the British comic. This forms the core of a Comics Britannia season, which includes another documentary, In Search of Steve Ditko, by Ross.^[30]

In May 2008, Ross won the Sony Gold Award "Music Radio Personality of the Year".^[31]

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

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

On 7 April 2010, Ross's first comic book was published. Turf was written by Jonathan himself and drawn by artist Tommy Lee Edwards.^[32] In 2011, Ross wrote an introduction for The Steve Ditko Omnibus Vol. 1,^[33] a collection of work by the American comics artist featured in Ross' 2007 documentary.

In one of his last appearances on the show, Ross was bundled on repeatedly by Gary Lineker, Ross Noble, Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett & Tinie Tempah, after a performance of Gorillaz' iconic song "Clint Eastwood" & "On Melancholy Hill".^{[citation needed]}

Leaving the BBC (2010)[link]

On 7 January 2010, Ross confirmed that he would leave the BBC in July 2010, having decided not to renegotiate his contract. This would see him leave all his regular BBC roles, namely his Friday night chat show, Radio 2 show and a film review programme, although he would be continuing with some specials, such as Comic Relief and the BAFTA Awards.^{[34][35][36][37]}

Explaining the decision, Ross said:

Although I have had a wonderful time working for the BBC, and am very proud of the shows I have made while there, over the last two weeks I have decided not to re-negotiate when my current contract comes to an end. While there, I have worked with some of the nicest and most talented people in the industry and had the opportunity to interview some of the biggest stars in the world, and am grateful to the BBC for such a marvellous experience. I would like to make it perfectly clear that no negotiations ever took place and that my decision is not financially motivated^[34]

The decision came a day after it was announced that Graham Norton had signed a two-year deal with the BBC, and the BBC's media correspondent Torin Douglas speculated Norton would be a ready-made replacement for Ross's chat show role, while Mark Kermode of BBC Radio 5 Live was a potential successor in the film review role, but that "replacing Ross on radio will be harder". ^[34] Ross last appeared on the film programme in Episode 10 of Film 2010 with Jonathan Ross aired on 17 March 2010. After Kermode publicly ruled himself out on 26 March, Claudia Winkleman was announced 30 March 2010 as his replacement as host of the Film programme, who was to host Film 2010 from September 2010.^[38][39]

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

2010 onwards (ITV and Cinemoi)[link]

On 14 December 2010, Jonathan Ross announced his creative partnership with CineMoi, the UK's first and only independent French film channel. His deal with the company gives him a multi-faceted role as presenter, producer, creative director and shareholder in the company. A life long cinephile Ross has a unique perspective on French film and hopes to encourage 'first-timers' to explore a world of film that differs slightly from that of the regular Hollywood fare.

On 19 December 2010, Ross presented a three hour Channel 4 list show, 100 Greatest Toys, with the broadcaster describing Ross as a "huge toy enthusiast with a private collection that would rival any museum's."^[40][41]

In 2011, he presented Penn & Teller: Fool Us on ITV, a collaboration with magicians Penn & Teller.

Ross's new chat show The Jonathan Ross Show began on 3 September 2011 on ITV1,^[42] drawing an audience of 4.3m viewers, compared to the 4.6m for his finale on the BBC show.^[43] The first series will run for thirteen weeks. Speaking about the new show, Ross said: "I am thrilled and excited that after a short break I will be rolling up my sleeves and creating a brand new show for ITV1."^[44] Ross will also host a panel show from 2012 called Trending Topics also for ITV. The show will involve the social-network site Twitter. In Spring 2012, Ross appeared in the ITV panel show Mad Mad World.

Ross is currently planning to film a television piece with Lucha Britania. [45]

Controversies[link]

BBC contract[link]

In April 2006, Ross, along with other BBC personalities, had details of his fees leaked to the tabloid press.^[46] It was claimed at the time, by a then-unidentified BBC mole, that Ross earned £530,000 (equivalent to £10,000 per show) per year for hosting his Radio 2 show.^[47] While refusing to comment specifically on the leak in line with BBC policy on the matter, Ross did hint during his radio show that the figure was exaggerated; in addition to this, any pay highlighted as being "his" would actually be split between himself and his producer/co-presenter on the show, Andy Davies.

David Cameron interview[link]

In June 2006, when Conservative Party leader David Cameron appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Ross began a line of questioning relating to Conservative ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, culminating in the question "Did you or did you not have a wank thinking of Margaret Thatcher?". Ross was defended by the BBC publicly, but repeat showings of the interview have been banned.^[48]

Heather Mills comment[link]

In 2006, Ross was criticised when he made a joke against Heather Mills, soon after she and Paul McCartney announced they were to divorce. He branded Mills, who has only one leg, a "fucking liar" and that he "wouldn't be surprised if we found out she's actually got two legs".^[49]

"1,000 journalists" comment[link]

On 5 December 2007, Ross joked at the British Comedy Awards that his salary meant that he was "apparently worth 1,000 BBC journalists". His quip came shortly after the BBC had announced plans for more than 2,000 jobs cuts, and was condemned as "obscene" by the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists.^[50] Ross has denied this saying that he was commenting on a piece that was written in a newspaper about his salary being that of 1,000 journalists:

"You know where that came from? The newspapers. After the fee was announced, they said, 'The BBC says he's worth 1,000 journalists', so on the Comedy Awards I made a joke that began, 'Apparently I'm worth 1,000 journalists according to the newspapers.' Every time it's quoted, is the word 'apparently' ever used? Which does change the meaning somewhat."^[51]

The Russell Brand Show and Andrew Sachs[link]

Following a guest appearance by Ross on The Russell Brand Show broadcast on 18 October 2008, Ross was suspended for 12 weeks without pay by the BBC on 29 October, after a series of answer phone messages were left for 78-year-old actor Andrew Sachs regarding Sachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie, by Russell Brand and Ross, which were broadcast on the pre-recorded show.^[52] After little initial interest, a media story about the calls generated a high number of complaints. Brand resigned from the BBC, while Ross was suspended without pay. BBC director general Mark Thompson stated that Ross should take the disciplinary action as a "final warning".^[53][54] The BBC was later fined £150,000 by Britain's broadcast regulator for airing the calls.^[55]

On 21 November 2008, the BBC Trust said that the phone calls were a "deplorable intrusion with no editorial justification".^[56] The trust gave its backing to Ross's 12 week suspension but recommended that no further action be taken against him. He returned to work in January, and the first episode of a new series of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross with guests Tom Cruise, Stephen Fry and Lee Evans, and music from Franz Ferdinand, was broadcast on 23 January 2009.

Gwyneth Paltrow interview[link]

The BBC Trust ruled that Ross’s interview with Gwyneth Paltrow, broadcast on 2 May 2008, breached editorial guidelines. They ruled that bad language in an episode of Ross's pre-recorded BBC1 chat show, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, in which the presenter told Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow he "would fuck her" was "gratuitous and unnecessarily offensive". The trust said it disagreed with the judgement made by BBC management that the episode should be broadcast uncensored, adding that the comment was made in an "overly sexual way" and that it had upheld a number of complaints made about the edition of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.^[57] The trust reminded BBC staff that "the casual gratuitous use of the most offensive language is not acceptable on the BBC in accordance with the BBC's existing guidelines and practices", adding that "this particularly applies in entertainment programmes".^[58]

[edit] Hannah Montana comment

On 13 May 2009, Ross was accused of homophobia after a comment he made on his radio show,^[59] in which he said,

If your son asks for a Hannah Montana MP3 player, then you might want to already think about putting him down for adoption in later life, when they settle down with their partner.^[60]

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

If your son asks for a Hannah Montana MP3 player, you might want to already think about putting him down for adoption before he brings his … erm … partner home.^[61]

Ofcom received 61 complaints following the comment. A representative from the BBC defended Ross, saying the comment was made "purely in jest" and that "Jonathan is not homophobic in any sense and never meant for his comments to be taken seriously."^[62] On 7 July 2009, Ofcom ruled that Ross did not breach the broadcasting code. They wrote in their opinion that "the comment was clearly presented as a joke intended to make light of the reactions that some parents may have if their child chooses a toy that is very widely recognised to be designed and marketed for the opposite sex" and that the nature of the joke and tone and manner in which it was presented "made clear that it was not intended to be hostile or pejorative towards the gay community in general."^[60] Stonewall criticised the ruling; saying "the fact that a comment is light-hearted does not absolve it from perpetuating the stereotypes that lead to homophobic bullying."^[63]

Video games[link]

Honours and awards[link]

• 2006, made a Fellow of University College, London (UCL), into which his alma mater, SSEES, had been absorbed.^[64]

• 2012, Special Recognition award at the National Television Awards.

References[link]