Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy Beadle, MBE, was born in Hackney east London, on 12 April 1948. His father, a Fleet Street sports reporter, abandoned Jeremy's mother when he learned that she was pregnant. Before Jeremy reached the age of two, he was frequently hospitalised and had undergone surgery for Poland syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that stunted growth in his right hand. His mother worked as a secretary to help pay to raise him including a stint for the boxing promoter Jack Solomon. Beadle did not enjoy school and was frequently in trouble. He was eventually expelled from his secondary school, Orpington County Secondary Boys’ School. A teacher remarked, “Beadle, you waffle like a champion but know nothing.”
After his expulsion, he travelled and worked in Europe. He had a number of jobs and worked as a skin diving instructor, lavatory attendant and tour guide. He often said that he gave the best London tour because he realised that what people wanted was stories of blood, sex and death.
Beadle was chosen in 1970 by Tony Elliott, the founder of Time Out, to set up a Manchester edition of the magazine, a venture which was short-lived, though he subsequently maintained a connection with the publication in London. In 1972, North West Arts Association asked him to organise the Bickershaw Festival, and he worked on further musical events over the next couple of years. In 1973, as an early member of the Campaign for Real Ale, he was elected to their National Executive and secured the campaign's first television or radio coverage in a one-hour programme on Radio London, which he hosted. It was during this period that his talent for practical jokes became evident, although occasionally this rebounded on him, such as when colleagues left him naked in front of 400 women arriving for their shift. He then started writing for radio and television, going on to provide material for stars such as Sir Terry Wogan, Michael Aspel, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett.
Beadle began supplying odd facts and questions to radio and television game shows, such as Celebrity Squares. He sent a number of questions to Bob Monkhouse, the host, without the answers and Monkhouse was so impressed he rang Jeremy to ask him to work on the show. Beadle’s presenting style on the phone-in programme Nightline on LBC, which he hosted between September 1979 and 22 June 1980 (when he was sacked), led to a cult following. He introduced himself as Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadlebum: "Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle is my name and a bum is what I am," he explained.
On 31 May 1980, he began co-presenting the children's television show Fun Factory with his LBC co-star Therese Birch plus Kevin Day and Billy Boyle. On Capital Radio Beadle presented Beadle's Odditarium, a music show concentrating on strange, bizarre and rare recordings all taken from the archives of producer Phil Swern. From 5 October 1986, Beadle presented Beadle's Brainbusters on the independent local radio network, with questions written by Beadle and Paul Donnelley. Beadle also became renowned for his off-air pranks and intellectually challenging quizzes. He wrote, devised and presented many television pilots for the highly successful game show company Action Time, then run by Jeremy Fox, son of Sir Paul Fox. Beadle wrote and presented The Deceivers, a BBC2 television series recounting the history of swindlers and hoaxers. The success of this led to using the same format for Eureka, which told the background behind everyday inventions.
Beadle then went on to become nationally famous as one of the presenters of LWT's Game For A Laugh (along with Matthew Kelly, Henry Kelly and Sarah Kennedy), a pivotal show in the history of British television since it was the first time ITV had beaten the BBC in the Saturday night ratings battle. This was followed by a hidden-camera style practical joke show, Beadle's About (1986–1996) which became the world's longest continuously running hidden camera show.
From 1990, he presented You've Been Framed!, a family show featuring humorous clips from viewers' home video recordings. In 1995, reflecting his days on LBC, he presented a relatively short-lived but hugely popular Sunday late-evening show on the newly launched Talk Radio UK. As well as his considerable television output as writer, presenter and producer he appeared in numerous pantomimes and acted as ringmaster for many circuses notably for Gerry Cottle. He also worked as a consultant for many television companies, wrote books and presented quizzes both commercially and for charity. As a radio presenter, he was chairman of a brief revival of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? on Radio 4.
Beadle wanted to be the British Robert L. Ripley. A love of trivia was born as a small boy when his mother Marji bought him The Guinness Book Of Records for Christmas. This led him to write Today's The Day (published in UK by WH Allen in 1979 and by Signet in the United States two years later), researched in his own library of more than 20,000 volumes. The book recounts – for any given day of the year – notable births, deaths and other events that occurred on this date in previous years linked to odd or amusing facts. Beadle briefly performed a similar duty on television's TV-am, informing each morning's viewers of prominent events on this date in past years. The scripts were written by Beadle and Paul Donnelley.
For more than two years, Beadle wrote a daily cartoon series of Today's The Day for the Daily Express. He worked alongside Irving Wallace and his son David Wallechinsky and daughter Amy Wallace as the biggest contributor to the sex and death chapters of the sensationally successful The Book Of Lists and was the London editor of The People's Almanac 2. The Wallaces' book The Intimate Sex Lives Of Famous People (Dell (US) Hutchinson (UK), 1981) was researched in part in Beadle's library, which contained an extensive canon of erotic literature.
Renowned for his general knowledge, Beadle was host of Win Beadle's Money (based on the US format Win Ben Stein's Money). Beadle lost his money only eight times in 52 shows. He wrote and presented a notoriously difficult quiz at London's The Atlantic Grill restaurant, then owned by Oliver Peyton and often attended by celebrities and members of the press. Beadle also wrote a quiz for The Independent every Saturday. Beadle died on 30 January 2008, aged 59, from pneumonia.
Firsts, Lasts & Onlys is a registered trademark of Paul Donnelley. Any infringement will be vigorously pursued.
After his expulsion, he travelled and worked in Europe. He had a number of jobs and worked as a skin diving instructor, lavatory attendant and tour guide. He often said that he gave the best London tour because he realised that what people wanted was stories of blood, sex and death.
Beadle was chosen in 1970 by Tony Elliott, the founder of Time Out, to set up a Manchester edition of the magazine, a venture which was short-lived, though he subsequently maintained a connection with the publication in London. In 1972, North West Arts Association asked him to organise the Bickershaw Festival, and he worked on further musical events over the next couple of years. In 1973, as an early member of the Campaign for Real Ale, he was elected to their National Executive and secured the campaign's first television or radio coverage in a one-hour programme on Radio London, which he hosted. It was during this period that his talent for practical jokes became evident, although occasionally this rebounded on him, such as when colleagues left him naked in front of 400 women arriving for their shift. He then started writing for radio and television, going on to provide material for stars such as Sir Terry Wogan, Michael Aspel, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett.
Beadle began supplying odd facts and questions to radio and television game shows, such as Celebrity Squares. He sent a number of questions to Bob Monkhouse, the host, without the answers and Monkhouse was so impressed he rang Jeremy to ask him to work on the show. Beadle’s presenting style on the phone-in programme Nightline on LBC, which he hosted between September 1979 and 22 June 1980 (when he was sacked), led to a cult following. He introduced himself as Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadlebum: "Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle is my name and a bum is what I am," he explained.
On 31 May 1980, he began co-presenting the children's television show Fun Factory with his LBC co-star Therese Birch plus Kevin Day and Billy Boyle. On Capital Radio Beadle presented Beadle's Odditarium, a music show concentrating on strange, bizarre and rare recordings all taken from the archives of producer Phil Swern. From 5 October 1986, Beadle presented Beadle's Brainbusters on the independent local radio network, with questions written by Beadle and Paul Donnelley. Beadle also became renowned for his off-air pranks and intellectually challenging quizzes. He wrote, devised and presented many television pilots for the highly successful game show company Action Time, then run by Jeremy Fox, son of Sir Paul Fox. Beadle wrote and presented The Deceivers, a BBC2 television series recounting the history of swindlers and hoaxers. The success of this led to using the same format for Eureka, which told the background behind everyday inventions.
Beadle then went on to become nationally famous as one of the presenters of LWT's Game For A Laugh (along with Matthew Kelly, Henry Kelly and Sarah Kennedy), a pivotal show in the history of British television since it was the first time ITV had beaten the BBC in the Saturday night ratings battle. This was followed by a hidden-camera style practical joke show, Beadle's About (1986–1996) which became the world's longest continuously running hidden camera show.
From 1990, he presented You've Been Framed!, a family show featuring humorous clips from viewers' home video recordings. In 1995, reflecting his days on LBC, he presented a relatively short-lived but hugely popular Sunday late-evening show on the newly launched Talk Radio UK. As well as his considerable television output as writer, presenter and producer he appeared in numerous pantomimes and acted as ringmaster for many circuses notably for Gerry Cottle. He also worked as a consultant for many television companies, wrote books and presented quizzes both commercially and for charity. As a radio presenter, he was chairman of a brief revival of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? on Radio 4.
Beadle wanted to be the British Robert L. Ripley. A love of trivia was born as a small boy when his mother Marji bought him The Guinness Book Of Records for Christmas. This led him to write Today's The Day (published in UK by WH Allen in 1979 and by Signet in the United States two years later), researched in his own library of more than 20,000 volumes. The book recounts – for any given day of the year – notable births, deaths and other events that occurred on this date in previous years linked to odd or amusing facts. Beadle briefly performed a similar duty on television's TV-am, informing each morning's viewers of prominent events on this date in past years. The scripts were written by Beadle and Paul Donnelley.
For more than two years, Beadle wrote a daily cartoon series of Today's The Day for the Daily Express. He worked alongside Irving Wallace and his son David Wallechinsky and daughter Amy Wallace as the biggest contributor to the sex and death chapters of the sensationally successful The Book Of Lists and was the London editor of The People's Almanac 2. The Wallaces' book The Intimate Sex Lives Of Famous People (Dell (US) Hutchinson (UK), 1981) was researched in part in Beadle's library, which contained an extensive canon of erotic literature.
Renowned for his general knowledge, Beadle was host of Win Beadle's Money (based on the US format Win Ben Stein's Money). Beadle lost his money only eight times in 52 shows. He wrote and presented a notoriously difficult quiz at London's The Atlantic Grill restaurant, then owned by Oliver Peyton and often attended by celebrities and members of the press. Beadle also wrote a quiz for The Independent every Saturday. Beadle died on 30 January 2008, aged 59, from pneumonia.
Firsts, Lasts & Onlys is a registered trademark of Paul Donnelley. Any infringement will be vigorously pursued.