Noel Edmonds
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Noel Ernest Edmonds, DL (born 22 December 1948) is an English television presenter and executive, who made his name as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presented many light entertainment television programmes, including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops and Noel's House Party. He currently presents the Channel 4 gameshow Deal or No Deal, the Sunday edition of Sky One's Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year Old? and the new topical Sky 1 show, Noels HQ.

Early life and radio career

The son of a headmaster who worked in Hainault, Edmonds attended Glade Primary School and Brentwood School.¹ He was offered a place at the University of Surrey but turned it down in favour of a job as a newsreader on Radio Luxembourg,² which was offered to him in 1968 after he sent tapes to pirate radio stations. In 1969, he moved to BBC Radio 1 where he began by recording trailers for broadcasts and filling in for absent DJs, such as Kenny Everett and Matthew Browne.² In April 1970, Edmonds began his own two-hour Saturday afternoon programme, broadcasting from 1pm-3pm, before replacing the sacked Kenny Everett on Saturday mornings from 10am-12pm in July of that year. He was then promoted to Radio 1's prestigious breakfast programme from June 1973 to April 1978, taking over from Tony Blackburn. Edmonds moved back to Sunday mornings from 10am-1pm in 1978 and also presented Talkabout, an hour long talk show broadcast on Thursday evenings.³

In the late 1970s, his Radio 1 Sunday show used to feature a send-up called "Musty Mind" where a phone-in contestant would be asked ludicrous questions on a parody of a serious subject, such as the "Toad Racing" or, on another occasion, "The Cultural and Social History of Rockall" - Rockall being a bald lump of uninhabited rock in the eastern Atlantic.

Edmonds left Radio 1 in March 1983,² although he briefly returned in 1985, sitting in for Mike Read for two weeks on the breakfast show, and again in 1992, where he presented a special edition celebrating Radio 1's 25th birthday.^{citation needed}

In 2003, Edmonds made a brief radio comeback, taking over the 'drivetime' broadcast on BBC Radio 2 for eight weeks while Johnnie Walker was undergoing treatment for cancer. His stint on Radio 2 lasted from 4 August until 3 October.⁴ In December 2004, Edmonds played a detective on a radio murder mystery play on local station BBC Radio Devon.⁵

Television career

Edmonds hosted Top of the Pops at various points between 1970 and 1978, during which time he also presented a phone in programme for teenagers called Z Shed on BBC1 as well as a programme called Hobby Horse. He hosted the children's Saturday morning programme, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, which ran from 1976 until 1982. In 1980, Edmonds took part in the Eurovision Song Contest, introducing the UK entry live on stage at the final in The Hague. During Swap Shop's run, Edmonds had his first brushes with Saturday evening television, presenting Lucky Numbers, a phone-in quiz programme which required viewers to call in and answer questions based on clips of films shown – and a revival of the 1960s pop music series Juke Box Jury. Edmonds later moved to a Saturday early evening slot, first with The Late, Late Breakfast Show. The programme was cancelled by the BBC on 15 November 1986, following an accident two days earlier in which Michael Lush, a viewer who had been selected to take part in a live stunt for the 'Whirly Wheel' section, died during rehearsals.⁶

Edmonds was one of the original presenters of the BBC's motoring series Top Gear during the 1970s. During his time on the programme, he rubbished the Fiat Strada, saying it "wasn't very good", which caused Fiat to threaten to sue the BBC unless he apologised for the comments.^{citation needed} Edmonds reappeared in one episode of Top Gear in the 1990s, to road test the classic 1960s Ford GT40 supercar, because current host Jeremy Clarkson - at 6 ft 5 in (2.0 m) tall - was unable to fit into the cockpit. Edmonds privately owns a GT40 and is one of a select few people in the UK to do so.⁷ In September 2006, Edmonds admitted to men's magazine Loaded that he had travelled at speeds of up to 186 mph in the car in the mid-1980s on the Tring Bypass in Hertfordshire, and to having sex in the back of a Range Rover.⁸ In keeping with motor vehicles, Edmonds also starred in an advert for Austin Rover cars on British television during the mid 1980s^{citation needed}.

Telly Addicts

Telly Addicts is the name of a BBC1 game show hosted by Noel Edmonds, broadcast from 3 September 1985 until 29 July 1998. All questions were based on television programmes past and present, and generally took the form of a short clip being shown followed by a series of questions either specifically about the clip or more generally about the programme from which it had been taken. Two teams sat opposite each other on sofas.

Noel's House Party

Edmonds returned to television with The Noel Edmonds Saturday Roadshow in 1988, after presenting a show called Whatever Next? earlier in the same year. By 1991, the Saturday Roadshow morphed into the seminal Noel's House Party. This latter series ran for eight years from Edmonds' supposed mansion in the fictional town of Crinkley Bottom. Regular features included NTV, where cameras were secretly hidden in viewer's homes, and the "Gotchas", where celebrities were caught in elaborate and embarrassing setups. In one infamous incident NTV's hidden cameras caught celebrity psychic Uri Geller apparently bending a spoon with his hands while demonstrating his "powers" to a member of the public. When then-Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis was "Gotcha'd", he infamously yelled: "Edmonds, you are a dead man". He later participated in Noel himself being "Gotcha'd". Mr. Blobby, a yellow and pink spotted character, initially appeared in the "Gotcha" section, and became a regular feature of the programme. The character even achieved the 1993 Christmas No. 1.⁹ To this day, however, Edmonds denies any part in the creation of Mr. Blobby.^{citation needed}

Noel's House Party was a staple of BBC1's autumn and spring schedules for more than eight years. Several reformats failed to reverse its declining popularity, however ¹⁰, and in the final programme, broadcast on 20 March 1999, Edmonds appealed that viewers' memories should be kind to the programme.

Other television appearances

Noel's Christmas Presents was an annual broadcast made on Christmas Day in which Edmonds delivered special presents to various people. Some of the gifts included arranging trips to Lapland for ill or disadvantaged children, or arranging family reunions.¹¹ Noel's Christmas Presents returned to UK screens courtesy of Sky One on 23 December 2007.¹²

In 1997, Edmonds notoriously responded badly to his involvement in an episode of the Chris Morris spoof documentary series Brass Eye, in which he unwittingly pledged his allegiance on camera to a campaign to rid the country of a new killer drug, the entirely fictitious 'cake', which apparently made 10 seconds appear as a few hours to a user. His protests after the broadcast of the programme resulted in a follow-up sketch in which a fake news bulletin reported that Edmonds had gone mad and killed presenter Clive Anderson during a dinner party, in which he held the rest of the guests hostage, before later returning to the scene to see an Edmonds lookalike throw a severed bald head from an upper-floor window before firing a rocket propelled grenade at a nearby wedding.¹³

The Curse of Noel Edmonds, a documentary tracing the rise and fall of his showbiz career, was transmitted by Five on 9 November 2004, with former Radio One DJ Mike Read being one of the contributors to the programme.¹⁴

He was also a guest host for the fourth-series episode of The Friday Night Project, broadcast on 26 January 2007.¹⁵

Noel was a guest on BBC One The One Show on Wednesday 10 September 2008.

Deal or No Deal

Edmonds made his television comeback, presenting the gameshow Deal or No Deal on Channel 4 (produced by Endemol), from a format that had already proved popular in numerous countries. The programme is filmed in a set of studios in Bristol converted from an old warehouse. It began UK transmission on Monday, 31 October 2005, and is broadcast on afternoons six days a week. It has proved to be a massive hit, and at the end of the second series - which finished on 13 July 2007 - had given away over £8 million in 512 programmes, including one winner of the £250,000 jackpot prize. In March 2006, Edmonds had his contract for presenting Deal or No Deal extended until Autumn 2007, for a fee rumoured at £3 million, making him one of the highest paid personalities on UK television.¹⁶ Edmonds was recently nominated for a BAFTA award for his work on the programme but lost out on the night to Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.¹⁷

On 16 March 2007, Edmonds made a cameo appearance as himself in a sketch with Catherine Tate who appeared in the guise of her character Joannie "Nan" Taylor from The Catherine Tate Show. Nan appeared on a special episode of Deal or No Deal, where she ended up cheating. The sketch was made for the BBC Red Nose Day fund raising programme of 2007.

The National Lottery: Everyone's A Winner!

On 21 August 2006, it was announced that Edmonds would be returning to the BBC to host a one-off programme called Everyone's A Winner! celebrating National Lottery "good causes". The programme was broadcast on 23 September 2006.¹⁸

Edmonds had in fact presented the very first National Lottery in 1994 before handing over to Anthea Turner and Gordon Kennedy.¹⁹

Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old?

On 24 May 2007, Sky One announced that Edmonds would host the UK version of the American hit, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, entitled Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old?. The programme debuted on Sky One on 7 October 2007, at 6pm. Edmonds hosts the peaktime showing of the programme, whereas the Daily Programme is presented by Dick and Dom.

Noel's HQ

In the Autumn of 2008 Edmonds will host a new live entertainment show on Sky 1 called Noel's HQ. ²⁰

Unique Group

In 1985, Edmonds formed the Unique Group, which now consists of various operations. The "Unique Broadcasting Company Media Group" plc (UBCMG) is an independent producer of audio programming in the UK, supplying BBC and independent radio. Michael Peacock was an executive of the group between 1989 and 2005, and former Radio 1 controller Johnny Beerling joined the group following his departure from the network in 1993. It owned Classic Gold Digital before selling the stations back to GCap Media who merged them into the Gold network.²¹ Edmonds resigned as non-executive director of UBCMG in March 2006 as a direct result of the success of Deal or no Deal.²² Edmonds also has interests in Unique Motor Company, a producer of small off road vehicles.²³

Theme parks

Edmonds-licensed theme park attractions based on Crinkley Bottom and Mr Blobby were set up in existing parks at Cricket St Thomas in Somerset and Pleasurewood Hills Theme Park in Suffolk. An all-new park was also built in Morecambe. Following disappointing visitor numbers, and in the case of Morecambe, legal disputes with the local council, the deal was scrapped and the all-new park closed. The two existing parks reverted back to their previous state. Edmonds was said to be very critical of Lancaster City Council's management of the Morecambe park.²⁴ A report by the District Auditor found that the council had behaved 'unlawfully' in its dealings with Edmonds, which cost £2.5m, and two former senior officers were found to have committed 'misconduct', although this was not deemed to be 'wilful'.²⁵ The affair was dubbed 'Blobbygate' by the media.²⁶

Personal life

Edmonds was married to Gillian Slater from 1971, but the marriage ended in divorce after eleven years.¹ In July 1986, he married Helen Soby, and the couple have four daughters: Charlotte, Lorna, Olivia and Alice. The couple bought an 855-acre (3.46 km²) estate at Jacobstowe, near Okehampton, as a family home. In 2004, he and Soby divorced, splitting with much tabloid publicity due to her extramarital affair.²⁷

After his second divorce, Edmonds took time out to stabilise his relationship with his daughters,^{citation needed} before starting a relationship with Marjan Simmons, a French estate agent. They dated for a year until summer 2006. Simmons later went to the press, telling how she was left heart-broken after he dumped her, claiming she felt "discarded" by him after he battled to regain his television career.²⁸

It was reported that Edmonds was involved with English teacher and former Miss England Pauline Bull, who lives in Monaco, close to his £3m home in Magagnosc, near Grasse, in the South of France.²⁹ However, Edmonds has recently stated that he is not ready to get seriously involved in a relationship so soon after his second divorce.²⁸ As a result of his success on Deal or No Deal, Edmonds purchased a new home in Devon, a £1.7 million Grade-II manor house.³⁰

Edmonds has commented in favour of stricter immigration policies in the United Kingdom, feeling that the country is "full", as well as building more prisons and reducing crime and youth violence.³¹

T.V. licence boycott

Edmonds claimed that he had stopped payment on his T.V licence in early 2008, in response to the way the BBC enforce collection of the licence. Edmonds declared that it is wrong to "threaten" and "badger" people, in response to large fines and jail which can be used as enforcement for non-payment.³² However TV Licensing claim that Edmonds does have a valid current TV licence. ³³

Spiritualism

Edmonds has claimed that he is pursued by two spiritual alien orb, who only appear on digital photographs. Edmonds further claims that the orbs are the size of melons and are the spirits of his parents. ³⁴

Facts and figures

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (November 2007)

• Edmonds is a licensed helicopter pilot, and one of his early personal aircraft was registered G-NOEL³⁵
• He was president of the British Horse Society between 2004 and 2007³⁶
• Edmonds was voted the third 'Greatest TV game show host' by readers of UKGameshows.com³⁷
• He was featured on a novelty record by Alcatraz as Shaking Kirk Houston³⁸
• He became the 4th television personality to reach 1000 career appearances on the television, joining Terry Wogan, Mr Blobby and Richard Hammond which he said was the greatest moment in his career along with watching people win big on Deal or No Deal.
• Edmonds was one of the trio "Brown Sauce", along with Maggie Philbin and Keith Chegwin, who released the single "I Wanna Be a Winner" in 1981.³⁹⁴⁰

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Noel Edmonds

• Official website
• Noel Edmonds at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography at Radio Rewind including sound clips
• Aircheck biography
• Twenty Forum, critical of Edmonds
• Spoof fansite with several photos of Edmonds from the 70s
• Noel Edmonds Biography page
• Unofficial Noel Edmonds website