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Timmy Mallett
Mallett in Market Harborough 2008
Born
Timothy L Mallett

(1955-10-18) 18 October 1955 (age 69)
Marple, Stockport, Cheshire, England
Alma materUniversity of Warwick
Occupation(s)Radio/television presenter, artist
Years active1982–present
Spouse
Lynda Bingham
​
(m. 1990)​
Children1
Websitetimmymallett.co.uk

Timmy Mallett (born 18 October 1955[citation needed]) is an English TV presenter, broadcaster, and artist. He is known for his striking visual style, colourful glasses, loud shirts, and giant pink foam mallet, known as "Mallett's Mallet", as well as his "utterly brilliant!" and "blaaah!" catchphrases.

Career

Radio

Mallett was born in Marple, Cheshire. His media career started while he was a student at the University of Warwick where he worked on the student radio station, Radio Warwick. After graduating with a degree in History he started working at BBC Radio Oxford. He later moved to Centre Radio (now Leicester Sound) as the station's launch presenter. He also presented on Radio Luxembourg and Manchester's Piccadilly Radio.

The programme he hosted at Piccadilly was Timmy on the Tranny, a weekday evening show that ran from 8.00pm–11.00pm and took its name from Mallett's lunchtime and later afternoon shows on Radio Oxford. Among Mallett's team of helpers were Chris Evans (known as 'Nobby Nolevel'), Andy Bird (who played the pirate radio character 'Radio Diggle') and Karen Walsh (the original 'Aunty Boney kneecaps'). This led to Mallett co-presenting the Manchester-based BBC2 youth music show Oxford Road Show for a year in 1984.

Mallett won two Radio Academy Awards for Best Local Radio presenter (1984) and Best pop music show (1986).[citation needed]

Television

In 1983, he presented Summer Run on Saturday mornings for the new breakfast television station, TV-am. The following year he became a presenter of Wide Awake Club, a new Saturday morning children's programme on TV-am, with co-presenters Michaela Strachan, James Baker, Arabella Warner and Tommy Boyd. Future actor Mike Myers also had a minor role alongside Neil Mullarkey. TV-am found itself lacking a school holidays programme after Roland Rat moved to the BBC, and he was offered the chance to present it. The replacement, a spin-off of Wide Awake Club, was called Wacaday (based on the addition of 'aday' to the initials 'WAC' for Wide Awake Club) and began broadcasting in 1985.

In the Wide Awake Club contestants were hit over the head by his famed mallet for getting answers wrong. In later years, a talking mini-version of the mallet called "Pinky Punky" was introduced (the name chosen after Mallett asked viewers to write in with their ideas) and soon became one of Mallett's established sidekicks along with Magic, his pet cockatiel. Wacaday ended in 1992 when TV-am lost its franchise to broadcast.[1]

Since then, Mallett has run his own production company, Brilliant TV.[2]

In 1993, Mallett starred in The Children's Channel's Around the World in 80 seconds as Captain Everything.[3]

From 1997 until 2002, he acted in Timmy Towers, for CITV.[4]

Other

In 2002, Mallett made West Ham United F.C. agree to stop selling copies of their mascot, Herbie the Hammer, in their club shop after he complained that it looked too similar to Pinky Punky. West Ham United withdrew the item.[5]

In 2004 he was a stand-in contestant for the ITV1 jungle-based reality series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. In 2008 he entered the show as a full contestant.

In 2008, Mallett appeared on Big Brother's Little Brother.[6]

In September 2008, Mallett appeared on the BBC One politics show This Week talking about being positive when things get tough.[7]

In November 2008, Mallett appeared in the eighth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. He entered the show by being captured in an oversized net and imprisoned in jungle jail. The celebrities were given an option to trade their possessions for him and David Van Day to enter. They refused. On 30 November 2008, Mallett was the fourth contestant eliminated from the show after being placed in the bottom two in the public voting and taking part in a play-off bush tucker eating trial with Brian Paddick.[citation needed]

Music

With producers Nigel Wright and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Mallett formed the band Bombalurina, named after a character in Lloyd Webber's musical Cats. Along with female vocalists and dancers Dawn Andrews and Annie Dunkley, they released a cover of the single "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini".[8] It reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in August 1990.[9]

Follow up single "Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Backseat" reached number 18 in the UK in December 1990.[10]

The Bombalurina album Huggin' And A Kissin' with 14 tracks was released in December 1990.[11]

Ditching the Bombalurina name, but again working with producer Nigel Wright, Mallett released a cover of Kenny's "The Bump" under the name M.C. Mallett in 1991. This failed to chart.[12]

For "Tommy's Campaign", Mallett recorded "The Laughing Policeman" with producer George Martin in 1991.[13]

Under the name Del Costa, Mallett released a megamix version of "Hot Hot Hot" in summer 1992.[14]

In 2008, Mallett featured in Skepta's video "Rolex Sweep"[15] and accompanied Skepta to the MOBO nominations.[16]

In 2013, Mallett recorded Gilbert O'Sullivan's hit "Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day".[citation needed]

Mallett's "Summer Holiday" video was made in 2014.[citation needed]

Stage shows

Mallett has appeared in pantomime in Lewisham theatre, Cliffs Pavilion Southend, Hexagon Reading, Derngate Northampton, Arena St Albans, Wyvern Swindon, Forum Billingham, Pavilion Worthing, Grand Pavilion Porthcawl, Playhouse Weston-super-Mare and Theatre Royal Windsor.[citation needed]

In December 2016, he appeared in Jack and the Beanstalk at Theatre Royal Windsor.[citation needed]

While staying at Hartlepool, Mallet rescued a woman from the marina in December 2001.[17]

He toured the Pontins holiday camps with the "Utterly Brilliant Timmy Mallett show" in 2014.[18]

He toured Park Holidays UK's sites doing the Timmy Mallett show 2016.[citation needed]

Art

Mallett is an oil painter and acrylic artist whose work sells in galleries across UK and Europe.[19] His work is distributed and published in limited editions by De Montfort Fine Art[20][failed verification] and Buckingham Fine Art[21][failed verification]

In 2002, he painted 50 portraits for the Queen's jubilee including Wendy Craig, Jim Rosenthal, Lorraine Kelly, Ulrika Jonsson and Sir Clive Woodward.[22]

In 2012, Mallett won the Best up and coming artist Fine Art Trade Guild.[23]

In 2012, Mallett painted a telephone box in Windsor with likenesses of the Queen, Prince Harry and Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge.[24]

In the summer of 2018, Mallett discovered and painted his father's secret Galloway bridge scene from September 1966.[25]

Selected television programmes

Sport

Mallett is a supporter of Oxford United F.C.[citation needed] and Maidenhead United.[26]

Mallett is a keen cyclist.

He rode through Northern Ireland in May 2015,[27] Lincolnshire in summer 2015[28] and through Cumbria in May 2016.[29]

In spring 2018, Mallett cycled alone from home in England through France and Spain along the pilgrimage route, the Camino de Santiago to Santiago de Compostela Finisterre and back, a distance of over 4000 km, inspired by his older brother Martin with Downs syndrome.[30] The story forms the basis for his memoirs 'Utterly Brilliant My life's Journey' published in 2020 by SPCK which also includes some of the paintings produced on this adventure. [31]

References

  1. ^ Wacaday – Index. Brillianttv.co.uk. Retrieved on 18 February 2013.
  2. ^ Brilliant TV. Brilliant TV. Retrieved on 18 February 2013.
  3. ^ Timmy Mallett – television, Around the World in 80 seconds!. Brillianttv.co.uk. Retrieved on 18 February 2013.
  4. ^ Timmy Mallett – television, Timmy Towers. Brillianttv.co.uk. Retrieved on 18 February 2013.
  5. ^ "BBC News: West Ham 'hammer' knocked on the head, 2002". 23 November 2002. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  6. ^ Timmy Mallett – television, Big Brother's Little Brother 2008. Brillianttv.co.uk. Retrieved on 18 February 2013.
  7. ^ "BBC This week: Timmy's Upside to the downturn, 2008". BBC News. 19 September 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  8. ^ "10 people you totally forgot scored a number one single". Smooth Radio. 9 July 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  9. ^ UK number one singles of 1990
  10. ^ "Timmy Mallett – recordings – 7 little girls". brillianttv.co.uk.
  11. ^ "Timmy Mallett – recordings – Huggin an a Kissin". brillianttv.co.uk.
  12. ^ ""The Bump"". 45cat.com.
  13. ^ "Timmy Mallett – recordings – The Laughing Policeman". brillianttv.co.uk.
  14. ^ "Timmy Mallett – recordings – Hot Hot Hot". brillianttv.co.uk.
  15. ^ MistaJam: Timmy Mallet gets in on the Rolex Sweep. BBC (26 April 2008). Retrieved on 2013-02-18.
  16. ^ UK NEWS: MORE MOBO 2008 NOMINATIONS LAUNCH PICS / FULL LIST OF NOMINEES « WWW.MADNEWSUK.COM. Madnews.wordpress.com. Retrieved on 18 February 2013.
  17. ^ "Timmy Mallett – Theatre – Cinderella, Billingham – rescue". brillianttv.co.uk.
  18. ^ "Entertainment Breaks". pontins.com.
  19. ^ "Mallett's Palette". mallettspalette.co.uk.
  20. ^ "DeMontfort Fine Art". demontfortfineart.co.uk.
  21. ^ "All work : Timmy Mallett". Buckingham Fine Art Publishers.
  22. ^ "Cookham Jubilee – Categories – Mallett's Palette". mallettspalette.co.uk.
  23. ^ "Timmy Mallett". buy-fineart.com.
  24. ^ "In pictures: Timmy Mallett swaps mallett for palette". 7 December 2013 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  25. ^ "Timmy Mallett completes Galloway bridge painting". BBC News.
  26. ^ "Manic Timmy Mallett toasts Maidenhead's dramatic equaliser". BT.com.
  27. ^ "Timmy Mallett in Antrim".
  28. ^ "Timmy Mallett in Lincolnshire".
  29. ^ "Timmy Mallett visits Barrow and Ulverston on Cumbria cycling tour". The Mail.
  30. ^ "My Camino Blog". Timmy Mallett.
  31. ^ "'Life goes a gazillion miles an hour. You have to fill it': Timmy Mallett on what he did next". The Guardian. 30 June 2020.
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