Jeremy Beadle

Jeremy Beadle
Born	April 12 1948 Hackney, London, England
Occupation(s)	TV Presenter, Writer and Producer.
Spouse	Sue

Jeremy Beadle (born April 12 1948) is an English television presenter, writer and producer, born in Hackney, London.

Biography

Radio and television

As a radio presenter for a late-evening phone-in show on LBC in London during the late 1970s (where he used to announce himself as Jeremy James Anthony Beadlebum and his Producer as 'Butch' Bavin) he developed a cult following. He also became renowned for his off-air pranks and intellectually challenging quizzes. He 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), and is still commonly known in the UK as presenter of various Candid Camera-style programmes and practical joke shows, most notably Beadle's About (1987-1996). In 1984 he replaced Don Moss as the host of the HTV West game show Definition. From 1990 he wrote and 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 by hugely popular Sunday late-evening show on the newly launched Talk Radio UK.

Writing

Beadle wanted to be the British Robert L. Ripley. A love of trivia led him to write Today's the Day, (published in UK by WH Allen in 1979 and by Signet in the USA two years later), researched in his own library of more than 25,000 volumes. This book recounts -- for any given day of the year -- notable births, deaths and other events which occurred on this date in previous years. Beadle briefly performed a similar duty on television's 'TV A.M.', informing each morning's viewers of prominent events on this date in past years.

For more than two years he scripted a daily cartoon series of Today's the Day for the Daily Express. He worked alongside Irving Wallace and son David Wallechinsky and daughter Amy Wallace as the biggest contributor to the sex and death chapters of the sensationally successful Book of Lists and was the London editor of The People's Almanac 2. The Wallaces' book The Intimate Sex Lives of the Famous (Hutchinson, 1981) was researched in part in Beadle's library, which contains an extensive canon of erotic literature.

Knowledge (General)

Famous for his general knowledge, he was host of Win Beadle's Money (based on the US format Win Ben Stein's Money) he lost only 8 times in 52 shows. He wrote and presented a notoriously difficult quiz at London's The Atlantic Grill restaurant, usually attended by celebrities and members of the press. He also currently writes a quiz for The Independent every Saturday. He occasionally appears as a panellist on BBC Radio 4's Quote... Unquote and in dictionary corner for Channel 4's Countdown.

Charity work

In 2000, he became an MBE for his services to charity. Beadle is a keen supporter of the charity Children With Leukaemia, and by coincidence he was diagnosed with leukaemia in April 2005. The condition is not thought to be life-threatening, though he had an operation to remove a cancerous kidney in 2004.

Beadle is a Trust Patron of The Philip Green Memorial Trust, and he annually hosts a quiz party to raise money for disadvantaged children.

Beadle was Patron of Reach, an organisation providing support and advice for children in the UK with hand or arm deficiencies, and their parents.

Disability

Beadle has Poland syndrome and is noted for being one of the first TV presenters with a visible disability. His disability manifests as a disproportionately small right hand.

TV appearances

• April Fool (1980) (writer, with Clive Doig)
• Eureka (1981)
• Fun Factory (1980)
• The Deceivers
• Definition (1984-1986)
• Game for a Laugh (1981)
• The Saturday Show (1983) - substitute host
• Beadle's About (1987)
• You've Been Framed (1990)
• GMTV (1993)
• Fistful of Fingers (1994)
• This Morning with Richard and Judy (1996)
• Win Beadle's Money (1999)
• Celebrity Sleepover (2001)
• Ant & Dec's Banged Up With Beadle (2002 - part of Saturday Night Takeaway)
• Comic Relief 2003: The Big Hair Do: University Challenge
• Chain Letters (1987)
• Celebrity Mastermind (2005, Winner. Specialist subject London Capital Murders 1900-1940)
• Countdown (2006)
• The Trial of Jack the Ripper (2005) Winner
• Celebrity Who Wants to be a Millionaire (2005)Partner Sir Alan Sugar
• The All Star Talent Show (2006)
• Withering Hands (2003) he stars as a dad whose son gets kidnapped therefore leaving the child "no dadded"

Publications

• Today's the Day - A Chronicle of the Curious
• The Book of Outlawed Inventions (with Chris Winn)
• Beadle's About (with Robert Randell)
• How to Make Your Own Video Blockbuster (with Mark Leigh and Mike Lepine)
• Watch Out! (with Alec Lom)
• The Gossip's Guide to Madam Tussaud (with Mark Leigh and Mike Lepine)