English television presenter, writer and producer (1948?2008)
Jeremy Beadle
|
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Beadle in 2005
|
Born
| Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle
(
1948-04-12
)
12 April 1948
|
---|
Died
| 30 January 2008
(2008-01-30)
(aged 59)
London, England
|
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Resting place
| Highgate Cemetery
|
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Occupation(s)
| TV presenter, radio presenter, writer and producer.
|
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Years active
| 1970?2008
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Spouse
| Susan Marshall
|
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Children
| Two, two stepchildren
[1]
|
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Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle
MBE
(12 April 1948 ? 30 January 2008) was an English television presenter, radio presenter, writer and producer. From the 1980s to the late 1990s he was a regular face on British television, and in two years appeared in 50 weeks of the year.
[2]
Early life
[
edit
]
Beadle was born in
Hackney Central
, east London, on 12 April 1948. His father, a Fleet Street sports reporter, abandoned Jeremy's mother, Marji (9 July 1921 ? 4 July 2004), 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 disorder that stunted growth in his right hand.
[3]
His mother worked as a secretary to help pay to raise him, including a stint for the boxing promoter Jack Solomons.
[4]
Beadle did not enjoy school and was frequently in trouble. He was eventually expelled from his secondary school, Orpington County Secondary Boys' School.
[3]
[5]
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, at one point taking photographs of topless models,
[3]
and worked as a sky-diving instructor, lavatory attendant and tour guide.
[4]
He briefly worked as a tour guide at the York dungeons.
[4]
He often said that he gave the best London tour because he realised that what people wanted was stories of blood, sex and death.
[4]
Beadle was chosen in 1970 by
Tony Elliott
, the founder of
Time Out
, to set up a Manchester edition of the magazine, a venture that was short-lived,
[6]
though he subsequently maintained a connection with the publication in London. In 1972, North West Arts Association asked him to organise the
Bickershaw Festival
,
[3]
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
BBC Radio London
, which he hosted.
[7]
During this period 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.
[5]
He then started writing for radio and television to provide material for stars such as
Sir Terry Wogan
,
Michael Aspel
,
Noel Edmonds
and
Kenny Everett
.
[3]
Later public life
[
edit
]
Radio and television
[
edit
]
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.
[4]
His presenting style on the phone-in programme
Nightline
on
LBC
in London, 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, 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. He 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, the son of
Paul Fox
. Beadle wrote and presented
The Deceivers
, a
BBC2
television series recounting the history of swindlers and hoaxers.
[8]
The success of this led to using the same format for
Eureka
, which told the background behind everyday inventions. He hosted a US game show pilot in 1985 called
Family Follies
, which did not make it to a full series.
Beadle then went on to become nationally famous as one of the presenters of
LWT
's
Game for a Laugh
, the first programme made by
ITV
to beat the BBC's shows in the Saturday night ratings battle.
[4]
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 to 1997, Beadle presented
You've Been Framed!
, a family show featuring humorous clips from viewers' home video recordings. An offshoot of this was
Beadle's Hotshots
, featuring viewers' intentionally funny parodies and sketches, some of which were re-edited and even reshot by a young
Edgar Wright
in his first industry job; other sketches and scripts were produced by writer/director Chris Barfoot. In total, Beadle hit the UK Number One ratings slot four times.
In 1995, reflecting his days on LBC, he presented a relatively short-lived but 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
's. 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 chaired a brief revival of
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?
on
BBC Radio 4
. In 2007 he started to work on the Bickershaw Festival 40th Anniversary Boxed set project for 2012 in conjunction with Chris Hewitt, who had worked with Beadle on the original event in 1972. (Chris Hewitt continued to work on the project after Beadle died.)
Beadle was living in
Highgate
, north London, when he was the subject of
This Is Your Life
on 26 January 1994. He was surprised by
Michael Aspel
during a school carol concert at a church in nearby
Hampstead
on 8 December 1993.
Writing
[
edit
]
Beadle wanted to be the British
Robert L. Ripley
.
[4]
A love of trivia was born when his mother bought him
The Guinness Book of Records
for Christmas when he was a small boy.
[4]
This led him to write
Today's the Day
(published in the UK by WH Allen in 1979 and by Signet in the United States two years later), researched in his own library of 27,000 volumes. The book recounts ? for any given day of the year ? around half a dozen notable births, deaths or events that occurred on that date, 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.
[9]
The format was briefly revived when
GMTV
replaced TV-am as the ITV breakfast franchise in 1993.
For more than two years Beadle wrote a daily cartoon series of
Today's the Day
for the
Daily Express
.
[4]
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 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 collection of erotic literature.
[4]
In autumn 2007, three new books by Beadle were published:
Firsts, Lasts & Onlys: Crime
,
Firsts, Lasts & Onlys: Military
(both co-authored by the celebrated writer Ian Harrison) and
Beadle's Miscellany
, the first hundred quizzes from his weekly puzzlers in
The Independent
. He guest-edited the January 2008 edition of
True Detective
, which featured contributions from his friends who are crime experts including James Morton,
[10]
Paul Donnelley,
[11]
Andrew Rose and Matthew Spicer.
In 1995, Beadle wrote the foreword to
Who Was Jack the Ripper?
, a collection of theories and observations about the Victorian serial murderer, published by the veteran true crime book dealer Camille Woolf. It included contributions from experts such as
Martin Fido
,
Colin Wilson
,
Donald Rumbelow
, Colin Kendell and Richard Whittington-Egan. In his foreword, Beadle coined the collective noun to describe those interested in the subject "a speculation of Ripperologists".
General knowledge
[
edit
]
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 also wrote a quiz for
The Independent
every Saturday. He occasionally appeared as a panellist on
Radio 4
's
Quote... Unquote
and in dictionary corner for
Channel 4
's
Countdown
.
Beadle was also a winner on the game show
19 Keys
, presented by
Richard Bacon
, defeating
Nick Weir
,
Nicholas Parsons
and fellow
Game for a Laugh
presenter
Henry Kelly
.
Charity work
[
edit
]
An estimate of Beadle's total charitable fund raising is around £100 million.
[12]
In the 2001
New Year Honours
Beadle was made a
Member of the Order of the British Empire
(MBE) for his services to charity.
[13]
He was a keen supporter of the charity Children With Leukaemia, a disease he suffered from himself in 2005. He helped raise money for charities with Plastermind, his "outrageous quiz for those who don't like quizzes", as well as a school video venture called CamClass.
[14]
Beadle was a patron of The Philip Green Memorial Trust, and he hosted an annual quiz party to raise money for disadvantaged children. Beadle was also the patron of Reach, an organisation providing support and advice for children in the UK with hand or arm deficiencies, and their parents.
[15]
He was a
Freemason
,
[16]
initiated in the Westminster City Council Lodge No. 2882, under the
United Grand Lodge of England
. Although he did not join until after his television heyday was over, he quickly became involved with all aspects of English
Freemasonry
, and particularly its charitable work, often using his celebrity status to assist in raising funds for Masonic charities.
[17]
Health and disability
[
edit
]
Beadle had
Poland syndrome
,
[18]
which manifested itself as a disproportionately small right hand.
[1]
In 2004, Beadle was diagnosed with
kidney cancer
and underwent a successful operation to remove it.
[19]
In April 2005, a blood test during a routine post-op medical check-up led to his being diagnosed with
chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
.
[20]
Death
[
edit
]
On 25 January 2008, it was reported that Beadle had been admitted to a north London hospital, and was subsequently placed in a critical care unit with
pneumonia
.
[21]
He died on 30 January 2008 at the age of 59.
[12]
His body was subsequently cremated at
Marylebone Crematorium
on 14 February 2008,
[22]
and the ashes were buried in a grave at
Highgate Cemetery
, the distinctive headstone reflecting his
bibliophile
inclination with a stack of sculpted stone tomes, with the inscription:
Writer, Presenter, Curator of Oddities
.
Tributes
[
edit
]
On 2 February 2008, ITV dedicated that day's episode of
You've Been Framed
to Beadle and promoted a tribute webpage to him over the show's credits. The channel's official tribute to Jeremy Beadle was broadcast on 4 February 2008 where various celebrity friends including
Alan Sugar
paid tribute.
[23]
A further tribute was aired on Friday 16 May,
An Audience Without Jeremy Beadle
, hosted by
Chris Tarrant
and with contributions from Alan Sugar,
Henry Kelly
,
Ken Campbell
and
Anneka Rice
.
[24]
His obituary in
The Daily Telegraph
claimed that he "was the most avidly watched presenter on television".
[25]
On 15 August 2010 he was the subject of an ITV documentary,
The Unforgettable Jeremy Beadle
.
TV appearances
[
edit
]
Publications
[
edit
]
Books
- Today's the Day ? A Chronicle of the Curious
, a book of anniversaries (1979, US edition 1981)
- 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! My Autobiography
(with Alec Lom)
- The Gossip's Guide to Madame Tussaud's
(pulped because of unflattering comments about
Kemal Ataturk
)
- Firsts, Lasts & Onlys Crime
(with Ian Harrison) (2007)
- Firsts, Lasts & Onlys Military
(with Ian Harrison) (2007)
- Beadle's Miscellany
(2007)
Videos
- The Best of Beadle's About
- You've Been Framed
- You've Been Framed Again
- Jeremy Beadle's Beginners Guide to Practical Joking
- The Story of Crime
- Bickershaw Festival 1972
- Bickershaw Festival Volume 2
Magazine
- True Detective
January 2008 (Guest Editor. First in 57 years)
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Obituary: Jeremy Beadle"
.
BBC News
. London. 30 January 2008
. Retrieved
30 January
2008
.
- ^
The Unforgettable Jeremy Beadle, ITV
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
James Macintyre,
"Jeremy Beadle, king of the TV practical jokers, dies aged 59"
,
The Independent
, 31 January 2008.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Beadle,
Watch Out! My Autobiography
- ^
a
b
Barker, Dennis (31 January 2008).
"Obituary: Jeremy Beadle"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
31 January
2008
.
- ^
Tony Elliott
"'I think he'd rather not have been a clown'"
,
The Guardian
, 1 February 2008
- ^
"What's Brewing", March 2008 edition.
- ^
Hodgson, Martin (31 January 2008).
"Veteran TV joker Jeremy Beadle dies of pneumonia, aged 59"
.
Guardian media section
. London:
Guardian Media Group
. Retrieved
31 January
2008
.
- ^
"PAUL DONNELLEY"
. Archived from
the original
on 4 March 2021
. Retrieved
11 April
2011
.
- ^
"Invalid Site"
.
Littlebrown.co.uk
. Archived from
the original
on 5 March 2016
. Retrieved
10 February
2009
.
- ^
"PaulDonnelley.com - Home"
.
Pauldonnelley.com
.
- ^
a
b
"TV presenter Beadle dies aged 59"
.
BBC News
. London. 30 January 2008
. Retrieved
30 January
2008
.
- ^
"No. 56070"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 30 December 2000. p. 14.
- ^
"Now Beadle's about helping good causes"
.
The Guardian
. London. 16 November 2002
. Retrieved
10 May
2009
.
- ^
"Who's Who in Reach"
. Archived from
the original
on 28 January 2007
. Retrieved
11 February
2007
.
- ^
"What is Freemasonry?"
. North Kent Lodge No 2499
. Retrieved
17 January
2021
.
- ^
See this website
for citation.
- ^
Burt, Jennifer (20 October 1997). "Jeremy was a role model for children". Leicester (UK) Mercury.
- ^
"Beadle in hospital with pneumonia"
.
BBC
. 25 January 2008
. Retrieved
28 June
2021
.
- ^
"Jeremy Beadle's death frightened my family'
"
.
South Wales Echo
. 27 February 2008.
- ^
Hilton, Beth (25 January 2008).
"Beadle seriously ill with pneumonia"
. Digital Spy
. Retrieved
29 November
2020
.
- ^
Hilton, Beth (15 February 2008).
"Mourners gather for Beadle's funeral"
. Digital Spy
. Retrieved
29 November
2020
.
- ^
"Jeremy Beadle dies"
.
ITV plc
. 30 January 2008
. Retrieved
9 February
2008
.
- ^
"Comedy ? An Audience Without Jeremy Beadle ? ITV Entertainment"
. itv.com
. Retrieved
27 July
2008
.
- ^
Obituary
,
Daily Telegraph
, 30 January 2008
External links
[
edit
]