Noel Edmonds

Many people are quick to ridicule Noel Edmonds, yet he has consistently been a ratings winner for the BBC. Noel started life as a radio DJ having stints on Radio Luxembourg, pirate radio stations and then BBC's Radio 1. It was whilst serving at Radio 1 that he gained a huge fan base and his shows normally consisted of lively banter, good music, and some hilarious phone jokes played on unsuspecting listeners. From radio, Edmonds took the leap into television. He presented Swap Shop, and various other children's TV programmes during the late seventies and early eighties, graduating into adult television soon later. He presented Top of the Pops, the immensely popular Telly Addicts quiz show, he also had stints on Top Gear and often commentated for the BBC on special events and occasions. For well over a decade he also presented and produced "Noel's Christmas Presents" where he arranged once in a life time trips and surprises for deserving or disadvantaged members of the public. It was often slated as being "schmaltz" but he was always very sincere and genuinely touched by the reaction he got from the people for whom he arranged the trips and surprises. He became the most bankable Saturday night entertainer on British TV. His show the "Late Late Breakfast Show" was new, exciting, fast-paced and genuinely funny. It had a feature where viewers were given the chance of winning cash for doing nail-biting stunts (controlled and overseen by proper stunt men and safety officials). After a contestant was killed when a stunt went wrong, the show was cancelled. Noel's House Party was another lively early evening entertainment show on Saturday evenings which trounced all competition. In many ways it could be seen as the predecessor to "Ant and Dec's Saturday take away" on ITV1. After many years the show began to lose viewers and Edmonds and the BBC finally decided to finish it in 1999. Noel has many fingers in many pies, he still does the odd bit of broadcasting, recently sitting in for Johnnie Walker on Radio 2's Drivetime show. He is also the CEO of many companies, runs his own charity helicopter taxi service for less-able people and is honorary patron of many charities.