Jeremy Beadle dies

 

more news and obs to come

 

Jeremy James Anthony Gibson Beadle[1] MBE (born April 12, 1948 - 30 January 2008) was an English television presenter, writer, magician and producer, born in Hackney, London.

 

Early life

After attending Orpington County Secondary Boys' School he had an adventurous youth travelling and working throughout Europe. He returned to England where at different times and in no chronological order worked as a taxi driver, tour guide, music festival promoter (famously the 1972 Bickershaw Festival ) and co-editor Time Out in London and editor of Time Out in the North West.

 

 

Radio and television

He began supplying odd facts and questions to radio and television game shows such as Celebrity Squares. As a radio presenter he began on BBC Radio 3 and later on BBC Radio 4 became chairman of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? and also had his own late night BBC Radio 2 show titled Nightline. On another a late-evening phone-in show on LBC in London during the late 1970s (where he used to announce himself as Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadlebum and his Producer as 'Butch' Bavin Cook) he developed a cult following. On Capital Radio he poresented Beadle's Odditarium a music show concentrating on strange, bizarre and rare recordings all taken from the archives of producer Phil Swern. 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. He wrote and became accidental presenter of The Deceivers a BBC2 television series recounting the history of swindlers and hoaxers. The success of this led to using the same format for Eureka which told the background behind everyday inventions. 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),a pivotal show in the history of British television since it was the first time ITV 'won' the Saurday night ratings battle. This was followed by a hidden-camera style practical joke show, Beadle's About (1987-1996) which became the world's longest continuously-running hidden camera show. From 1990 he wrote and presented You've Been Framed!, a family show featuring humorous clips from viewers' home video recordings. 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 hugely popular Sunday late-evening show on the newly launched Talk Radio UK. In between his considerable television output as writer, presenter and producer he appeared in numerous pantomimes and ring mastered many circuses notably for Gerry Cottle. He currently works as a consultant for many television companies, writes books and presents quizzes both commercially and for charity.

 

 

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-am, 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. In autumn 2007 three new Beadle titles are due to be published; Firsts, Lasts & Onlys Crime, Firsts, Lasts & Onlys Military (both co-authored by Ian Harrison) and Beadle's Miscellany a thousand incredibly tough questions from his weekly quizzes in The Independent.

 

 

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 wrote a quiz for The Independent every Saturday. He occasionally appeared as a panellist on BBC Radio 4's Quote... Unquote and in dictionary corner for Channel 4's Countdown.

 

 

Charity work

In the 2001 New Year Honours, he became an MBE for his services to charity.[1] Beadle is a keen supporter of the charity Children With Leukaemia, a disease he suffered from himself in 2005. He spends much time raising money for many different charities with Plastermind his 'outrageous quiz for those who don't like quizzes'

 

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.[2]

 

 

Health and disability

Beadle has Poland syndrome[3] and is noted for being one of the first TV presenters with a visible disability, manifested as a disproportionately small right hand.

 

In 2004 Jeremy Beadle discovered he had developed cancer of the kidney and underwent a successful operation to remove it. However, in April 2005, a blood test during a routine post-op medical checkup lead to him being diagnosed with leukaemia. As the condition was caught in its early stages, Beadle was successfully treated for this too, though two serious illnesses in such a short space of time have been detrimental to his general state of health.

 

On 25 January 2008 it was reported that Beadle had been admitted to hospital and subsequently entered an Intensive Care Unit due to severe pneumonia[4][5][6].

 

On 30th January 2008 Jeremy Beadle died after losing his battle with pneumonia

 

wiki

 

Beadle's Not About

 

 

Despite being an Arsenal fan he raised millions for charity for cancer so that makes him a good guy for me even if I hated his shows

 

RIP

Despite being an Arsenal fan he raised millions for charity for cancer so that makes him a good guy for me even if I hated his shows

 

he also did that charity thing in the independent [i think] where you bid for different things that involved columists - like to see Alex James make cheese, or have a drive in a Kia with Alexie Sayle - and he was gonna do a pub quiz for you - i wonder if that went ahead???

Let's hope its not a joke :cry:

Don't know who he is but that is unfortunate. RIP.

I'm sad to hear this :(

awful, often cruel, tacky wind up shows were compulsary tv! lol... car crash tv... he was a master prankster .

 

he raised loads of notes for charity, a fact that few of us knew much about until the obituaries came in...

Was never really a fan tbh (like Rob said, tacky car-crash TV which had the unfortunate side-effect of giving birth to stuff like "Jackass", "Punk'd" and "Dirty Sanchez"), but fair dos on his works for Charity though...

I used to love his shows, I think the one I remember more was 'Beadle's About' always used to watch that with my dad.

 

Great loss.

I used to love his shows, I think the one I remember more was 'Beadle's About' always used to watch that with my dad.

 

'Beadle's About'always seemed to be on at 2:45 in the morning on ftn - i wonder if they are still showing it on challenge now as a tribute???