Jeremy Beadle

Jeremy Beadle MBE
Born	(1948-04-12)12 April 1948 Hackney, London, England
Died	30 January 2008(2008-01-30) (aged 59) North London, England
Occupation(s)	TV presenter, writer and producer.
Spouse	Susan Marshall
Children	Cassie and Bonnie and stepchildren Leo and Clare

Jeremy James Anthony Gibson Beadle MBE (12 April 1948 – 30 January 2008) was an English television presenter, writer and producer.

Early life

Beadle was born in Hackney, East London, on 12 April 1948. His father abandoned his mother when he learned that she was pregnant. Before he reached the age of two, he was frequently hospitalised and had undergone surgery for Poland syndrome, a rare genetic disorder which stunted growth in his right hand.

His mother worked as a secretary to help pay to raise him. Beadle did not enjoy school, and was frequently in trouble. He was eventually expelled from his secondary school, Orpington County Secondary Boys' School.

After his expulsion, he travelled and worked throughout Europe. He had a number of jobs, at one point taking photographs of topless models, and worked as a skin diving instructor, lavatory attendant and tour guide. He often said that he gave the best London tour.

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 TV or radio coverage in a one hour programme on BBC Radio London, which he hosted In 1972 he was employed as one of the management of the Bickershaw Festival. and he worked on further musical events over the next couple of years It was during this period that 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. He then started writing for radio and television, going on to provide material for stars such as Terry Wogan, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett, and was co-editor of Time Out in London and editor of Time Out North West although that only lasted six issues in the north west and that was when he got involved in Bickershaw Festival at the suggestion of North West Arts.

Later public life

Radio and television

In his early life, jezza was often titled a "masturbation pioneer". 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. On another late-evening phone-in show titled Nightline 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 presented 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 the 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 Saturday night ratings battle. 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 he wrote and presented You've Been Framed!, a family show featuring humorous clips from viewers' home video recordings. An off-shoot of this was Beadle's Hotshots featuring viewers' intentionally funny parodies and sketches (some of which were re-edited and even re-shot by a young Edgar Wright in his first industry job). 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. As well as his considerable television output as writer, presenter and producer he appeared in numerous pantomimes and acted as ring master for many circuses notably for Gerry Cottle. He also worked as a consultant for many television companies, wrote books and presented 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 United States 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 contained an extensive canon of erotic literature. In autumn 2007 three new Beadle titles were 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. He guest edited the January 2008 edition of True Detective magazine which featured contributions from his friends and crime experts including James Morton [1], Paul Donnelley [2], Andrew Rose and Matthew Spicer.

General knowledge

Famous for his general knowledge, he 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 wrote and presented a notoriously difficult quiz at London's The Atlantic Grill restaurant, often 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 was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to charity. Beadle was a keen supporter of the charity Children With Leukaemia, a disease he suffered from himself in 2005. He spent much time raising money for many different charities with Plastermind his 'outrageous quiz for those who don't like quizzes.'

Beadle was a Trust Patron of The Philip Green Memorial Trust, and he annually hosted 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.

He was also a well respected and active Freemason, being a member of Westminster City Council Lodge No. 2882. Although he did not join this organisation 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. Beadle also helped to raise money, around £35,000, for the Air Training Corps in late 2007.

It is estimated that his total charitable fund raising was of the order of £100 million.

Health and disability

Beadle had Poland syndrome and was one of the first TV presenters with a visible disability, manifested as a disproportionately small right hand.

In 2004, 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 led 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 were detrimental to his general state of health.

Death

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. He died on 30 January 2008, aged 59.. On 2 February 2008, ITV1 dedicated that day's episode of You've Been Framed to Jeremy, and promoted their tribute webpage to him over the show's credits. ITV1's official tribute to Jeremy Beadle was broadcast on 4 February 2008 where various celebrity friends including Sir Alan Sugar paid tribute. He was cremated at Marylebone Crematorium on 14 February 2008. A further tribute was aired on Friday 16 May, An Audience Without Jeremy Beadle, hosted by Chris Tarrant and with contributions from friends.

TV appearances

• April Fool (1980) (writer, with Clive Doig)
• The Deceivers
• Fun Factory (1980)
• Eureka (1981)
• Game for a Laugh (1981)
• Definition (1984-1986)
• The Saturday Show (1983)
• People Do the Funniest Things
• Beadle's About (1986-1996)
• Chain Letters (1987)
• Beadle's Box of Tricks
• Born Lucky
• It's Beadle! (1990)
• You've Been Framed (1990-1997)
• Beadle's Daredevils (1993)
• GMTV (1993)
• A Fistful of Fingers (1994)
• Beadle's Hotshots (1996)
• 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
• Celebrity Mastermind (2005, Winner. Specialist subject London Capital Murders 1900-1940)
• Celebrity Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (2005) Partner Sir Alan Sugar
• The Trial of Jack the Ripper (2005) Winner
• Countdown (2006)
• The All Star Talent Show (2006)
• Get Me The Producer (2007) (He appeared in Episode 3 only)
• Dickinson's Real Deal (2008)

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 Madame Tussaud's
• The Best of Beadle's About (Video)
• You've Been Framed (Video)
• You've Been Framed Again (Video)
• Jeremy Beadle's Beginners Guide to Practical Joking (Video)
• The Story of Crime (Video)
• Firsts, Lasts & Onlys Crime (with Ian Harrison) (2007)
• Firsts, Lasts & Onlys Military (with Ian Harrison) (2007)
• Beadle's Miscellany (2007)
• True Detective January 2008 (Guest Editor. First in 57 years)

External links

• Jeremy Beadle at IMDb
• Jeremy Beadle—Obituary and Tribute
• The Times obituary
• Jeremy Beadle: Loved and loathed TV prankster
• The Beadlean Library Actor & playwright Ken Campbell on BBC Radio 3

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