Jump to content

Hardeep Singh Kohli

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 69.143.9.117 (talk) at 16:02, 20 May 2010. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Hardeep Singh Kohli
Born
Hardeep Singh Kohli

1969 (age 54–55)
London, England, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
OccupationBroadcaster
RelativesSanjeev Kohli

Hardeep Singh Kohli (born 1969) is a British writer, property landlord, and former presenter.

Background

Kohli was born in London and moved to Scotland when he was four[2]. His parents came to the UK from in India in the 1960s. His mother was a social worker, and his father a teacher, then a property landlord. [2] He was initially schooled at Hillhead Primary School in the West End of Glasgow, and then at Meadowburn Primary.

At age eight, he moved to St. Aloysius College, a private Roman Catholic school in central Glasgow. Kohli gained eight As in his O-grades, and four As and a B in his Highers. He then studied Law at the University of Glasgow.[3]

While studying, Kohli managed a few restaurants and began working as an usher at the Citizens Theatre.[4]

Career

Broadcasting

After graduating, he joined the BBC Scotland graduate production trainee scheme.[5] He moved to BBC Television Centre, London to direct Children's TV, and Janet Street Porter's series Reportage. He returned to London to direct RTS and BAFTA winning show It'll Never Work.

Kohli left the corporation in 1996 to begin working independently.[6] He wrote, directed and starred in Channel 4's Meet the Magoons in 2004,[7] which was axed after one series after a poor reception. Nancy Banks Smith and AA Gill were lukewarm however the show was entered for a Golden Rose at the Montreux Comedy Festival. Kohli presented a documentary In Search of the Tartan Turban for Channel 4, which explored cultural identity as a Briton and a Scot belonging to an ethnic minority. The producers won a children's BAFTA and produced a brief Channel 4 daytime schools series, Hardeep Does... that covered a variety of different topical issues: sex, religion and pets. He went on to write and present A Beginner's Guide to L. Ron Hubbard.[8] In January 2007, Kohli had a three-part series on Channel 4, £50 Says You'll Watch This, exploring gambling. The show involved Kohli taking part in a celebrity card game, visiting casinos in Las Vegas. In October 2006, February 2007 and January 2009 he appeared on the BBC political panel programme Question Time, and was an occasional presenter on Newsnight Review, Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4 and guest presenter on Loose Ends.

In May 2008 Kohli presented a cooking series for UKTV with John Torode. On 23 September 2008 he took part in a radio interview with Les Ross of BBC WM which was criticised for the DJ's interviewing style and lack of preparation.[9]

Kohli participated in a celebrity edition of The Apprentice in order to raise money for charity.[10] Sport Relief Does The Apprentice was part of the BBC's annual charity initiative Sport Relief and aired on 12 and 14 March 2008. He was the first Celebrity Apprentice to be "fired". He also appeared on Gordon Ramsay: Cook Along Live. In September 2006 Kohli took part in the first series of BBC One's Celebrity Masterchef programme, reaching the final along with Roger Black and ultimate winner, Matt Dawson.

Kohli was the presenter for series two of CBBC game show Get 100. In 2008, he appeared in the Scottish segment of the BBC's Children in Need appeal, anchored by Jackie Bird and Des Clarke, and was a judge for the Man Booker Prize at the end of 2008.

Kohli's performance on BBC Scotland's hour long Hogmanay Live show for 2009 was described by journalist John McKie in the Daily Record: "Ladbrokes Casino.com, in the huff about a banned ad after one complaint, have launched a new ad campaign searching for Anyone Missing A Funny Bone. Why don't they try BBC's Hogmanay host Hardeep Singh Kohli? He'd take the smile off the Mona Lisa." In June 2009 Kohli was one of five volunteers who took part in a BBC series of three programmes Famous, Rich and Homeless about living penniless on the streets of London.[11] From 2007-2009 Kohli wrote Hardeep is your Love a column for Scotland on Sunday,[12] on topics that mainly concerned food and family and being ashamed of enjoying Harry Potter[13]. Scotland on Sunday axed the feature in August 2009. Kohli occasionally writes for The Guardian and The Independent. Kohli wrote a book about food and travel in India, Indian Takeaway. In August 2009 he performed a one man show, The Nearly Naked Chef, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe[14] . The show received mixed reviews from local and national press. According to The Guardian, "the impression is of a man who has wrongly assumed that comedy is as easy as it looks. It isn't, as Kohli proves" [15]. However, The List magazine said of Kohli “As multi-tasking multi-media cultural polymaths go, writer, cook, broadcaster, columnist and all-round top bloke Hardeep Singh Kohli is pretty much up there in the can-do stakes.”

In 2008, Kohli filmed a documentary about Scientology, mainly the so-called Free Zone, titled "A Beginner's Guide to L. Ron Hubbard". The documentary is presented as a road trip, in which he travels from London via East Grinstead, Moscow and Munich to an undisclosed Russian location of a Ron's Org.

Personal life

His younger brother is the film and TV actor and writer Sanjeev Kohli. His elder brother, Raj, is a policeman.[2] The father of two children - a boy and a girl.[16], he is currently being divorced by his wife, Shamila.[1]

In February 2008, he was third out of four candidates in the election for Rector of the University of Glasgow.[17]

As a landlord

In June 2008, The Herald reported: "Properties owned and rented by comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli have been branded "grubby and dirty" and substandard as the celebrity was issued with warnings over his conduct as a landlord. Mr Kohli... was also denied three-year licences for two flats which are part of a raft he owns and leases through his father's company in Glasgow's west end. [18][19]

References

  1. ^ Hardeep Singh Kohli (2010-02-09). "Mightier than the kirpan". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-02-09. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b c "Relative Values: Hardeep Singh Kohli and his brother Sanjeev". London: The Times. 26 August 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  3. ^ Sale, Jonathan - "The Independent: Passed/Failed - Hardeep Singh Kohli" 8 September 2005
  4. ^ Sale, Jonathan - "The Independent: My First Job: Hardeep Singh Kohli, comedy writer, was a theatre usher" 28 June 2007
  5. ^ "Hardeep Singh Kohli-newsnight review". BBC 2. 9 September 2005. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  6. ^ "Take a walk on the W1 side". London: The Guardian. 2 June 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  7. ^ "The hosts-Meet the Magoos". More4. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  8. ^ "Faith and Belief". Channel 4. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  9. ^ "Take it away, Les: Hardeep Singh Kohli terminates BBC radio interview". London: The Guardian. accessdate=6 March 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Missing pipe in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Hardeep Singh Kohli appeared in Sport Relief Does The Apprentice for charity", Charities Aid Foundation, 2008-02-28. Retrieved on 2008-02-29.
  11. ^ "Famous, Rich and Homeless". BBC One. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  12. ^ "Don't lose your heads over my turban". Scotland on Sunday. 7 October 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  13. ^ "'I read Harry Potter secretly on trains, half embarrassed, half ashamed. I loved it'". Scotland on Sunday. 29 July 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  14. ^ Julian Hall (20 August 2009). "Hardeep Singh Kohli: The Nearly Naked Chef, The Gilded Balloon". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  15. ^ Logan, Brian (16 August 2009). "Hardeep Singh Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh". London: The Gardian. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  16. ^ John Naish (6 September 2008). "Hardeep Singh Kohli goes in search of identity". The Times. London. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  17. ^ "Rectorial Election result". University of Glasgow. 27 February 2008. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  18. ^ Braiden, Gerry (2008-11-11). "Comedian Singh Kohli's rented Glasgow flats 'grubby and dirty'". The Herald. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  19. ^ Braiden, Gerry (2008-11-11). "Kohli brothers 'victims of racist vendetta'". The Times. London. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hardeep_Singh_Kohli&oldid=363218152"