David Dickinson
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David Dickinson | |
|---|---|
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| Born | David Gulessarian 16 August 1941 |
| Occupation(s) | Broadcaster, antiques expert |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Employer | ITV |
| Known for | The Antiques Show (1998-2000) Bargain Hunt (2000-03) Dickinson's Real Deal (2006–present) The David Dickinson Show (2010) |
| Spouse | Lorne Lesley (1968–present) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | David-Dickinson.net |
David Dickinson (born David Gulessarian on 16 August 1941) is an English antiques expert, television presenter and entrepreneur.
Biography
David Dickinson was born in Cheadle Heath, Stockport, Cheshire, to Eugenie Gulessarian. Eugenie was a member of an Armenian textile trading family, whose father Hrant Gulesserian, had moved from Constantinople to Manchester, England in 1904. Dickinson had corresponded with his biological mother in her later life in Jersey, but they never met. Dickinson's biological father is unknown. His maternal grandmother's surname was Jackson, his mum was born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. It has recently been found, through genealogy research, that his mum married, in 1943, in Wallasey to a man named Herbert H Moss, who may have been David's father.
David was adopted by the Dickinsons, a local couple. Mr. Dickinson died when David was 12, and as his adoptive mother worked hard to keep the family together, David was in part brought up by his French adoptive grandmother Sarah Dickenson. Dickinson began an apprenticeship at an aircraft factory when he was 14, but quickly left to work in the cloth trade in central Manchester. At 19 Dickinson served three years of a four-year sentence in prison, the majority spent at Strangeways in Manchester, for fraud.[1]
He began working as an antiques dealer 30 years ago, when he worked full time as agent to his wife, the singer Lorne Lesley, who had 10 UK Single Record releases from 1959–1966, but no chart hits. While she was working, Dickinson spent time visiting antique shops and learning from the trade – he believed this was as a result of his approach, in "chatting up and generally charming" the dealers. Eventually he opened his own shop with old school friend Chris Haworth in Disley. The pair sold the first shop in 1980, and ran another in Wilmslow for three years – but it was not a success, and they dissolved the partnership.
Dickinson set up again in Manchester with the assistance of an old customer as silent partner, and the business ran until 1991 when, in light of forthcoming recession, the shop was closed. Dickinson decided to concentrate on selling antiques at prestigious fairs, taking stands at Olympia and other major antiques fairs three or four times a year, dealing in 18th and 19th century furniture and works of art.
TV career
In 1998, a chance meeting with a TV producer at a barbecue led to Dickinson's TV appearance, a two-part documentary for the BBC made about him and his preparation for a show at Olympia. His dark complexion (often implied to be a fake tan, but he claims that it's because of his Armenian ancestry) and numerous catchphrases quickly caught the viewers' attention. He will often ask female contestants "Do you mind if I call you girls?", describe particularly excellent items as "real bobby-dazzlers", poor items as "a load of tat," and bargains as being "as cheap as chips"
Dickinson came to public attention as an antiques expert on This Morning and BBC Two's The Antiques Show owing in part to his facial resemblance to the fictional antiques dealer from the BBC drama series Lovejoy. His career break as a TV celebrity came from presenting the game show Bargain Hunt on BBC One at lunchtimes which gained a keen following amongst daytime viewers including students.
A primetime evening version of Bargain Hunt was broadcast for a few years following the success of the daytime show. Dickinson left the daytime edition of Bargain Hunt in 2003 and was replaced by Tim Wonnacott on the daytime slot whilst Dickinson carried on presenting the primetime, celebrity and Christmas versions of the show. He went on to present a reality show, Dealing With Dickinson on BBC1 in 2005 which was cancelled after only one series. Dickinson left the BBC once the primetime editions of Bargain Hunt were cancelled.
Dickinson moved to ITV1 in 2006 to present a new daytime antiques programme, Dickinson's Real Deal which is broadcast on daytime weekday afternoons. Old episodes are frequently repeated. The show visits locations around the UK and asks people to come in and either sell their antiques and collectables for valuation by an antiques dealer who may offer to buy the item for cash. Alternatively, the participants can take a gamble and go to auction if the dealer's offer is refused or no offer is made to buy the object. The participant risks taking a lower price than offered by the dealer if the object fails to exceed the dealer's offer or fails to meet its reserve. David's job is to act as a mediator to help the sellers obtain the best prices from the dealers or to help them with the decision about whether to refuse the offer and to take the item to auction.
From 17 May 2010, "The David Dickinson Show", a celebrity variety show, was broadcast on ITV1 for 10 episodes.[citation needed]
In late January 2012, Dickinson announced to a stunned Phillip Schofield on ITV's 'This Morning' that he had secured the lead role in "Geoff", a hard-edged AMC pilot set to film in mid-February 2012. A change from his usual bargain-hunting and cheap-as-chips fare, "Geoff" will feature Dickinson as Geoff Madison, a retired veterinary assistant who gets cheap thrills from killing small woodland creatures and lost pets. Geoff sets out on a voyage of self-discovery across the American mid-west upon finding out that his ex-wife, Wendy (played by actress Susan Sarandon), has taken a lesbian lover shortly after their divorce. Dickinson described "Geoff" as an odd blend of comedy and serious social drama, with moments of human darkness lightened by sunny satire. "I was flattered when they offered me the role", said Dickinson, "Geoff sounds like a real bobby-dazzler". On February 17th, set photos from "Geoff" were leaked onto the internet and caused a stir within the antiques community. Dickinson is shown, in character as Geoff, in little more than boxer shorts and a vest covered in cat blood. David Barby, former colleague on BBC One's Bargain Hunt, was quoted in the Sun newspaper as saying 'David has lost touch with reality. He used to be a professional, but is now a buttock-showing, pet-blooded shame'.[2]
Guest appearances
In 2002 David Dickinson appeared as a guest on Shooting Stars joining Team B led by Ulrika Jonsson and Johnny Vegas.
In 2004 he was one of several celebrities to have their portraits painted in the BBC One television series Star Portraits with Rolf Harris [1], and, also in 2004, he appeared in the first series of Strictly Come Dancing.
In 2005 Dickinson appeared on the ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, where he first announced that he had used heroin in his younger years. He also presented information slots for viewers on how to bid on satellite shopping channel Bid TV.
Dickinson explored his family background in an episode of the third series of the BBC genealogical documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?[3] broadcast in the UK on 4 October 2006. He was able to trace relatives in both the UK and Istanbul.
On one radio episode of Dead Ringers, The Doctor (voiced by Jon Culshaw) 'phoned up Dickinson to ask him how much he could get for a Magnetic Core Extractor that was believed to be owned by the Doctor when he was Jon Pertwee. Dickinson described it as "a bit of a bobby dazzler".
Personal life
Dickinson met his wife-to-be, Lorne Lesley, a cabaret performer, in a nightclub in the 1960s, and they married in 1968. As a wedding gift Lorne gave David an antique regency mourning ring, set with a rose cut diamond. Lorne is of African, Welsh and Scottish ancestry; she hails from Tiger Bay, Cardiff. The couple live in the village of Bollington, Cheshire and have two grown-up children, and also grandchildren.
Dickinson's nickname is "The Duke", a reference to his smart but slightly eccentric dress sense. For forty years David has used the same tailor, Chris Nicolaou, who appeared as a guest for David's This Is Your Life programme.
Until May 2008, he drove a bright blue Bentley Continental GT. He owns two vehicles, the first being an eco-friendly electric Smart EV and the second a Reliant Regal van; this van was one of the famous yellow Trotters Independent Traders vans from the sitcom Only Fools and Horses, which Dickinson bought in 2007 for over £44,000.[citation needed]
Cultural references
In a 2011 episode of the Internet sitcom Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge, digital radio DJ Alan and his co-host Zoe hold a 'Celebrity Forced Mating' text-in contest. The idea of the contest is to speculate on the appearance and character of two given celebrities' offspring. One text suggests the mating of Dickinson and Kylie Minogue to create an Oompa Loompa, with (as Alan puts it) Minogue contributing the small stature and Dickinson providing the skin colour and facial features.
Audio grabs from Bargain Hunt and other associated Dickinson programs were used on Australian radio program Get This.
References
- ^ David Dickinson Bargain Hunt - Books by David Dickinson
- ^ http://insideamc.blog.com/2012/03/03/geoff-green-lit-by-amc-david-dickinson-susan-sarandon-cast/
- ^ "BBC ONE Autumn 2006". BBC. 2006-07-18.
External links
- 1941 births
- Living people
- Antiques experts
- British people of Armenian descent
- English television presenters
- Participants in British reality television series
- I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! contestants
- People from Stockport
- People from Bollington
- Strictly Come Dancing participants
- English television personalities
- English businesspeople
- English fraudsters
- BBC television presenters