Jamie Theakston

Jamie Theakston
Born	Jamie Andrew Theakston (1970-12-21) 21 December 1970 Ditchling, East Sussex, England
Nationality	British
Education	Hurstpierpoint College, Lancing College University of North London
Occupation(s)	Television and radio presenter, producer and actor
Spouse	Sophie Siegle
Children	Sidney (b. 2008) Kit (b. 2009)

Jamie Theakston (born 21 December 1970, Ditchling, East Sussex) is an English television and radio presenter, producer and actor.

Education

Theakston was educated at two independent schools: the preparatory school of Hurstpierpoint College near the village of Hurstpierpoint in West Sussex, followed by Lancing College in the village of Lancing, also in West Sussex. He then attended BHASVIC in Hove, followed by the University of North London, where he studied for a degree in business studies. Whilst at university, he read traffic bulletins on BBC GLR as he wanted to get into sports reporting.

Life and career

Radio

Before embarking on a broadcasting career, he worked for auctioneers Christies, and was going to study art history at the Courtauld Institute. After undertaking football and cricket reports for both GLR and Radio 5 Live, he was spotted by the BBC's head of sport and presented GLR's Saturday Sport Show at the age of 23. He then presented numerous shows for Radio 5 Live including Sportscall, The Jamie Theakston Cricket Show and Sport on Wednesday. Theakston joined Radio 1 in April 1999 to present the Sunday Lunch show. He fronted the 'One Big Sunday' events during 2000. He moved to a Saturday morning slot in 2001.

He left Radio 1 in 2002 to pursue an acting career, his last show being broadcast on 28 September. He joined Heart 106.2, a London radio station on 18 April 2005, replacing Jonathan Coleman on Heart Breakfast with Harriet Scott, which won Gold for Best Music Personality Show at The New York Festivals, 2007 and The Silver Entertainment Award at The Sony Radio Academy Awards, 2007. In June 2009 he won the Radio Presenter of the Year Award at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards.

Television

On television, after presenting The O Zone with Jayne Middlemiss, he has most notably hosted Top of the Pops (1999–2002), Live & Kicking (1996–1999) and The Priory. The two latter shows were presented with Zoë Ball. Other presenting work includes fronting the Glastonbury coverage for the BBC, The Oscars, The Grammys, A Question of Pop, UK Music Hall of Fame, and Guinness World Records.

He hosted the Channel 4 reality TV show The Games alongside Kirsty Gallacher. He was also the host of a 2004 game show, 'Beg Borrow or Steal'. He presented the ITV Saturday night show With A Little Help From My Friends. He also appeared in a 2004 episode of the ITV series Agatha Christie's Marple.

Theakston also played himself in the mock-interview series Rock Profile in which he interviews "celebrities" impersonated by Matt Lucas and David Walliams. The programme was shown on the now defunct channel UK Play. He also appeared alongside Walliams in an episode of Little Britain.

The Priory was commissioned by Chris Evans's then production company Ginger Productions. Despite initially strong ratings, the show failed to capitalize on the demise of TFI Friday (also a Ginger production), and figures slowly dropped. A fourth series was never commissioned, while today the show is remembered by many as a failed attempt to emulate TFI Friday's success, including the time slot it once occupied. Despite the show's relative failure, fans of Rock Profile often recall Matt Lucas's and David Walliams's appearance on the show as Danny and Noel from Hear'Say, in which they constantly sang "Monday, Monday" after Jamie asked them a question. As Jamie was the interviewer on Rock Profile, he as a result reprised his role from that show.

More recently Jamie has hosted the primetime Saturday night show 'The People's Quiz' and produced and presented on Channel 4 'The Search', which was nominated for a Rose d'Or award at the International Television Festival'.

He played himself in the episode "Video Killed the Radio Star" in the TV series FM in March 2009.

Jamie featured beside Zoe Ball once again in Channel 5's "Britain's Best Brain" series, which aired in October 2009.

He played in his fourth successive Soccer Aid match at Old Trafford in May 2012. Having, in 2010, saved four penalties for England against the Rest Of The World in a penalty shootout, before missing a penalty himself in a defeat. He was later named Man of the Match for his performance in goal. The American actor Woody Harrelson for the Rest of the World team scored the game-winning penalty kick against him.

Acting

Jamie has acted with Amanda Holden in 'Mad About Alice' (2004) and worked with Adam Faith on the series Murder in Mind in 2003, shortly before Faith's death. He has also starred in the West End in the plays ART Home and Beauty at the Lyric Shaftesbury Avenue and Murder in Mind. In 2004 he appeared in Agatha Christie's Miss Marple:Body in the Library.

Personal life

In 2001, Theakston apologised to friends and family after a visit to a Mayfair prostitute was exposed in The Sunday People newspaper. Theakston had attempted to block the revelation through a court injunction on the grounds of privacy, but a judge rejected this.

Theakston married Sophie Siegle on 15 September 2007, and they live in west London. The couple have two sons – Sidney, born on 11 April 2008, and Kit, born on 29 September 2009.

He is a keen fencer and has trained with the GB Team.

As captain of Ditchling Cricket Club, Theakston was a member of the first cricket team from England to play the Afghanistan national cricket team in Kabul.

Theakston is a member of Mensa and a supporter of Brighton & Hove Albion FC.

He once shared a flat with Eastenders actor Adam Woodyatt, and is a second cousin of former England football international Jamie Redknapp.

Charity

Jamie is a keen supporter of Oxfam. In 2003 he took a break to travel to Uganda in East Africa to meet with former child soldiers. Jamie is a Patron for 'CANCERVIVE' - a charity established to address the needs of anyone whose family or friends are cancer sufferers.

Performance credits

Acting

• West End Theatre
  • Marat/Sade – Playhouse
  • Murder in the Cathedral – Spitalfields
  • Art – Whitehall
  • Home and Beauty – Lyric

• Television Drama
  • Drive – BBC1
  • Afternoon Plays - BBC1
  • Murder in Mind – BBC1
  • Miss Marple ‘Body in the Library’ - ITV
  • Taggart

• Television Comedy
  • Bob Martin – ITV
  • Mad About Alice – BBC1
  • Rock Profile – BBC2
  • Linda Green – ITV
  • Little Britain – BBC3

Television presentation

• The O-Zone – BBC2
• Live & Kicking – BBC1
• Holiday – BBC1
• The Priory – C4
• Holiday – You Call The Shots – BBC1
• Sport Relief – BBC1
• Top of the Pops – BBC1
• Wish You Were Here – ITV
• Glastonbury
• The Eclipse – BBC1
• Queen's Jubilee Concert – BBC1
• Natural Born Losers – BBC1
• A Question of Pop – BBC1
• The Millennium – BBC1
• Pick n Mix – UK Play
• The Games – C4
• Comic Relief – BBC1
• Landmarks – BBC2
• Aqua – BBC2
• Not a Lot of People Know That – BBC1
• Children in Need – BBC1
• The Brits – BBC1
• 100 Greatest Kids Shows – C4
• Behind the Music – VH1
• Traffic Cops – BBC1
• Car Wars – BBC1
• Richest Kids – ITV
• Bitesize – BBC2
• The Grammys – BBC2
• Beg Borrow or Steal – BBC2
• With a Little Help from my Friends – ITV
• The Simpsons Quiz – C4
• The UK Music Hall of Fame – C4
• 50 Years, 50 Records – ITV
• The Oscars – Live – SKY 1/Sky Movies
• Top of the Pops Awards – BBC1
• All Star Golf - Sky 1
• The Search - C4
• The People's Quiz (National Lottery) - BBC1
• Concert for Diana - BBC1
• Sky Cops - BBC1
• Soccer Aid-Goalkeeper-ITV 1

Radio

• Saturday Sports Show - GLR
• Sportscall - R5
• Friday Night on 5 – R5
• Jamie Theakston's Cricket Show – R5
• Radio 5 Sport – R5
• The Sunday Lunch – R1
• The Jamie Theakston Show – R1
• Griff Rhys Jones Show – R2
• One Big Sunday – R1
• Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott – Heart 106.2

External links

• Jamie Theakston Official
• Jamie Theakston at IMDb