Darren Tulett
Darren Tulett (born 2 June 1965) is an English journalist who presents football on French television. He was a presenter for Canal+ for a decade, and now works for beIN Sport.
His presenting style is lighthearted and flamboyant. Although well known in France as the face of English football, he is almost unknown in Britain.[1]
Early life
Tulett was born in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, and grew up in Lancing, attending Boundstone School. He took various jobs after leaving school, and then studied politics and social sciences at Manchester Polytechnic.[2]
On the spur of the moment, Tulett agreed to go to France with a friend, and there he taught English amongst various other jobs. He wanted to become a journalist, and was taken on by Bloomberg News in London as a sports reporter.[2][3][4]
Football presenting
Tulett and his wife wanted to return to France, and Bloomberg agreed to his request to report on the 1998 World Cup. He then remained in France, and reported for Bloomberg on football, the Tour de France and the French Open.[2] He was also a presenter on Europe 1 Sport, part of the Europe 1 radio network in France.
Around 2002 he was signed up by Canal+ as a presenter on L'Équipe du Dimanche, a programme on football elsewhere in Europe. He also presented Fabulous Sport on Canal+.[5] He reported in a lighthearted, colourful 1960s style, becoming known in France as "Darren d'Angleterre". (The Observer has called him "The French Alan Hansen",[4] and The Daily Telegraph has called him "The Austin Powers of French Television".[6]) Also on Canal+ he presented Match of ze day on English football (the name presumably derived from the BBC programme Match of the Day with a stereotypical French pronunciation of "the").
In February 2012 he joined Al Jazeera's beIN Sport; in February 2013 he started as a presenter on beIN's Lunch Time, a daily sports programme broadcast Mondays to Fridays in the middle of the day.[1][7] Darren is an ardent Arsenal fan with an Arsenal tattoo on his shoulder.
References
- ^ a b MacGuill, Dan. "The expat who became a famous face in France". The Local, France. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
- ^ a b c "Match of Ze Day". The Connexion. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
- ^ "Darren Tulett: TV Presenter, beIN Sport". Sportel Monaco. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
- ^ a b Honeyball, Lee. "Brits abroad: Darren Tulett". The Observer. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
- ^ "Darren Tulett rejoint Al Jazeera!". TotallySportsInLondon.com. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
- ^ Samuel, Henry. "Darren d'Angleterre – the British pundit teaching France to laugh at football failure". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
- ^ "BeINSportDarren Tullet aux commandes d'une nouvelle émission, en clair, sur BeINSport". Premiere. Retrieved 6 December 2013.