Angus Deayton
Angus Deayton
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The youngest of three sons to a Prudential plc insurance broker/manager and a home economics school teacher, Deayton was brought up in Caterham, Surrey, and attended Caterham School. He showed early promise as a footballer, and had a trial with Crystal Palace. He was captain of the Caterham U16 Rugby team.
Deayton read languages at New College, Oxford, where he was recruited into the Oxford Revue, performing with them at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This led to the creation of the parody band The Hee Bee Gee Bees in 1980, with the songs written by Richard Curtis and Philip Pope. Their best selling single "Meaningless Songs" (plus the B-side "Posing in the Moonlight") was a parody of the falsetto style of countless disco hits from pop group the Bee Gees.
The foundation of Deayton's career was a parody of British local radio stations, Radio Active, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1981 and 1987, which he both co-wrote and performed in. It transferred to television as KYTV between 1989 and 1993. Deayton presented a tribute to Radio Active and KYTV colleague and friend (and long-time BBC producer) Geoffrey Perkins for BBC Radio 4 on 4 October 2008. During this period, Deayton was also frequently seen appearing as a straight man alongside Rowan Atkinson. He starred with Atkinson in two separate roles (a pool attendant and a man on a park bench) in one of the earliest episodes of Mr. Bean and appeared opposite Atkinson in the Black Adder episode "Born to be King" (1983) as one of the Jumping Jews of Jerusalem, a kind of medieval variety act. He also appeared regularly in comedy sketches on Alexei Sayle's Stuff.
In 1990 Deayton was cast as the Meldrews' neighbour Patrick Trench in the British suburban sitcom One Foot in the Grave and was selected as the host of Have I Got News for You. The same year, he featured in a TV advert for the Vauxhall Nova car. Knowing that Deayton was keen to move into more acting roles, friend and producer Andre Ptaszynski tried to persuade him to take the lead role in Steven Moffat's sitcom Chalk, a role eventually taken by David Bamber.
Deayton's suave manner as host of Have I Got News for You led to his being nicknamed "TV's Mr Sex", by a Time Out listings writer. He was much in demand as a presenter of television specials including the BBC's New Year's Eve show and the BAFTA Awards. He also featured in a series of advertisements for Barclaycard and the films Savage Hearts and Elizabeth. In one episode of Coupling he appears in a fantasy sequence alongside Mariella Frostrup.
In May 2002, the News of the World newspaper published allegations about his private life. He was ridiculed mercilessly by Paul Merton and Ian Hislop in the following episode of Have I Got News For You, but was allowed to continue as presenter. This ridiculing concealed a bitterness felt by the others on the show when it had been revealed shortly before then that Deayton was on £50,000 a show whereas the other four only got £12,500 each a show. After a second round of allegations emerged in the papers the following October, Deayton was fired as presenter two episodes into the new series of Have I Got News for You. Since then, the show has been hosted by a different guest presenter each week.
After being forced out of Have I Got News for You, he continued to work on other projects including a reunion of the Radio Active cast in a new episode broadcast in December 2002. In 2003, he guest-starred as Downing Street's top spin doctor in an episode of the BBC comedy Absolute Power, starring Stephen Fry and John Bird. He starred in BBC comedy Nighty Night which was shown from January 2004. Deayton had a cameo role as a hotel receptionist in the 2004 Fat Slags film. A few months later, he made a return to TV presenting with ITV's cookery reality show Hell's Kitchen and then the light-hearted quiz Bognor or Bust. In January 2006 he hosted an ITV show based upon self-help videos called Help Your Self.
Deayton is associated with the Comic Relief/Sport Relief charity and has featured in many of its TV broadcasts. He also co-presented the Sport Relief charity programme Only Fools on Horses in July 2006.
Deayton appeared for the England team as a second-half substitute in the Soccer Aid football match in support of UNICEF on 27 May 2006. He returned as a starting player for England in the 7 September 2008 rematch.
In 2007 he made an acting appearance in Casualty, playing an exaggerated version of himself in a Comic Relief-related storyline.
Deayton read languages at New College, Oxford, where he was recruited into the Oxford Revue, performing with them at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This led to the creation of the parody band The Hee Bee Gee Bees in 1980, with the songs written by Richard Curtis and Philip Pope. Their best selling single "Meaningless Songs" (plus the B-side "Posing in the Moonlight") was a parody of the falsetto style of countless disco hits from pop group the Bee Gees.
The foundation of Deayton's career was a parody of British local radio stations, Radio Active, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1981 and 1987, which he both co-wrote and performed in. It transferred to television as KYTV between 1989 and 1993. Deayton presented a tribute to Radio Active and KYTV colleague and friend (and long-time BBC producer) Geoffrey Perkins for BBC Radio 4 on 4 October 2008. During this period, Deayton was also frequently seen appearing as a straight man alongside Rowan Atkinson. He starred with Atkinson in two separate roles (a pool attendant and a man on a park bench) in one of the earliest episodes of Mr. Bean and appeared opposite Atkinson in the Black Adder episode "Born to be King" (1983) as one of the Jumping Jews of Jerusalem, a kind of medieval variety act. He also appeared regularly in comedy sketches on Alexei Sayle's Stuff.
In 1990 Deayton was cast as the Meldrews' neighbour Patrick Trench in the British suburban sitcom One Foot in the Grave and was selected as the host of Have I Got News for You. The same year, he featured in a TV advert for the Vauxhall Nova car. Knowing that Deayton was keen to move into more acting roles, friend and producer Andre Ptaszynski tried to persuade him to take the lead role in Steven Moffat's sitcom Chalk, a role eventually taken by David Bamber.
Deayton's suave manner as host of Have I Got News for You led to his being nicknamed "TV's Mr Sex", by a Time Out listings writer. He was much in demand as a presenter of television specials including the BBC's New Year's Eve show and the BAFTA Awards. He also featured in a series of advertisements for Barclaycard and the films Savage Hearts and Elizabeth. In one episode of Coupling he appears in a fantasy sequence alongside Mariella Frostrup.
In May 2002, the News of the World newspaper published allegations about his private life. He was ridiculed mercilessly by Paul Merton and Ian Hislop in the following episode of Have I Got News For You, but was allowed to continue as presenter. This ridiculing concealed a bitterness felt by the others on the show when it had been revealed shortly before then that Deayton was on £50,000 a show whereas the other four only got £12,500 each a show. After a second round of allegations emerged in the papers the following October, Deayton was fired as presenter two episodes into the new series of Have I Got News for You. Since then, the show has been hosted by a different guest presenter each week.
After being forced out of Have I Got News for You, he continued to work on other projects including a reunion of the Radio Active cast in a new episode broadcast in December 2002. In 2003, he guest-starred as Downing Street's top spin doctor in an episode of the BBC comedy Absolute Power, starring Stephen Fry and John Bird. He starred in BBC comedy Nighty Night which was shown from January 2004. Deayton had a cameo role as a hotel receptionist in the 2004 Fat Slags film. A few months later, he made a return to TV presenting with ITV's cookery reality show Hell's Kitchen and then the light-hearted quiz Bognor or Bust. In January 2006 he hosted an ITV show based upon self-help videos called Help Your Self.
Deayton is associated with the Comic Relief/Sport Relief charity and has featured in many of its TV broadcasts. He also co-presented the Sport Relief charity programme Only Fools on Horses in July 2006.
Deayton appeared for the England team as a second-half substitute in the Soccer Aid football match in support of UNICEF on 27 May 2006. He returned as a starting player for England in the 7 September 2008 rematch.
In 2007 he made an acting appearance in Casualty, playing an exaggerated version of himself in a Comic Relief-related storyline.
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