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Profile: Noel Edmonds Noel was born on December 22nd, 1948 at Ilford, Essex, the son of two teachers. From September 1960, he lived in Gidea Park and attended Brentwood Public School until July 1967, culling ten 'O' levels and three 'A' levels. Noel deferred entry into Bristol University to "have rest". He spent the summer of 1967 building sports cars and, after taking an interest in radio at the age of 20, started applying for jobs on pirate stations..."for the hell of it. I was offered a job on pirate radio - the next week the station was closed down by the government!". He decided to become a student teacher for a year and joined the staff of Downshall Junior School in Seven Kings, Ilford..."most of my time was spent taking hoardes of kids around museums and historical buildings. Once we went to the Tower Of London four times in a week!".
He gave up teaching in 1968 and joined Radio Luxembourg as a Newsreader. In 1969, he was offered the chance to present on-air competitions on Radio 1, and this led to another role as host of the 7-part "Pop Workshop" series. In the February of 1969, Kenny Everett succumbed to a rather nasty bout of the flu' - Noel was raring to go and stepped fully into the breach. This led to a Saturday afternoon programme in April of the same year - Noel taking on the 1:00pm-3:00pm slot as Radio 1's youngest DJ, aged 21. When 'Ev' was fired in July, Noel took over the Saturday morning show. His unique patter and pranks quickly built up a big following and he was also drafted in to work the World Service in 1971 in January, also moving to Radio 1's Sunday morning show in October of the same year. In June of 1973, Noel took over the 7-9am daily breakfast show from Tony Blackburn, and drew in up to 12million listeners whilst at the same time breaking into television. After departing the Breakfast Show and the World Service in April 1977, he returned to Sunday mornings in the September. Noel's Radio 1 career lasted until March 1983.
He also became a regular presenter of BBC1's "Top Of The Pops" with his first appearance in July 1971. He was voted top DJ in several pop music journals and held the Carl Alan Award for 'Best Disc Jockey'. He worked there until 1983. His unique patter and pranks quickly built up a big following.
After a long and successful spell as Radio 1's Breakfast presenter, he left to host 'Come Dancing'. 'Top of the Pops' and 'Z Shed' were followed by the hugely-successful 'Multi-Coloured Swap Shop', which also introduced Maggie Philbin and Keith Chegwin. (There was even an annual published in his name in 1979!) This was followed by, amongst others shows, The Saturday Roadshow, Telly Addicts and Noel's House Party.
In 1981, Noel started the Saturday evening programme, the Late Late Breakfast Show which ran for five years but ended in tragedy when show contestant and member of the public, Michael Lush, died while rehearsing part of the show where members of the public were encouraged to take part in stunts. He also started Telly Addicts, which lasted for ten years, and House Party. His Saturday night House Party show, has been described as "the most important show on the BBC", although he has now dropped his pink and purple latex sidekick Mr. Blobby. From 1990, and for 167 shows over 8 series, Mr. Blobby and Co drew in up to 12 million viewers and sparked an inane number one record Mr Blobby - loved by children everywhere. Nevertheless, Noel retains the licence for the character, who still occasionally appears on the TV, and once had a stretch as sidekick to Jim Davidson on The Generation Game. 'Blobbyland' - a series of theme parks around the UK was not the success it was hoped it would be and the project was subsequently closed after the 1995 'BlobbyGate' court-room battle with the seaside town of Morecambe - Crinkley Bottom theme parks had run foor just two years in Somerset, East Anglia and Morecambe.
Noel Edmonds is one of the most famous faces on British television - but he is also an astute businessman in the world of showbiz. While Noel graced our TV screens, he built up a business empire and a huge personal fortune. His companies, under the Unique Group umbrella, are involved in TV and radio production as well as live events.
He is the Chairman of the Unique Group of companies, a media production and management business which he founded in the mid 1980's - UBC Media, of which Noel is the founder director and shareholder, provide programming for both BBC and commercial radio stations, own the Classic Gold network and a slice of the digital radio spectrum. The TV arm produces shows including award ceremonies, documentaries and entertainment shows, whilst the Unique Motor Co. distributes the QPOD and QT cars
After his radio career kicked off, Noel lived in Hampstead Garden Suburb with his first wife Gill. He now owns a helicopter and lives in Devon, England with his second wife Helen and four daughters. He is the President of the British Horse Society, Chairman of the Renewable Energy Foundation - which seeks to address what the company sees as an impending UK energy crisis and escalating effects of climate change, Meeting Without Moving Foundation - a body which promotes a new work and travel culture in the UK, Caring for Children In Court - an appeal to help child witnesses who suffer physical and sexual abuse, to receive pre-trial support, and he is also Patron of the Exeter Leukaemia Fund and Children's Hospice South West.
Noel remained loyal to the BBC for many years, turning down at least two offers from ITV. 1999 was a landmark year for Noel's work with Auntie. He presented 'The Twentieth Century' for Radio 2, and the mainstay of BBC1 TV Christmas Day for 11 years, 'Noel's Christmas Presents' came to an end. After a period of time spanning 21 years, Noel's contract with the BBC ended in April 2000.
The classic BBC TV show Telly Addicts, once out of commission with Auntie, was sold to Flextech Television to be screened on satellite TV channel 'Challenge TV' and resulted in spin-offs 'Soap Addicts', 'Sport Addicts' and a 2002 remake of 'Telly Addicts' on the same channel.
After the initial furore surrounding Jimmy Young's departure, Noel was linked with JY's lunchtime slot on Radio 2 which was later filled by journalist Jeremy Vine.
On the 5th May 2003, Radio 2 Drivetime presenter Johnnie Walker stunned the radio world, and his loyal fans by announcing live on air that he was suffering with non-hodgkins lymphoma, a very treatable cancer, a malignant tumour in his colon. He announced that he was diagnosed just five weeks previously. Johnnie announced he'd be taking some time off with immediate effect to undergo treatment. His show was temporarily filled by station presenter and music journalist Stuart Maconie. On 10th July of that year, speaking about the need to postpone the appearance of a studio guest, he was heard commenting that the guest appearance would '...be rescheduled when Johnnie is back in August'. It seems that whilst obviously being in a position to announce what he said, that a change of circumstances befell station management.
In June 2003, Jeff Martin reported to AIRCHECK that he'd heard Noel speaking on the phone live on Tony Blackburn's Classic Gold Breakfast Show - in which he explained that he was setting up 'face2face' - a video conferencing business which provides a service to businessmen who suddenly find themselves unable to get to a meeting for whatever reason. Noel's business provides the appropriate facilities to ensure they can 'attend' the meeting via the internet and telecommunications equipment. Noel referred that 'this is the next big thing.'. Also during the phone call, Noel hinted that there was a television show 'in the offing'.
On Thursday 24th July 2003, the BBC announced one of the most welcome returns in the history of radio. Noel Edmonds was to return to national radio after 20 years away from it. Noel joined BBC Radio 2 from 4th August as a two-month stand-in for Johnnie, his fill scheduled to end Friday October 3rd. Speaking on the return Noel said "This is a bittersweet experience. I am a huge fan of Johnnie's and I wish him a full and speedy recovery. I'm very much looking forward to the challenge of looking after the Drivetime show. It's a great opportunity and I'm very excited to be back behind the microphone, at the country's most listened to radio station." Radio 2 programme controller Jim Moir said on Noel's appointment 'I join Noel in wishing Johnnie a swift recovery and return to the airwaves. In the meantime, Noel is one of the UK's most successful and innovative broadcasters and we are delighted that the Drivetime show will be in such capable hands.'. However, this isn't the first time that Noel's been linked with a move to Radio 2 as we reported above. When the rumours first broke of Sir Jimmy Young either leaving or being forced out at the station, Noel was one of the names linked with his departure as a replacement. Noel was heard to deny all knowledge of such plans, and Sir Jimmy was finally replaced by journalist Jeremy Vine.
Noel returned to Radio 2 at 5:05pm on Monday 4th August 2003 - to a flood of e-mails and text messages which welcomed him back. His first track of his first show in 25 years was the 1974 radio homage, Harry Chapin's number 34 hit from May of that year - W.O.L.D. Noel received a good luck message from the man who launched the Mystery Voice feature on Radio 2 when he occupied the Drivetime Slot before Johnnie Walker - John Dunn. True to his word, and obviously with other things already scheduled, Noel Edmonds finished his eight-week run on Friday 3rd October 2003 at 7:00pm. The man he took over from, Stuart Maconie, continued as a stand-in for Johnnie until JW himself returned in March 2004.
The most popular name in our AIRCHECK Tracker listings, Noel Edmonds, returned to the radio again, about a year after his stint on Radio 2. 20 years after Swap Shop finished, 5 years after the House Party finished on BBC1, the creator of Mr. Blobby appeared as a detective in a live radio play on BBC Radio Devon.
The play, called 'A Christmas Murder', described as "..a twisted tale of murder, revenge, betrayal and suspicion" was broadcast to raise money for a local Devon charity, with listeners able to join in live to guess the identity of the mystery killer using a series of clues, pitting their wits against the celebrity detectives. Noel, speaking on his participation in the output said: "This is such a good idea and we believe it's a radio first in that nobody has ever invited listeners to solve a murder before. The plot is fantastic and it's a great opportunity for people to play along at home and enjoy an evening of radio drama". Also joining Noel was former BBC Pebble Mill At One presenter, and current radio presenter Judi Spiers.
Co-creator of the play, Simon Furber, came up with the idea alongside fellow Radio Devon presenter John Coates. Set against the atmospheric background of Burgh Island in the 1950s - the play, with lots of stormy seas, creaking floorboards, flickering lights (!) and screams, aired for three full hours from 7:00pm on December 15th 2004, to raise money for Radio Devon's appeal to raise money to build a £1m prostate cancer treatment centre in the county.
In 2003, Noel was reported to have admitted that he was partly responsible for the decline in standards of British Television when he said: "We tried our damnedest to make it special entertainment, but I'll admit that I'm a contributor to the decline in TV standards. I'm guilty as charged for certain things. I don't say that with pride, but honestly m'lud, I'm not quite so guilty as others."
Whereabouts: Noel is now (November 2005) back on the television! The month saw Noel begin presenting 'Deal Or No Deal' - the UK version of a quiz show in which 22 players contest to win up to £250,000. A series of 22 sealed boxes contain 22 sets of either plentiful amounts of cash or just a bit of pocket money. The programme airs on Channel 4 weekdays at 4:15pm.