1.
Broadcasting House
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Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast was made on 15 March 1932, the main building is in Art Deco style, with a facing of Portland stone over a steel frame. As part of a consolidation of the BBCs property portfolio in London. This involved the demolition of post-war extensions on the side of the building. The wing was named the John Peel Wing in 2012, after the disc jockey, BBC London, BBC Arabic Television and BBC Persian Television are housed in the new wing, which also contains the reception area for BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. The main building was refurbished, and a built to the rear. The radio stations BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC World Service transferred to refurbished studios within the building. The extension links the old building with the John Peel Wing, the move of news operations from BBC Television Centre completed in March 2013. Construction of Broadcasting House began in 1928, programmes transferred gradually to the building. On 15 March 1932 the first musical programme was given by the bandleader Henry Hall, Hall also wrote and performed, with his Dance Band, Radio Times, the name of the BBCs schedule publication. The first news bulletin was read by Stuart Hibberd on 18 March, the last transmission from Savoy Hill was on 14 May, and Broadcasting House officially opened on 15 May 1932. George Val Myer designed the building in collaboration with the BBCs civil engineer, the interiors were the work of Raymond McGrath, an Australian-Irish architect. The building is built in two parts, dispensing with the oft-found central light-well of contemporary buildings this size, the central core containing the recording studios was a windowless structure built of brick. The surrounding outer portion, designed for offices and ancillary spaces, is framed and faced using Portland stone. While the outer portion had plenty of windows, the core required special sound-dampened ventilation systems. There were two areas where right of ancient lights would cause height restrictions, Underground structures, including a hundred-year-old sewer, also presented problems during construction. The building is above the Bakerloo line of the London Underground, the Victoria line was tunnelled beneath in the 1960s, noise from passing trains is audible within the radio theatre, but generally imperceptible in recordings. The ground floor was fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the street, the rapid expansion of the BBC meant this never occurred
2.
Comedian
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A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, a comedian who addresses an audience directly is called a stand-up comic. Since the 1980s, a new wave of comedy, called alternative comedy, has grown in popularity with its more offbeat and this normally involves more experiential, or observational reporting, e. g. Alexei Sayle, Daniel Tosh, Louis C. K. and Malcolm Hardee. Many comics achieve a cult following while touring famous comedy hubs such as the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, the Edinburgh Fringe, often a comics career advances significantly when they win a notable comedy award, such as the Edinburgh Comedy Award. Comics sometimes foray into other areas of entertainment, such as film and television, however, a comics stand-up success does not guarantee a films critical or box office success. Comedians can be dated back to 425 BC, when Aristophanes and he wrote 40 comedies,11 of which survive and are still being performed. Aristophanes comedy style took the form of satyr plays, the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare wrote many comedies. A Shakespearean comedy is one that has an ending, usually involving marriages between the unmarried characters, and a tone and style that is more light-hearted than Shakespeares other plays. Charles Chaplin was the most popular comedian of the first half of the 20th century. He wrote comedic silent films such as Modern Times and The Kid and his films still have a major impact on comedy in films today. One of the most popular forms of comedy is stand-up comedy. Stand-up comedy is a monologue performed by one or more people standing on a stage. Bob Hope was the most popular comedian of the 20th century. Other noted stand-up comedians include George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, Louis CK, another popular form of modern-day comedy is talk shows where comedians make fun of current news or popular topics. Such comedians include Jay Leno, Conan OBrien, Daniel Tosh, Chris Hardwick, Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman, a third form of modern-day comedy is television programs in which many comedians band together to make skits, such as Saturday Night Live. These shows often receive high ratings, likely because many comedians band together to create jokes, one of the most successful comedians is Ellen Degeneres, who has parlayed her comic career into film, television shows, and hosting major media events. In 1986, Ellen DeGeneres appeared for the first time on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson since she began gaining popularity as a comic in the 1980s. Johnny Carson, who launched many contemporary comics careers, would invite them to join him on the couch for one-on-one conversation after their set
3.
Journalist
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A journalist is a person who collects, writes, or distributes news or other current information. A journalists work is called journalism, a journalist can work with general issues or specialize in certain issues. However, most journalists tend to specialize, and by cooperating with other journalists, for example, a sports journalist covers news within the world of sports, but this journalist may be a part of a newspaper that covers many different topics. A reporter is a type of journalist who researches, writes, and reports on information in order to present in sources, conduct interviews, engage in research, and make reports. The information-gathering part of a job is sometimes called reporting. Reporters may split their time working in a newsroom and going out to witness events or interviewing people. Reporters may be assigned a beat or area of coverage. Depending on the context, the term journalist may include various types of editors, editorial writers, columnists, Journalism has developed a variety of ethics and standards. While objectivity and a lack of bias are of concern and importance, more liberal types of journalism, such as advocacy journalism and activism. This has become prevalent with the advent of social media and blogs, as well as other platforms that are used to manipulate or sway social and political opinions. These platforms often project extreme bias, as sources are not always held accountable or considered necessary in order to produce a written, nor did they often directly experience most social problems, or have direct access to expert insights. These limitations were made worse by a media that tended to over-simplify issues and to reinforce stereotypes, partisan viewpoints. As a consequence, Lippmann believed that the public needed journalists like himself who could serve as analysts, guiding “citizens to a deeper understanding of what was really important. ”Journalists sometimes expose themselves to danger. Organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders publish reports on press freedom, as of November 2011, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 887 journalists have been killed worldwide since 1992 by murder, crossfire or combat, or on dangerous assignment. The ten deadliest countries for journalists since 1992 have been Iraq, Philippines, Russia, Colombia, Mexico, Algeria, Pakistan, India, Somalia, Brazil and Sri Lanka. The Committee to Protect Journalists also reports that as of December 1st 2010,145 journalists were jailed worldwide for journalistic activities. The ten countries with the largest number of currently-imprisoned journalists are Turkey, China, Iran, Eritrea, Burma, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Cuba, Ethiopia, apart from the physical harm, journalists are harmed psychologically. This applies especially to war reporters, but their offices at home often do not know how to deal appropriately with the reporters they expose to danger
4.
Jonathan King
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Jonathan King is an English singer-songwriter, record producer, music entrepreneur, and former television and radio presenter. King first came to prominence in 1965 when Everyones Gone to the Moon, a song which he wrote and sang whilst he was still an undergraduate, had success in Britain. As an independent producer, he discovered and named Genesis in 1967, after founding his own label, UK Records, he went on to release and produce songs for 10cc and the Bay City Rollers. Rod Liddle described him as someone who could storm the pop charts at will, while living in New York in the 1980s, King continued to appear on radio and television in the UK, including on the BBCs Top of the Pops and Entertainment USA. In September 2001 King was convicted of sexual abuse and sentenced to seven years in prison, for having sexually assaulted five boys, aged 14 and 15. In November 2001 he was acquitted of 22 similar charges and he was released on parole in March 2005. King was born in a home in Bentinck Street, Marylebone, London, the first child of Jimmy King and his wife, Ailsa Linley Leon. Originally from New Jersey, Jimmy King had moved to England when he was 14 and he attended Oundle School and Trinity College, Cambridge, before he joined the American Field Service during World War II and later Tootal Ties and Shirts as managing director. Kings birth was a delivery and a muscle on his upper lip was affected during it. King was sent to boarding school, first as a boarder to pre-prep school in Hindhead, Surrey, then. A year later, in 1954, his father died from a heart attack, brookhurst Grange was sold, and the family moved to Cobbetts, a cottage in nearby Forest Green. Music became a passion around this time, King would save his pocket money for train trips to London to watch My Fair Lady, The King and I, Irma la Douce, Salad Days, Damn Yankees and Kismet from the cheap seats in the balcony. He also discovered pop music and bought his first single, Guy Mitchells Singing the Blues, in 1958 King became a boarder at Charterhouse in Godalming, Surrey. He wrote that he loved Charterhouse immediately, with its history and every area of encouragement from sport to intellectual pursuits. Unlike at Stoke House, there were other boys there who appreciated pop music, I kept thick notebooks packed with copies of the weekly charts, adverts for new products, pages of predictions of future hits, reviews and comments about current artistes. Looking at them now, there was no way I could ever have avoided a future in the music industry, King left Charterhouse in 1962 to attend Daviess, a London crammer, for his A levels. Wearing a pinstripe suit and trainers, he approached John Schroeder of Oriole Records, I have been studying the music industry for the last three years and it is one big joke, Schroeder reported him as saying. Anyone can make it if theyre clever and can fool a few people, after hearing Kings demo, Schroeder booked a studio session with an orchestra but found that King could not sing in tune
5.
Peter Cook
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Peter Edward Cook was an English actor, satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in British comedy, Cook is widely regarded as the light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was closely associated with the anti-establishment comedy that emerged in the UK, Cook was born at his parents house, Shearbridge, in Middle Warberry Road, Torquay, Devon. He was the son and eldest of the three children of Alexander Edward Alec Cook, a colonial civil servant, and his wife Ethel Catherine Margaret. He was educated at Radley College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, as a student, Cook initially intended to become a career diplomat like his father, but Britain had run out of colonies, as he put it. Although politically largely apathetic, particularly in life when he displayed a deep distrust of politicians of all hues. It was at Pembroke that Cook performed and wrote comedy sketches as a member of the Cambridge Footlights Club and his hero was fellow Footlights writer and Cambridge magazine writer David Nobbs. Beyond the Fringe became a success in London after being first performed at the Edinburgh Festival and included Cook impersonating the prime minister. This was one of the first occasions satirical political mimicry had been attempted in live theatre, during one performance, Macmillan was in the theatre and Cook departed from his script and attacked him verbally. In 1961, Cook opened The Establishment, a club at 18 Greek Street in Soho in central London, Cook said it was a satirical venue modelled on those wonderful Berlin cabarets. Which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the outbreak of the Second World War, Cook befriended and supported Australian comedian and actor Barry Humphries, who began his British solo career at the club. Humphries said in his autobiography, My Life As Me, that he found Cooks lack of interest in art, Cooks chiselled looks and languid manner led Humphries to observe that whereas most people take after their father or mother, Cook seemed more like an aunt. Dudley Moores jazz trio played in the basement of the club during the early 1960s, when he returned, the pilot had been refashioned as That Was the Week That Was and had made a star of David Frost, something Cook resented. The 1960s satire boom was closing and Cook said England was about to sink giggling into the sea and this incident occurred in the summer of 1963, when the rivalry between the two men was at its height. Cook had realised that Frosts potential drowning would have looked deliberate if he had not been rescued, around this time, Cook provided financial backing for the satirical magazine Private Eye, supporting it through difficult periods, particularly in libel trials. Cook invested his own money and solicited investment from his friends, for a time, the magazine was produced from the premises of the Establishment Club. In 1963, Cook married Wendy Snowden, the couple had two daughters, Lucy and Daisy, but the marriage ended in 1970, Cook expanded television comedy with Eleanor Bron, John Bird and John Fortune. Cooks comedy partnership with Dudley Moore led to Not Only and this was originally intended by the BBC as a vehicle for Moores music, but Moore invited Cook to write sketches and appear with him
6.
Private Eye
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Private Eye is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986 and it is also known for its in-depth investigative journalism into under-reported scandals and cover-ups. Private Eye is Britains best-selling current affairs magazine, and such is its long-term popularity, the magazine bucks the trend of declining circulation for print media, having recorded its highest ever circulation in the second half of 2016. The forerunner of Private Eye was a magazine, The Salopian, published at Shrewsbury School in the mid-1950s and edited by Richard Ingrams, Willie Rushton, Christopher Booker. After National Service, Ingrams and Foot went as undergraduates to Oxford University, the magazine proper began when Usborne learned of a new printing process, photo-litho offset, which meant that anybody with a typewriter and Letraset could produce a magazine. The publication was funded by Osmond and launched in 1961. It was named when Osmond looked for ideas in the recruiting poster of Lord Kitchener and, in particular. After the name Finger was rejected, Osmond suggested Private Eye, the magazine was initially edited by Booker and designed by Rushton, who drew cartoons for it. Its subsequent editor, Ingrams, who was pursuing a career as an actor, shared the editorship with Booker, from around issue number 10. At first, Private Eye was a vehicle for jokes, an extension of the original school magazine. However, according to Booker, it got caught up in the rage for satire, others essential to the development of the magazine were Auberon Waugh, Claud Cockburn, Barry Fantoni, Gerald Scarfe, Tony Rushton, Patrick Marnham and Candida Betjeman. Christopher Logue was another contributor, providing the column True Stories. The gossip columnist Nigel Dempster wrote extensively for the magazine before he fell out with Ian Hislop and other writers, while Foot wrote on politics, local government, Ingrams continued as editor until 1986, when he was succeeded by Hislop. Ingrams remains chairman of the holding company, Private Eye often reports on the misdeeds of powerful and important individuals and, consequently, has received numerous libel writs throughout its history. Its defenders point out that it often carries news that the press will not print for fear of legal reprisals or because the material is of minority interest. As well as covering a range of current affairs, Private Eye is also known for highlighting the errors. It reports on parliamentary and national issues, with regional and local politics covered in equal depth under the Rotten Boroughs column. Extensive investigative journalism is published under the In the Back section, often tackling cover-ups, Stories sometimes originate from writers for more mainstream publications who cannot get their stories published by their main employers
7.
Ian Hislop
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Ian David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, writer, broadcaster and editor of the magazine Private Eye. He has appeared on radio and television programmes, and is a team captain on the BBC quiz show Have I Got News for You. Hislop was born on 13 July 1960 in Mumbles, Swansea, to a Scottish father, David Hislop, from Ayrshire, Hislop did not know his grandparents. His paternal grandfather, David Murdoch Hislop, died just before he was born and his maternal grandfather, William Beddows, was originally from Lancashire. When he was five months old, Hislops family began to travel around the world because of his fathers job as a civil engineer, during his infant years, Hislop lived in Nigeria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong. When Hislop was 12 years old his father died, his mother, Hislop and Newmans association continued when they attended Oxford University together, later working together at Private Eye and on a number of comedy scriptwriting jobs. Hislop applied to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford and his Oxford tutors included Bernard ODonoghue, John Fuller and David Norbrook. While at university, Hislop was actively involved in student journalism and he graduated with a BA in 1981. Hislop married Victoria Hamson on 16 April 1988 in Oxford and they have two children, both born in the London borough of Wandsworth, Emily Helen, who read English at Brasenose College, Oxford, and William David, who read History at Jesus College, Oxford. Hislops wife has a career as an author, and in 2010 Hislop played a role in the Greek television series The Island. The series premiered on 11 October 2010 on Greeces Mega television channel, Hislop enjoys visiting art galleries and museums, and has collected antique cutlery for over three decades. At Oxford, Hislop revived and edited the magazine Passing Wind, for which he interviewed Richard Ingrams, who was editor of Private Eye. Hislops first article appeared in 1980 before he sat his university finals, a parody of The Observer magazines Room of My Own feature, it described an IRA prisoner on the dirty protest decorating his cell in fetching brown. Hislop joined the publication immediately after leaving Oxford, and became editor in 1986 following Ingramss departure, Cook, reportedly drunk after the lunch, instead announced Hislop was welcome aboard. The new editor, dismissive of society gossip, sacked both McKay and Dempster from the magazine without hesitation. As editor of Private Eye, Ian Hislop is reputedly the most sued man in English legal history, after the case Hislop quipped, Ive just given a fat cheque to a fat Czech. Hislop told reporters waiting outside the High Court, If thats justice, the award was dropped to £60,000 on appeal. In an interview with Third Way Magazine in 1995 he explained his intentions in his work, Satire is the bringing to ridicule of vice, folly, all the negatives imply a set of positives
8.
Jo Brand
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Josephine Grace Jo Brand is an English comedian, writer and actress. She is currently the presenter of The Great British Bake Off, in 2003, Brand was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. Brand was born in Wandsworth, London and her mother was a social worker and her father was a structural engineer. Brand is the middle of three children, with two brothers, when she was about four, the family moved to the village of St Marys Platt near Sevenoaks in Kent, and a year later, to Benenden. Brand was educated at St Marys Platt Primary School, Benenden Village Primary School, Tunbridge Wells Girls Grammar School until the age of 16, Hastings High School for Girls and Bexhill College. She then worked as a nurse for ten years, at the South London Bethlem, Cefn Coed Hospital in Swansea. Brand was persuaded by agent Malcolm Hardee to begin a career in stand-up comedy and she was part of the British alternative comedy movement, working in London alternative comedy clubs in the mid-1980s, and appearing initially on the Saturday Live television show. She shared a flat with fellow comic and comedy club owner Ivor Dembina, during her first gig, she faced an audience from hell and, waiting to perform last, drank seven pints of lager. She thus faced her first live audience with a bursting bladder, as Brand ascended the stage, a male heckler started shouting, Fuck off, you fat cow and kept up the abuse until her performance finished. There was no applause at the end of her act, Brands early style involved her delivering jokes in a bored monotone, one line at a time, with pauses in between. It drew heavily from pop culture and the media, with many jokes containing references to well-known celebrities, with her Doc Marten boots, her large size, and her short hair, her image remained the same for most of the 1980s and 1990s. Her appearance and material led to rumours that she was a lesbian. In 2007, Brand narrated Laughter & Tears, The Les Dawson Story, a tribute to Les Dawson. In 2010, Brand took part in Channel 4s Comedy Gala, Brand played the Demon Dinner Lady in the 2011 British live-action film Horrid Henry the Movie. She also provided a voiceover for the Lyric Hammersmith Theatres 2011 pantomime Aladdin, in August 2015, Brand judged the first ever Class Clowns competition at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, she also announced the winner at the Gilded Balloon on the night. Brand has written an adaptation to her novel The More You Ignore Me. She will also star in the film, in 1993, Brand became a resident panellist, along with Tony Hawks, on BBC monologue show The Brain Drain. Brand has had several television series, and presented shows such as Jo Brands Commercial Breakdown
9.
Punch (magazine)
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Punch, or The London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, after the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, closing in 1992. It was revived in 1996, but closed again in 2002, Punch was founded on 17 July 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells, on an initial investment of £25. It was jointly edited by Mayhew and Mark Lemon and it was subtitled The London Charivari in homage to Charles Philipons French satirical humour magazine Le Charivari. Mayhew ceased to be joint editor in 1842 and became suggestor in chief until he severed his connection in 1845, the magazine initially struggled for readers, except for an 1842 Almanack issue which shocked its creators by selling 90,000 copies. In December 1842 due to difficulties the magazine was sold to Bradbury and Evans. Bradbury and Evans capitalised on newly evolving mass printing technologies and also were the publishers for Charles Dickens, Punch humorously appropriated the term to refer to its political cartoons, and the popularity of the Punch cartoons led to the terms widespread use. The illustrator Archibald Henning designed the cover of the magazines first issues, the cover design varied in the early years, though Richard Doyle designed what became the magazines masthead in 1849. Artists who published in Punch during the 1840s and 50s included John Leech, Richard Doyle, John Tenniel and this group became known as The Punch Brotherhood, which also included Charles Dickens who joined Bradbury and Evans after leaving Chapman and Hall in 1843. Punch authors and artists contributed to another Bradbury and Evans literary magazine called Once A Week. In the 1860s and 1870s, conservative Punch faced competition from upstart liberal journal Fun, at Evanss café in London, the two journals had Round tables in competition with each other. Punch gave several phrases to the English language, including The Crystal Palace, several British humour classics were first serialised in Punch, such as the Diary of a Nobody and 1066 and All That. Towards the end of the century, the artistic roster included Harry Furniss, Linley Sambourne, Francis Carruthers Gould. Among the outstanding cartoonists of the century were Bernard Partridge, H. M. Bateman, Bernard Hollowood who also edited the magazine from 1957 to 1968, Kenneth Mahood. Circulation broke the 100,000 mark around 1910, and peaked in 1947–1948 at 175,000 to 184,000, sales declined steadily thereafter, ultimately, the magazine was forced to close in 1992 after 150 years of publication. Punch was widely emulated worldwide and popular in the colonies, however, the colonial experience, especially in India, also influenced Punch and its iconography. Tenniels Punch cartoons of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny led to a surge in the magazines popularity, colonial India was time and again caricatured in Punch and can be seen as a significant source for producing knowledge about India. Many Punch cartoonists of the late 20th century published collections of their own, Punch magazine ceased publishing in 1992
10.
Sandi Toksvig
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Sandra Birgitte Sandi Toksvig OBE is a Danish-British comedian, writer, actor, presenter and producer on British radio and television, and political activist. On 21 October 2016, Toksvig took over from Stephen Fry as host of the BBC television quiz show QI and she was the host of The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4 from 2006 until June 2015. She also presented the quiz show 1001 Things You Should Know on Channel 4 television in 2012–13, and began hosting a revived series of the same channels game show Fifteen to One on 5 April 2014. She is joint founder of the Womens Equality Party, was installed as Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth in October 2012, on 16 March 2017, Toksvig was announced as the new co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off, alongside comedian Noel Fielding. Her father, Claus Toksvig, was a Danish journalist and broadcaster and foreign correspondent, so Toksvig spent most of her youth outside Denmark and her mother, Julie Anne Toksvig is British. She attended Tormead School, an independent girls school near Guildford and her first job was a position as a follow spot operator for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar at the age of 18. She read law, archaeology and anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree, One of her law tutors was Lord Denning. Toksvig began her career at Girton College, Cambridge University. She was there at the time as fellow members Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tony Slattery and Emma Thompson. She was also a member of the universitys Light Entertainment Society and she started her television career on childrens series, presenting No. 73, the Sandwich Quiz, The Saturday Starship, Motormouth, Gilberts Fridge and on programmes such as Island Race and The Talking Show. Toksvig said the allegations of inappropriate behaviour at the BBC did not surprise me at all, in the comedy circuit, Toksvig performed at the first night of the Comedy Store in London and was once part of their Players, an improvisational comedy team. In television, she appeared as a panellist in comedy shows such as Call My Bluff, mock the Week, QI and Have I Got News for You, where she appeared on the very first episode in 1990. She was also the host of What the Dickens, a Sky Arts quiz show and her final show was first broadcast on 26 June. She presented Radio 4s travel programme Excess Baggage until it was axed in 2012, in 1993 Toksvig wrote a musical, Big Night Out at the Little Sands Picture Palace, for Nottingham Playhouse, co-starring with Anita Dobson and Una Stubbs. In 2002, it was re-written, with Dilly Keane, for the Watford Palace Theatre, Toksvig and Elly Brewer wrote a Shakespeare deconstruction, The Pocket Dream, which Toksvig performed at the Nottingham Playhouse and which transferred to the West End for a short run. The pair also wrote the 1992 TV series The Big One and she has appeared in a number of stage plays, including Androcles and the Lion, Much Ado About Nothing and The Comedy of Errors. In 1996, she narrated the Dragons, interactive CD-ROM published by Oxford University Press and developed by Inner Workings, along with Harry Enfield
11.
Have I Got News for You
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Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is loosely based on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, the show has cultivated a reputation for sailing close to the wind in matters of libel and slander with its topical and satirical remit. Have I Got News for You is often cited as beginning the increasing domination of panel shows in British TV comedy, in recognition of this, the show received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2011 British Comedy Awards. It was the first time the honour had been bestowed upon a collective instead of an individual or double act, in 2016 they also received a BAFTA in the Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme category. For its first 10 years, the programme was shown on BBC Two, there have been 52 series of the programme broadcast. The UKTV channel Dave carries regular repeats of the show, the original line-up, from 1990 to 2002, was Angus Deayton as chairman, with Ian Hislop, the editor of Private Eye, and comedian Paul Merton as team captains. Each captain was accompanied by a guest, usually a politician, journalist or comedian, Merton took a break from Have I Got News for You during the 11th series in 1996, making only one appearance as a guest on Hislops team. He was variously replaced as opposing team captain by Clive Anderson, Alan Davies, Merton later explained that at the time he was very tired of the show and that he thought it had become stuck in a rut. Nevertheless, he added that he felt his absence gave the programme the shot in the arm it needed, in May 2002, following newspaper headlines of his sex with a prostitute and use of illegal drugs, Deayton was relentlessly ridiculed on the show by Hislop and Merton. Following a second round of revelations about his life later in the year, leading to further mockery, Deayton was fired in October. At short notice, Merton hosted the first episode after Deaytons departure, a series of guest hosts appeared for the remainder of the series, including Anne Robinson, Boris Johnson, and Jeremy Clarkson. Despite an initial search for a permanent successor to Deayton, having a different guest host each week proved successful and it was therefore announced in June 2003 that this feature would continue permanently. Hislop is the person to have appeared in every episode — despite suffering from appendicitis during one 1994 edition. The others who have occupied all three positions are Clive Anderson and Frank Skinner, who have stood in for Merton as team captain. Anderson also filled in for Merton at the last minute for the live edition for 24 Hour Panel People for Red Nose Day 2011. The only guests to have worked on the production off camera are Kevin Day. Alexander Armstrong holds the record for both most appearances as guest presenter, as well as most guest appearances in total, having appeared 28 times in the central chair and he has never appeared in any other role. Many guests have appeared on the multiple times
12.
Lewis Black
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Lewis Niles Black is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his face and his belligerent comedic style. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion and he hosted the Comedy Central series Lewis Blacks Root of All Evil, and made regular appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart delivering his Back in Black commentary segment. When not on the performing, he resides in Manhattan. He also maintains a residence in Chapel Hill, N. C and he is also a spokesman for the Aruba Tourism Authority, appearing in television ads that first aired in late 2009 and 2010. He was voted 51st of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time by Comedy Central in 2004, he was voted 5th in Comedy Centrals Stand Up Showdown in 2008, Black has served as an ambassador for voting rights for the American Civil Liberties Union, since 2013. Black was born in Washington, D. C. the son of Jeannette, a teacher, and Sam Black and he was raised in a middle-class Jewish family in Silver Spring, Maryland, graduating from Springbrook High School in 1966. Black recounts in his book Nothings Sacred that he scored highly on the section of his SAT exam and later applied to Yale, Princeton, Brown, Amherst, Williams. There, he studied playwriting and was a brother of Pi Lambda Phi International fraternity, after graduating in 1970, he returned to Washington, where he worked at the Appalachian Regional Commission, wrote plays, and performed stand-up comedy at the Brickskeller in Dupont Circle. He earned an MFA degree at the Yale School of Drama in 1977, Blacks career began in theater as a playwright. Also with Rusty Magee, Black wrote the musical The Czar of Rock and Roll, Blacks stand-up comedy began as an opening act for the plays, he was also the master of ceremonies. After a management change at the theater, Black left and began working as a comedian, as well as finding bit parts in television and films. Blacks style of comedy is that of a man who, in dealing with the absurdities of life and his techniques include sarcasm, hyperbole, profanity, shouting and his trademark angry finger-shaking, which bring emphasis to his topics of discussion. He once described his humor as being on the Titanic every single day, Black has described his political affiliation as, Im a socialist, so that puts me totally outside any concept. the Canadians get it. But seriously, most people dont get it, the idea of capping peoples income just scares people. Oh, youre taking money from the rich and these people really need $200 million. Black lists his influences as George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Lily Tomlin, Bill Hicks, Bob Newhart. In 1998, Black starred in his first comedy special on the series Comedy Central Presents and he starred in two additional episodes of the series in 2000 and 2002
