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Jonathan Ross
Name: Jonathan Ross
DOB: 17 November 1960
Birth Place: Camden, London, United Kingdom
Claim to fame: Loud mouth TV and radio presenter
Star Facts
- Jonathan voiced the character Doris in Shrek 2
- He was voted Britain's Second Smuggest Person (after Robbie Williams), in a Time Out poll
- He celebrated winning his OBE by playing God Save the Queen by The Sex Pistols on his Radio 2 show
- Comic book-obsessed, he published his first ever comic, Turf, in 2010
Biography
Overpaid chat show host and the man that asked Prime Minister Call-Me-Dave Cameron if he’d ever had a Maggie Thatcher wank-fantasy, Jonathan began his media career working as a researcher for Channel 4 after graduating with a Modern European History degree from the University of London.
He debuted as a TV presenter on Channel 4 in 1987 with the chat show The Last Resort, revamping the British chat show format to a David Letterman standard. He stepped in as host at the last minute when they couldn’t find anybody else, interviewing stars like Ken Russell, Peter Cook, Vivienne Westwood and Spike Lee.
His follow up, One Hour with Jonathan Ross, only lasted a handful of shows, but here he was credited with giving Vic and Bob and Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse their first break on television.
Now a major TV star, he switched to the BBC, showing off his renowned film-buffery as host of The Film Programme until 2006, presenting his hit Radio 2 show until 2010 and his hugely successful BBC One chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross from 2001 to 2010. Along the way he became the most obscenely paid presenter on television, netting a reported £6 million a year.
Quitting when his contract ended in 2010, after the notorious Sachsgate incident where he got all excited about being on the radio with Russell Brand and shouted obscenities into an old Fawlty Towers actor’s answering machine, his new ITV chat show begins in late 2011.