Born: 10 October 1946 at 7-20pm

Reading, Berkshire, UK

to parents Basil and Joan Tarrant

Born Christopher John Tarrant, he went to boarding school when he was young, which he found oppressively strict. From 1960 to 1964 he attended King’s School, Worcester, where he showed a flair for hockey and cricket. He later said that his school days were not happy times and described school as a “modern day Iran”.

Turning down a place at Oxford University, Tarrant went instead to the University of Birmingham to read English. Following graduation, he worked for a while as an English teacher in Brockley. It was during this time, in the late 1960s, that he left his girlfriend and with nowhere to stay, found himself living out of his grey mini van, which he parked in the grounds of the school. After a while, he became bored of teaching and decided to give it up and pursue his dream of working in television.

Tarrant took up night work as a DJ in Birmingham and worked as a truck driver during the day. Meanwhile, he wrote letters to television companies, claiming he was the face of the 1970s and they should grab the chance to hire him. This blatant self-promotion eventually resulted in an audition for ATV, based in the Midlands. He was hired as a regional newsreader and was finally taking his first steps in his dream career.

Besides being the evening news anchor, Tarrant also reported on ATV’s main daytime bulletins, which included more light-hearted stories. He was starting to gain notice and was in the right place at the right time. In 1974, ATV was developing a new show and needing a host, offered the job to Tarrant. He eagerly accepted and became one of the co-hosts on ‘Tiswas’, a Saturday morning children’s show. It was ‘Tiswas’ that gave Tarrant a nation-wide audience and his popularity duly soared.

In 1971 when Tarrant was 25, he married Sheila, a secretary, and they had two daughters, Helen and Jennifer. Unfortunately, their marriage broke down shortly after he began working on ‘Tiswas’ and ended in divorce in 1982. Tarrant later admitted to going on a drinking and smoking binge when the marriage was over.

Living a lavish lifestyle, Tarrant left ‘Tiswas’ in 1981 and ventured into the making of ‘O.T.T.’ (1982), a saucier adult version of the show. Due to the naked shenanigans, including topless dancers and people dancing naked with balloons, there was a public outcry and after only one series, the show was dropped. A much toned-down version of the show, ‘Saturday Stayback’, appeared in 1983.

In a move from television to radio, Tarrant joined London’s commercial station, Capital Radio in 1984. He began by presenting the weekly lunchtime show before moving on to the breakfast show in 1987. It was the start of a long partnership with radio for Tarrant, as he went on to present the breakfast show for the next seventeen years. He met London born Ingrid Dupre de St. Maur in 1985 when they were both working as reporters on TV-AM. Ingrid was married and pregnant with her second child but left her husband four months after the birth of her daughter Fia, to be with Tarrant. She brought Fia and her four-year old son, Dexter with her when she moved in to live with Tarrant and they were married in 1991. Besides two children each from their previous marriages, the couple have a daughter, Samantha and a son, Toby. Ingrid has had a successful career as a fashion designer, journalist, travel writer and television presenter.

In between his radio and voice-over work, in the early 1990s Tarrant participated in many television projects. He hosted ‘Tarrant on TV’ (1992) which showed outrageous clips from television and film from around the world; ITV’s quiz show ‘Lose a Million’; game show ‘Cluedo’ (1990-1993); and ‘Pop Quiz’ (1994). He then went on to host ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ (1998), a quiz show where contestants could win £1 million for correctly answering fifteen questions. The show went a long way to re-establishing Tarrant’s credibility and it gave a much-needed boost to his career.

In 1995, he won the coveted Sony Radio Academy Awards’ Breakfast Show Gold. Another accolade came in April 2001, when a waxwork model to be displayed at Madame Tussaud’s, London, was delivered to Capital FM studios where Tarrant was still presenting the breakfast show. His response was, “I didn’t realise I looked this rough but apparently I do.” The wax model was sculpted by Jim Kempton and took six months to complete.

Controversy and outrage hit in early 2003 when ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ contestant, former Army Major Charles Ingram, cheated his way to the top prize of £1 million. He was accused of being helped by an accomplice in the crowd, Tecwen Whittock, who coughed signals to him, which he denied. Tarrant, initially elated at the man’s success, was later shocked to discover his suspected duplicity. Major Charles Ingram and his wife, Diana, were later found guilty of conspiring to cheat the show.

In December 2003, Tarrant was inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame shortly before his departure from Capital FM’s breakfast show. In March 2004 he was to be replaced as host by Johnny Vaughan of Channel 4 television’s ‘The Big Breakfast’ fame. Tarrant said of Vaughan that he was vibrant, lively, funny, exciting and the right person for the job. He said he hoped to wind down his own broadcasting commitments over the next few years.

Tarrant continued hosting ITV’s quiz show ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’, being committed to them until 2005. He provided voice for an episode of television series ‘Holby City’ (1999) and was the voice of the Radio Announcer in ‘Johnny English’ (2003) starring Rowan Atkinson. He was a foreign presenter in an episode of ‘The Impressionable Jon Culshaw’ (2004), presented a one-off show for BBC Radio 2 during Christmas 2004, and provided voice for an episode of ‘The IT Crowd’ (2006). Tarrant is a non-executive director of Celador Radio Broadcasting and an associate and executive of Sound TV.

In 2004 he received an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for his charity work, including being a patron of the Phoenix Centre for special needs children; an ambassador for Centrepoint for the homeless; a trustee and patron of The New School at West Heath for disadvantaged children; and patron of Milly’s Fund, in memory of murdered Surrey teen Milly Dowler. In 2005 he participated with his wife Ingrid, on a tandem, in a 160-mile charity bicycle ride that ended in Cardiff, to raise funds for the Rhys Daniels Trust. Tarrant was awarded an honorary doctorate degree for his services to the entertainment industry at Aston University in Birmingham on 10 July 2006.

 

 

Chris's Waxwork!!!!!!

TV presenter and radio DJ Chris Tarrant took one look at his waxwork model and said: "I didn't realise I looked this rough but apparently I do."

"When they brought me into Capital Radio I was in a body bag," he said.

He added: "Every time I turned around to load a new CD he was grinning at me - it was very unnerving.

"He's a very good likeness - he looks slightly bewildered and I spend a lot of my time bewildered."

Tarrant said there were some unnerving moments when he had to sit for the sculptor.

He said: "The worst bit was when they were choosing my eyeballs, I was staring into my own empty eye sockets which was very macabre."

When he first saw himself in wax he thought his ears were too big.

But the sculptor used a pair of callipers to prove that his own ears were bigger than he had thought.

Tarrant said: "You get used to your own face over years and years of hard living."

Sculptor Jim Kempton took six months to make the waxwork.

He said: "He has got a very malleable face as everybody knows and trying to pin it down to one expression wasn't easy.

"You would have thought from being on television he would know what his expressions look like but I don't think he studies himself that much."

 

CT Supports Reading FC

Reading were formed in 1871. They were originally nicknamed the Biscuitmen after one of the main trades in the town, Huntley & Palmers biscuits, but changed to the Royals in the 1970s.

The club played at Reading Recreation Ground until 1878, before moving on to Reading Cricket Ground (1878-1882), Coley Park (1882-1889) and Caversham Cricket Ground (1889-1896). The switch to professionalism in 1895 resulted in the need for a bigger ground, and to this end the club moved again, to the purpose built Elm Park on September 5, 1896. Finally, in 1998, they moved to the new state-of-the-art all-seater 24,200 capacity Madejski Stadium.

 

 

Courage, quick action, dedication and community spirit were praised as the Pride of Reading stood up to take a bow.

The glittering ceremony was hosted by the Evening Post and Reading 107fm whose presenters Simon Ross, Jenny Gow and Robert Kenny compered the event.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? star, born and bred in Reading, Chris Tarrant was guest of honour again and presented the awards at the Renaissance Reading Hotel.

PS The guy who was the real phantom flan flinger now lives in Blackpool and his wife runs an ahem, 'escort' agency! Met them on-line when me and my ex-wife

Chris Tarrant taking on Royals 'keeper Marcus Hahnemann

 

Special Award went to John Madejski

Child of Courage Christian Huntley