Born:
December 21, 1970
in
Sussex
Best Known For:
Presenting TV shows and his headline-making love life.
Early-life:
Jamie Andrew Theakston was born on December 21, 1970, in Sussex. He grew up in a happy middle-class household. His father was in computers, and worked as a director for the BBC. His mum runs a tearoom. A natural exhibitionist, he has described himself as a noisy kid who demanded to be the centre of attention. Theakston cut his acting teeth at the National Youth Theatre, before then working in Christie's auction house between leaving school and doing a business degree at North London Polytechnic.
Career:
Famously entered a BBC's Clothes Show contest to find a new model. He did well, and was in good company: Cat Deeley was also in the competition. Later, to help out a friend, he started doing traffic reports on BBC local radio station GLR. Subsequently, he moved to Radio 5 Live where he was noticed by a producer of TV show The O-Zone. Things took off after he teamed up with Zoë Ball, first on Live & Kicking and then on The Priory. Theakston decided to return to acting, and appeared in West End hits Art, and Home and Beauty. Other TV jobs include an episode of Murder in Mind, the last TV drama to feature Adam Faith, sitcom Mad About Alice, A Question of Pop, and The Games. He reunited with Zoë Ball in 2009 to front Channel 5 game show Britain's Best Brain. He initially presented some music shows on Radio 1 before fronting the Heart FM breakfast show, where he has been at the microphone since 2005.
Quote:
On working with Zoë Ball: "I've worked with lots of other female co-hosts and I guess you always measure them against the first one you worked with."
Trivia:
He enjoys fencing and cricket. He supports Brighton and Hove Albion.