Jeremy Dickson Paxman is an English retired broadcaster, journalist, author, and television presenter. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate newspaper Varsity. At Cambridge, he was a member of a Labour Party club and described himself as a socialist, in later life describing himself as a one-nation conservative. He joined the BBC in 1972, initially at BBC Radio Brighton, relocating to London in 1977. In following years, he worked on Tonight and Panorama, becoming a newsreader for the BBC Six O'Clock News and later a presenter on Breakfast Time and University Challenge.
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, including Secretary of State for Employment, Secretary of State for the Environment and Home Secretary.
University Challenge is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. University Challenge aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC revived the programme on 21 September 1994, the programme's 32nd anniversary, with Jeremy Paxman as the quizmaster. Paxman relinquished his role as host following the conclusion of the 52nd series in 2023, after which he was succeeded by Amol Rajan. In October 2022, an ITV documentary, Paxman: Putting Up With Parkinson's, explored how Parkinson's disease has impacted him and revealed that Paxman recorded his very last episode of University Challenge on 15 October 2022, which aired on 29 May 2023.
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as Great British Railway Journeys and Great Continental Railway Journeys. A former member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield Southgate from 1984 to 1997 and Kensington and Chelsea from 1999 to 2005.
Michael Ciaran Parker, known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is an English comedian and television presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. These included Strike It Lucky, My Kind of People, My Kind of Music,Kids Say the Funniest Things, and his own variety show, Barrymore. In 1993, he headlined the Royal Variety Performance.
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist, farmer, game show host, and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes Top Gear and The Grand Tour alongside Richard Hammond and James May. He also currently writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun. Since 2018, Clarkson has hosted the ITV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
Stephen John Coogan is an English actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. He is most known for creating original characters such as Alan Partridge, a socially inept and politically incorrect media personality, which he developed while working with Armando Iannucci on On the Hour and The Day Today. Partridge has featured in several television series and the 2013 film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. In 1999, he co-founded the production company Baby Cow Productions with Henry Normal.
BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC.
Newsnight is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30 on BBC Two and the UK feed of BBC News channel; it is also available on BBC iPlayer.
Jeremy Guy Vine is a British television and radio personality, presenter, broadcaster and journalist. He is best known as the host of his BBC Radio 2 lunchtime programme which presents news, views, interviews with live guests and popular music, taking over from long time host Sir Jimmy Young in 2003.
Michael Hammond Bates was a British actor born in India. He was best known for playing Chief Guard Barnes who processes Alex in A Clockwork Orange, Cyril Blamire in Last of the Summer Wine (1973–75), and Rangi Ram in It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–77).
Timothy Leonard Spall is an English actor and presenter. Spall gained recognition for his character actor roles on stage and screen. He is known for his collaborations with director Mike Leigh, acting in six of his films: Home Sweet Home (1982), Life is Sweet (1990), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), and Mr. Turner (2014). He was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his role in Secrets and Lies, and received the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award for his portrayal of J. M. W. Turner in Mr. Turner. In 2000, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) took its present form on 1 January 1927 when John Reith became its first Director-General. Reith stated that impartiality and objectivity were the essence of professionalism in broadcasting.
Evan Harold Davis is an English journalist, presenter for the BBC, and former economist. He has presented Dragons' Den since 2005, and PM since 2018.
Diane Morgan is an English actress, comedian, television presenter, and writer. She is best known for playing Philomena Cunk on the review programme Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe (2013–2020) and in the mockumentary series Cunk on Britain (2018) and Cunk on Earth (2022). She played Kath in the Netflix dark comedy series After Life (2019–2022). Since 2016, Morgan has played Liz on the BBC Two sitcom Motherland. She also wrote and starred in the BBC Two comedy series Mandy (2019–2022).
The Revolution Will Be Televised is a British television satire show starring Heydon Prowse and Jolyon Rubinstein, which was first screened on BBC Three in August 2012. Writing for The Guardian, Sam Wollaston said it's "Sacha Baron Cohen with a bit more substance then, or Mark Steel with a few more laughs". At the 2013 British Academy Television Awards, the show won Best Comedy Programme.
Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.
Britain's Great War is a British documentary television series that broadcast on BBC One 27 January 2014. The documentary series is presented by Jeremy Paxman and was produced by the Open University and BBC Productions. The series shows how World War I affected Britain and its people. The series leads the BBC World War I centenary season.
New Worlds is a 2014 Channel 4 TV series, set in 1680s England and America and forming a sequel to The Devil's Whore.
The Ipcress File is a British cold war spy thriller television series loosely based on the 1962 novel The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton. Written by John Hodge and directed by James Watkins, it stars Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton and Tom Hollander. It was first broadcast at 9pm from Sunday 6 March to 10 April 2022 on ITV. The entire series was available for streaming, with commercials, on ITV Hub after episode 1 was broadcast. Within a week the full series was also available, commercial-free, on BritBox in the UK.
