Gyles Daubeney Brandreth (born 8 March 1948) is a British broadcaster, writer and former politician. He has worked as a television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author and publisher.
He was a presenter for TV-am's Good Morning Britain in the 1980s, and has been regularly featured on Channel 4's game show Countdown and the BBC's The One Show. On radio, he makes frequent appearances on the BBC Radio 4 programme Just a Minute.
In 1992, Brandreth was elected to the House of Commons as the ConservativeMember of Parliament (MP) for the City of Chester constituency. He served until he was defeated in 1997, and resumed his career in the media. He has written both fiction and non-fiction books, and makes appearances as a public speaker.
Brandreth with Judi Dench at the London Palladium in 2023
Brandreth has appeared in the Dictionary Corner on the game show Countdown more than 300 times, including Carol Vorderman's final edition in 2008, making more appearances than any other guest. He appeared on TV-am's Good Morning Britain. He was known for his collection of jumpers, of which some were sold in a charity auction in 1993.
Brandreth hosted the short-lived game show Public Opinion in 2004.[8] In 2006, he appeared on the television series That Mitchell and Webb Look, on the fictional game show "Numberwang", satirising his appearances in Countdown's Dictionary Corner. In 2007, he guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio play I.D.. From July to August 2009, he hosted the game show Knowitalls on BBC Two. In April 2010, he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Vote Now Show. He made a cameo appearance as himself in Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd, in the episode "The Final Countdown".
A frequent guest on BBC television panel shows, he has appeared on eight episodes of QI and six episodes of Have I Got News for You. He has appeared in episodes of Channel 5's The Gadget Show, and is a contributor to the BBC's early evening programme The One Show.
He appeared on Room 101 in 2005, while Paul Merton was host, successfully banishing the Royal Variety Performance and the British honours system into Room 101, saying that he would never accept an honour himself.[9] In 2013, he clarified that position, stating that he had "no fundamental objection to the honours system", and that he selected the honours system for Room 101 because he could "tell funny stories about it".[10]
In 2020, Brandreth and actor Sheila Hancock replaced Timothy West and Prunella Scales in a two-episode series of Great Canal Journeys, travelling down the River Thames.[15] In the first episode Timothy West gave the two novice canal boaters a crash course in barging.[16] They went down the Staffordshire Waterways in 2021 for another two-episode series.[17]
Brandreth has presented programmes on London's LBC radio at various times since its launch in 1973.[21] He has frequently appeared on BBC Radio 4's comedy panel game Just a Minute.[2] On several episodes of Radio 4's political programme The Westminster Hour, Brandreth has shared his thoughts on how to make the most of being a government minister.[22] From 2003 to 2005 Brandreth hosted the Radio 4 comedy panel game Whispers.[23][24]
In 2006, Brandreth appeared in the Radio 4 comedy programme Living with the Enemy which he co-wrote with comedian Nick Revell, in which they appear as a former Conservative government minister and a former comedian.[25][26] In 2010 he broadcast a Radio 4 documentary about his great-great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Brandreth, the inventor of a medicine called "Brandreth's Pills".[27] For a period, he was the host of the Radio 4 comedy panel showWordaholics; the programme first aired on 20 February 2012.[28][29] He appeared on the Radio 4 programme The Museum of Curiosity in August 2017, to which he donated a button that was once owned by a famous actor.[30]
Podcasts
In April 2019, Brandreth began co-hosting a podcast titled Something Rhymes with Purple alongside lexicographer Susie Dent.[31] The podcast discussed aspects of the English language such as historic or unusual words and their origins, as well as the origins of popular phrases and sayings.[32] The podcast ended in July 2024.
Since the 1970s, Brandreth has written books for adults and children about Scrabble, words, puzzles and jokes, and was a regular contributor to Games & Puzzles magazine. He wrote an authorised biography of actor John Gielgud, and lipogrammic reworks of Shakespeare. In the 1980s, Brandreth wrote scripts for Dear Ladies, a television programme featuring Hinge and Bracket.[34] Brandreth created the stage show Zipp!, which enjoyed success at the Edinburgh Festival and had a short run in the West End.[35]
In 1999, he published diaries chronicling his days as a politician between 1990 and 1997, called Breaking the Code.[36]
In September 2004, Brandreth's book on the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage was published.[2] In July 2005, he published a second book on the royal family, entitled Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair, which concerns the three-decade love affair between the then-Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.[2]
In 2021, following the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Brandreth wrote, "The duke showed me great friendliness over 40 years but royalty offer you friendliness, not friendship, and you have to remember the difference".[37]
Brandreth has written a series of seven works of historical fiction called The Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries, in which Oscar Wilde works with both Robert Sherard and Arthur Conan Doyle.[38]
Brandreth has written and toured in a number of comedic one-man shows, including The One-to-One Show in 2010–2011, Looking for Happiness in 2013–2014 and Word Power in 2015–2016.[39]
Brandreth has written a book entitled Have You Eaten Grandma?, about the English language and correct grammar.[40]
Politics
Brandreth was a Conservative MP, representing the City of Chester, from 1992 to 1997. In 1992, he brought in a Plain Language Bill, to simplify language used in contracts, under the Ten Minute Rule.[41] However it was objected to at Second Reading and was dropped.[42] He proposed a private member's bill which became law as the Marriage Act 1994, allowing civil marriages to be solemnized in certain "approved premises". In 1995, he was appointed to a junior ministerial position as a Lord of the Treasury, with his role being essentially that of a whip.[22][43]
He broadcast reminiscences of his parliamentary career on BBC radio as Brandreth on Office and The Brandreth Rules in 2001, 2003 and 2005.[22]
In August 2014, Brandreth was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.[44] In May 2016, Brandreth told The Spectator that he was likely to vote for the UK to stay in the European Union in the following month's referendum on the issue.[45] In 2019, Brandreth confirmed that he had voted to remain, but accepted the result of the referendum and believed that the government had to "get Brexit done".[46]
Gyles and George Knitwear
Brandreth is known for the colourful, humorous jumpers he has designed and worn throughout his career. He has stated on the BBC that "it's all I'm really known for".[9] Collaborating with artist and knitwear designer George Hostler, Brandreth created hundreds of jumper designs that appear in books he and Hostler authored and produced under their knitwear label, Gyles & George.[47]
Brandreth has a room in his London home devoted to his jumpers, and claims to have one for almost every occasion. To name just a few examples: he has a knitted jumper emblazoned with a green frog that he has worn for appointments with princes (Philip and Charles); on other royal occasions, he has worn sweaters featuring corgis and crowns. He has appeared on television talking about rail strikes wearing a jumper that features a steam locomotive, and wore a sweater bearing the words "The End" on the day Boris Johnson resigned. And he has a Scrabble-themed jumper which he wears in his capacity as president of the Association of British Scrabble Players.[48][49]
To strike a more serious note, he wore lounge suits rather than novelty jumpers when serving in Parliament, though he has stated: "The first time I spoke in the House of Commons, I heard John Prescott on the bench opposite me muttering 'woolly jumpers ha ha ha.' He could see I was thrown and he carried on. Eventually I had to pause and point out to Mr Prescott that the joy of a woolly jumper is that you can take it off at will. Whereas the blight of a woolly mind is that you're lumbered with it for life".[50][22]
In 2020, Brandreth partnered with American designer Jack Carlson to revive the label for the 21st century, with Gyles & George joining Carlson's collective of brands, Blazer Group. They have collaborated to re-release many of Brandreth's original designs, including a jumper with the words "I'm a Luxury" across the front, famously worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, and another featuring the words "What the **** is going on?" (the back reads: "Don't ask me"). They have also released a popular collection of sweaters themed around the Signs of the Zodiac.[47][51]
Since 2015, he has been the president of the Oscar Wilde Society, which was founded in 1990.[61]
Personal life
Brandreth met his future wife, Michèle Brown, at Oxford. Five years later, with Brown working as a television reporter and Brandreth in theatre, the couple decided to have a "quiet wedding". They were married at Marylebone Register Office on 8 June 1973, with actor Simon Cadell, Brandreth's best friend from school, as a witness.[62] The couple have lived in Barnes, southwest London, since 1986.[63][64]
The Importance of Being Earnest, a Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde, the last of his four drawing-room plays, following Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893) and An Ideal Husband (1895). First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy depicting the tangled affairs of two young men about town who lead double lives to evade unwanted social obligations, both assuming the name Ernest while wooing the two young women of their affections.
Christopher Nicholas Parsons was an English actor, straight man and radio and television presenter. He was the long-running presenter of the comedy radio show Just a Minute and hosted the game show Sale of the Century during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock is an English actress, singer, and author. She has performed in both plays and musicals in London’s theatre scene, and her Broadway debut in Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1966) earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Play.
Susan Elizabeth Perkins is an English actress, broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer. Originally coming to prominence through her comedy partnership with Mel Giedroyc in Mel and Sue, she progressed into radio and television presenting, notably of The Great British Bake Off (2010–2016), Insert Name Here (2016–2019) and Just a Minute on BBC Radio 4.
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Bennet Evan Miller is an English comedian, actor and author. He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. He is also known for his roles as Angus Jeremy Bough in the Johnny English film series, DI Richard Poole in the BBC crime drama series Death in Paradise and James Lester in the ITV sci-fi series Primeval.
Susan Dent is an English lexicographer, etymologist and media personality. She has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show Countdown since 1992. She also appears on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, a post-watershed comedy version of the show.
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Darryl Francis is a British author, mainly of books on Scrabble.
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A Christmas jumper is a sweater themed with a Christmas or winter-style design, often worn during the festive season. They are often knitted. A more traditional approach is a roll neck top-pulled garment. It can generally be said that embellishments such as tinsel, reindeer, or sparkles make a sweater "ugly", in terms of ugly sweaters.
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