Jonathan Ross

For the U.S. Senator, see Jonathan Ross (senator) Jonathan Stephen Ross OBE (born November 17, 1960, Leytonstone, London, England) is a British television and radio presenter and film critic.

Broadcast career

Ross first entered television as a researcher on Loose Talk, following this with another research job on Solid Soul. On that program, he and fellow researcher Alan Marke devised what would prove to be a breakthrough hit for Ross in 1987: The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross. Marke and Ross based their concept on the American Late Night with David Letterman, and formed a new production company, Channel X, in order to produce a pilot. While the series eventually became a co-production with Colin Callender, ownership remained with Marke and Ross, meaning that the latter retained a great deal of control as well as being presenter 'Baggy fashion is blamed for trouble at t'mill', Roland Rudd, The Times, 2 June 1988.. The show proved incredibly popular for both Ross and Channel 4, making him one of the major personalities on the channel.

A year later, his documentary series The Incredibly Strange Film Show introduced many to the works of cult film-makers like Sam Raimi and Jackie Chan.

In 1989 he co-presented the biennial BBC charity telethon Comic Relief, and, in 1991, he presented the annual British Comedy Awards on ITV. He performs both of these roles to this day. Ross has become known for hosting awards ceremonies or "celebration" nights - he has worked for BAFTA in hosting both their annual awards and various tribute shows.

Ross has been ubiquitous on British television throughout the 1990s and 2000s, presenting and appearing in numerous television entertainment programmes on several channels. These included being a regular panellist on the sports quiz They Think It's All Over (despite having little interest or knowledge in professional sport), and hosting the panel game It's Only TV...But I Like It. Less successful projects were the BBC joke-quiz Gagtag; the Channel 4 variety show Saturday Zoo; new acts showcase The Big Big Talent Show; and the ITV programme Fantastic Facts.

By the mid/late 1990s Ross' career enjoyed a resurgence and he became something of a media celebrity. He began making cameo appearances, playing himself in the Spice Girls' film Spiceworld (1997) and voicing a character in the UK version of Shrek 2 (2004). He played himself in Only Fools And Horses, presenting a fictional television quiz on which the main character, Delboy, was a contestant. He also appeared in television commercials for Pizza Hut (with Caprice) and Harp Lager.

In 2005, Ross anchored the BBC television coverage of the Live 8 concerts.

in 2007, Ross will voice Mabel in the UK (and presumably Irish) version of Shrek the Third.

Current activities

On radio, Ross presents a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2, after having previously presented shows for BBC Radio 1 and Virgin Radio (having previously worked on Richard Branson's earlier venture, Radio Radio), as well as the now-defunct commercial radio network service The Super Station, where his producer was Chris Evans.

On television, he continues to host the successful BBC One chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, and Film 2006, the BBC's long-running cinema review programme. In March 2006 he guest-hosted an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

He made a series on BBC Three called Japanorama, and also produced, through his production company Hot Sauce, another series for BBC Three called Adam and Joe Go Tokyo, starring Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish. He is currently filming two new series of Japanorama.

His most recent series was Jonathan Ross' Asian Invasion, broadcast on BBC Four in January 2006. The three-part documentary followed Ross as he explored the film industry in Japan, Hong Kong and Korea, interviewing directors and showcasing clips.

Biography

Ross speaks with a rhotacism, causing him to pronounce the consonant 'r' like a 'w', and this has led to the British tabloid newspapers dubbing him "Wossy". He is also known for his flamboyant dress sense and regularly wins awards for being the best and worst-dressed celebrity (when he appeared on the series Room 101, his own dress sense was one of the things he wished to banish). Ross was even blamed for a textile workers' strike in 1988 — David Cope, a sales director for a dyeing operation, made the claim: "Ever since that trendy Jonathan Ross started wearing his big, baggy suits on television, he set a fashion that has been extremely lucrative for the British cotton industry ^* the textile workers now want a share of those profits."

Ross studied history at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (now merged with University College London (UCL)). Before transferring he also went to the Southampton Institute (now Southampton Solent University), where he is on the alumni list.

Ross married author and journalist Jane Goldman in 1988, when Goldman was 17 years old. They have since had three children: Betty Kitty, Harvey Kirby (named after Jack Kirby and Harvey Kurtzman, two comic book creators whom Ross especially admires) and Honey Kinney. His older brother is Paul Ross, also a television presenter, while two other brothers, Miles and Simon, are both TV producers. His younger brother Adam and younger sister Lisa both work in the media'The magic ingredient of Channel X', The Independent, 31 October 1990., while his mother, Martha, has been an extra in BBC soap opera EastEnders (as a market stallholder) since the show began in 1985.

Ross founded the production company Channel X with Alan Marke in 1987, which went on to produce such successes as The Last Resort, The Incredibly Strange Film Show and One Hour With Jonathan Ross . However, in 1995 he left, despite its profitable nature. He was quoted in a 1998 article as stating:

It was to do with a deliberate change in my life, moving away from TV as the core of my existence to focus on my family more. So I had to give up everything to do with Channel X, and I literally got only £1 for my share, which was unbelievable.'Hot enough for another bite at the telly', The Guardian, 13 July 1998.

Ross is also known for owning exotic pets, and is a big fan of David Bowie, British punk rock, Star Trek, Doctor Who and comic books. Ross has even co-owned a comic shop in London with Paul Gambaccini. He was also the visual inspiration for the main character in the comic book Saviour.

He is a fan of the band They Might Be Giants, and appeared on stage with them during their most recent UK tour.

He was described as "one of the funniest men in the country" by comedian David Baddiel (although Ross has never strictly been a comic).

In 2005, Ross was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting. He celebrated the news by playing "God Save the Queen" by The Sex Pistols (which was banned by the BBC when released in 1977) on his Radio 2 Saturday morning show. On June 21, 2006 Ross was made a Fellow of UCL, his alma mater.

Ross has been voted Britain's second smuggest person after Robbie Williams, in a poll conducted by Time Out magazine.

Ross's latest announcement is that he is quitting his regular panellist seat on the BBC TV sport/comedy quiz show They Think It's All Over, stating:

I’ve had a great time on They Think It's All Over, imparting my vast sporting knowledge to the nation, but I need time now to focus on my other commitments and so regrettably I won't be back for the 20th series. It's a fantastic show and from now on I'll be able to actually watch it.

Ross is also well known for his distinctive long hairstyle, which creates mixed emotions in many viewers. Recently, however, he has had it cut shorter somewhat.

On December 9, 2005, on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, he claimed that in January he would be playing a Cyberman in the 2006 series of Doctor Who. However, this claim has not been corroborated by any other sources.

Ross was the subject of controversy in June 2006 due to a line of questioning regarding masturbation and Margaret Thatcher to the Conservative party leader David Cameron during an inteview on the Friday Night programme.

BBC contract

In April 2006, Ross, along with other BBC personalitieshad details of his fees leaked to the tabloid press. It was claimed by an, at the time, unidentified BBC mole[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1776263,00.html, that Ross then earned £530,000 per year for hosting his Radio 2 show. This was a controversial revelation. For some, the BBC was abusing its dominant position over commercial rivals in paying popular personalities such high fees, and for others debasing its public service remit.

The following June, Ross became the highest paid television personality in Britain, when a new BBC contract^* secured his services until 2010, for a reported £18 million.

Footnotes