Angus Deayton
Alternative comedian, quiz show host and thinking woman's crumpet, Angus Deayton is a man of many talents. Here's the lowdown on the man who made smirking into an art form.
Alternative comedian, quiz show host and thinking woman's crumpet, Angus Deayton is a man of many talents and was the golden boy of TV until [i]that[/i] story broke. Here's the lowdown on the man who made smirking into an art form.
Gordon Angus Deayton, nicknamed Perkins, was born in 1956 and raised in Surrey. An early interest in football led to a trial with Crystal Palace when he was 12, but he went on to study French and German at Oxford University. Joining in the comedy circuit at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, Angus was soon recruited as part of a spoof Bee Gees band, the Hee Bee Gee Bees. Unbelievably the band even sold a single and went to number two of the Australian chart with "Meaningless Songs in Very High Voices".
Angus hit the big time with Have I Got News For You. His particular brand of sarcasm and cutting-edge wit made him an instant favourite with the comedy news panel show. In 1993 a kiss 'n' tell story by an ex-girlfriend earned him the moniker of "TV's Mr Sex", a strangely prophetic tag that would spell his demise nine years later. By 2002 Angus' eleven-year tenure ended after 23 series, following two separate scandals. A call girl revealed to the News of the World that she'd had a sexual relationship with Angus and that he'd taken cocaine, and a few months later another woman published details of a long-standing affair. The BBC asked for his resignation, saying that his job as a satirical commentator was no longer reasonable.
Despite the japes, the crew looked to be good friends, but they didn't take any prisoners after Angus' tabloid scandal. For the first show following the revelations, Paul Merton showed up wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the front page of the News of the World. Paul smirked: "The words pot, kettle, smug, git, good and kicking all come to mind." Seven and a half million people watched Angus get torn apart as he was on the receiving end of the mockery he usually hands out. When Michael Parkinson asked Paul if he had stabbed Angus in the back he replied, "No, I stabbed him in the front."
