Footballer to Popstar
Gordon Angus Deayton, nicknamed Perkins, was born in 1956 and raised in Surrey by his father, a Prudential manager and his mother, a cookery teacher. An early interest in football led to a trial with Crystal Palace when he was 12, but didn't materialise and he went on to study French and German at New College, 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" written by Four Weddings fame Richard Curtis.

To the box
Deayton also appeared in 'You'll Have Had Your Tea By Now' in Edinburgh. Between 1981 and 1987 he wrote and featured in a spoof Radio show on Radio Four, then adapted to TV as KYTV, a precursor to The Day Today. Deayton also collaborated with comedy colleagues Alexei Sayle and Rowan Atkinson for whom he played the 'straight man' on stage in his 'Not Just A pretty Face Tour' in London's West End, Australia and Broadway, as well as in the 'Just For Laughs' at Montreal Comedy Festival. He even appeared in episodes of Atkinson's legendary Mr Bean. In 1990 Deayton took on the role of grumpy Victor Meldrew's long-suffering neighbour Patrick Trench in One Foot in the Grave and beat Sandy Togsvig to host Have I Got News For You.

HIGNFY
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 on HIGNFY ended after 23 series, following two separate scandals. First, a call girl revealed to the News of the World that she'd had a sexual relationship with Deayton and that he'd taken cocaine and second, 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.

Friends like these....
Who could ever know whether the jesting between the two team captains and the host was serious or not? Despite the japes, the crew looked to be good friends but they didn't take any prisoners after Deayton's embarrassing 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. As if the T-shirt wan't enough Paul smirked: "The words pot, kettle, smug, git, good and kicking all come to mind." 7.5 million people watched Deayton get torn apart as he was on the receiving end of the mockery he usually hands out.
Rumour had it Ian and Paul should have offered more support to Angus. When Michael Parkinson asked Paul Merton if he had stabbed Deayton in the back he replied "no, I stabbed him in the front."

Awards a go go
Angust took home his first TV comedy awards in 1992 when he won Best Entertainment Programme and Best Entertainment Series at the British Comedy Awards, Best Comedy Performer and Best Television Comedy at the British Press Guild, a BAFTA for the Best Light Entertainment Show. Three years later he scooped the BBC's TV Personality of The Year. He had also picked up a few gongs for his radio work before. After co-writing and appearing in Radio Active he earned a Premier Ondas Award in 1983, a Sony Award For Best Radio Comedy in 1982 and a British Press Guild for Best Radio Comedy in 1981.

Angus Today
Although his popularity took a knock, he still works as a presenter on shows like Before They Were Famous and TV Hell, although it's long way from presenting BAFTA's or the BBC's New Year's Eve show...
Radio work is continuing too with new episodes of Radio Active in 2002 and he starred in BBC comedy Nighty Night in 2004. His big career comeback though was presenting ITV's reality cooking show Hell's Kitchen followed by Bognor Or Bust.

Angus Quotes

"The reason it's called private life is because it's private," he said.

"I feel I've already paid for my slips - which, let's face it, is more than Winona Ryder ever did."