Ed Leigh
Encyclopedia
Broadcasting career
Leigh presents the BBC2 show Ski SundaySki Sunday
Ski Sunday is the BBC Sports weekly magazine-style television show covering winter sports, broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays in a late afternoon or an early evening time-slot...
during the winter and Red Bull X-Fighters
Red Bull X-Fighters
Red Bull X-Fighters are freestyle motocross motorbike stunt competitions contested in bullrings and similar venues. Alongside the X Games, they are the most prestigious and most challenging freestyle motocross competitions....
World Series for Dave alongside Rob Warner
Rob Warner (mountain biker)
Rob Warner is a retired professional downhill mountain biker born in Reading, England.Before turning professional in 1993 Warner worked for 6 months at the Rover plant in Oxford on a production line building the Rover 800 series car...
in the summer.
Leigh can sometimes be seen on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's RTS
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
award winning series Freesports On 4 where he first established himself. Leigh has built up a diverse portfolio of work ranging from Ed vs. Spencer
Ed vs. Spencer
Ed vs. Spencer was a comedy reality TV series based on the Canadian show Kenny vs. Spenny. It ran for one series from 2004 to 2005 on Sky One in the UK.In the US, Ed vs...
for Sky 1
SKY 1
The Box is an entertainment channel in New Zealand available on SKY Network Television.The channel shows are a variety of the most recent shows such as from the United States, for example CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Simpsons, Family Guy, World Wrestling Entertainments hit shows, and...
to commentating on the Winter Olympics for the BBC
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC. It became a fully dedicated division of the BBC in 2000. It incorporates programmes such as Match of the Day, Grandstand , Test Match Special, Ski Sunday, Rugby Special and coverage of Formula One motor racing, MotoGP and the Wimbledon Tennis...
. Having worked as editor of Whitelines Snowboard Magazine
Whitelines
Whitelines is an English language magazine covering snowboarding culture published by Factory Media.-History:Founded in 1995, Whitelines began publishing under Jim Peskett, owner of Permanent Publishing, with former British professional snowboarder Tudor ‘Chod’ Thomas as editor...
, Leigh's TV career started presenting Trailer Park on Turners CNX channel CNX
CNX
CNX was a channel operated by Turner Broadcasting in the UK and Ireland aimed at the 12-34 male audience, first started broadcasting on October 14, 2002 and lasted until September 8, 2003 when it was changed to the Toonami channel. The station was based around three key ingredients—Action,...
, alongside Christian Stevenson, his long-time collaborator. The duo went on to present a series for the Extreme Sports Channel
Extreme Sports Channel
The Extreme Sports Channel is a Netherlands-based extreme sports television channel available across Europe and the Middle East. Al Gosling had the idea for the channel in 1998.-History:...
titled Legends of the Extreme.
After doing the voice over for the Extreme Sports Channel
Extreme Sports Channel
The Extreme Sports Channel is a Netherlands-based extreme sports television channel available across Europe and the Middle East. Al Gosling had the idea for the channel in 1998.-History:...
's 2004
Gumball 3000
The Gumball 3000 is an annual international road rally which takes place on public roads, with a different route around the world each year. Founded in 1999 by Maximillion Cooper, it sees an annual entry of 120 cars, which are mostly exotic and powerful sports cars. However, more unusual entries ...
, he followed the Rally as a hitch hiker/presenter for 2005
Gumball 3000
The Gumball 3000 is an annual international road rally which takes place on public roads, with a different route around the world each year. Founded in 1999 by Maximillion Cooper, it sees an annual entry of 120 cars, which are mostly exotic and powerful sports cars. However, more unusual entries ...
and Gumball 2006
Gumball 3000
The Gumball 3000 is an annual international road rally which takes place on public roads, with a different route around the world each year. Founded in 1999 by Maximillion Cooper, it sees an annual entry of 120 cars, which are mostly exotic and powerful sports cars. However, more unusual entries ...
: Around the world in 8 days.
In 2007, Leigh became co-presenter of the BBC's Ski Sunday
Ski Sunday
Ski Sunday is the BBC Sports weekly magazine-style television show covering winter sports, broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays in a late afternoon or an early evening time-slot...
series with Graham Bell
Graham Bell (skier)
Graham Bell is a former professional skier and television pundit. Graham Bell was the younger of the two Bell brothers from Britain....
after his commentary at the 2006 Winter Olympics
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
helped bring the snowboarding to life. Leigh commentated on snowboarding events at the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
alongside Stine Brun Kjeldaas
Stine Brun Kjeldaas
Stine Brun Kjeldaas is a snowboarder from Kongsberg, Norway, now living in Oslo.-Snowboarding career:She won a silver medal in the half-pipe at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and also participated in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA.-Commentating career:She joined the...
.
He appeared on World Rally: Australia 2009 on Dave and in Autumn 2009 lent his voice to the O'Neill
O'Neill (brand)
O'Neill is an American surfboard, surfwear and equipment brand that was started in San Francisco, California, but soon moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. Some credit the company with having invented the modern wetsuit...
Cold Water Classic Series.
Since then Leigh has nurtured his career in Television to its current position, where he co-presents both Ski Sunday
Ski Sunday
Ski Sunday is the BBC Sports weekly magazine-style television show covering winter sports, broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays in a late afternoon or an early evening time-slot...
and High Altitude, which ran for the winter of 2009 on BBC2, with Graham Bell.
Other appearances
Winner of the Official UK Air Guitar Championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Leigh was more commonly known at this time as 'Satan Whoppercock'In spring 2009, Leigh appeared on My Life as an Animal
My Life as an Animal
My Life as an Animal is a television series broadcast on BBC Three and presented by Rebecca Wilcox. In each episode, two volunteers spend four days with a different species of animal, living how they live in an attempt to be accepted by the animals as one of them. They also find out how to...
on BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
where he lived with Dogs for a week.
Professional career
Previous to his broadcast career, Leigh had a diverse CV that included professional snowboarding, journalism, event management, cleaning mega yachts and windsurf instructing. However in 1997 after a chance meeting in London he centred his efforts on Laughing Gear, a commentary and cabaretCabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
company set up with good friend Christian Stevenson. An intricate knowledge of the action sports world and off-the-cuff comedy has established them as an arguably unique commodity in the events market.
Leigh started his snowboarding career working in Chalford based snowboard shop, Noahs Ark. After spending five years snowboarding in the resort of Val d'Isère
Val d'Isère
Val d'Isère is a commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in south-eastern France. It lies from the border with Italy. It is on the border of the Vanoise National Park created in 1963. The Face de Bellevarde was the scene of the men's downhill race as part of the 1992 Winter...
a knee injury forced him to take a season off and he was offered a job as teaboy at White Lines snowboarding magazine, which he had been contributing to on a freelance basis. Six months later he was editor of the magazine which opened the doors to other media opportunities.