Tommy Boyd
Encyclopedia
Timothy Leslie Boyd better known as Tommy Boyd, is a British radio and television presenter who now lives in Chichester
, West Sussex
.
and grew up in Ashford in Middlesex
attending Tudor Grammar School. His father, who was a boxing and weightlifting champion and later a bodybuilder, was from Newcastle upon Tyne
. On leaving school, he worked at a Debenhams
store in Staines. Aged 19, he went to New York
to work at a summer camp as soccer coach. From there, Boyd went on to study at Brighton College of Education. To finance his studies, Boyd worked as a night club DJ and stringer at BBC Radio Brighton; he also worked for two years as a dolphin
trainer at the Brighton
Dolphinarium, and later worked two seasons as a red coat
entertainer at a Butlins
holiday camp in Bognor Regis
. In 1974, he joined start-up news radio station LBC
as a journalist, and, in 1976, was made editor of the rolling news breakfast
show "AM".
A gifted sportsman, he turned down joining Sussex
County Cricket Club in 1975 to concentrate on performing.
children's flagship magazine programme Magpie
replacing Douglas Rae
. In 1981, he devised, wrote, and presented, "What's Happening?", a news quiz. He also presented the Saturday TV-am
show Wide Awake Club from 1986–1990, and its Sunday spin-off WAC Extra, throughout the 1980s. In 1982 he joined the cast of Jigsaw, including Janet Ellis, Sylvester McCoy and David Rappaport. Tommy also hosted his own Children's BBC progamme called Puzzle Trail.
Between 1982 and 1984, Boyd also fronted Central Television's Saturday morning kids TV show The Saturday Show
alongside Isla St Clair
and followed this with Saturday Starship in 1985 (co-presented by Bonnie Langford
). From April 1991 – December 1992, he spent a period as the presenter for ITV's children's strand. In 1993/4, Boyd worked on the The Children's Channel
, a satellite television channel.
station Southern Sound on the late Sunday evening show along with Nicky Keig-Shevlin
. The format of the show was phone-in/quiz style with the occasional record thrown in – 'Two Little Boys' by Rolf Harris
and 'Narcissus' by Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
being two that featured regularly. Boyd signed off each show by playing "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong
.
) from its inception in February 1995 until November 1998, when he lost his job in a reshuffle at the station after it was taken over by a consortium
led by former Sun
editor
Kelvin MacKenzie
. It was during this tenure that Boyd consolidated his reputation for being controversial. Broadcasting at first from 3pm to 7pm, transferring later to the 1am to 4am timeslot, the format of the show would involve Boyd making a proposition (e.g. "Save a life ... Humiliate a sunbather" or "Who needs their legs?") and engaging in a frequently heated debate. Less argumentative strands of the show would also see the emergence of "The Angry Hour" and "The Wonderful Hour", the latter of which would always take place during the final hour of the Friday show.
During this period he presented the TV programme MLB on Five
in 1997.
in London, working on a "Nightline" phone-in programme during the early 80s remembered for its 'Mystery Guest' feature, where a famous person would come in and not talk in their real voice and people would have to call in and guess who it was – Roy Castle
once featured and 'talked' only by playing his trombone; later he joined BBC Radio Five Live
. At Five Live he presented the weekday afternoon show 2.00 – 5.00 which consisted of sport and music.
During the late 1970s, he hosted the Saturday morning radio show Jellybone aimed at children. The show featured items such as a phone-in news quiz, and a segment where group or club members – such as bus spotters – were invited into the studio to discuss their hobby/interests, and to take part in the Jellybone Jury, reviewing and scoring the latest record releases. Previous hosts of the show include LBC stalwart Therese Birch, and the late Jeremy Beadle
.
For his Nightline show Boyd was awarded the Royal Variety Club Radio Personality of the Year. He later co-presented the breakfast show with Anne Diamond
, leaving the station in 1999.
, but with part of its schedules being retained for talk
and non-sport phone in
. After covering for absent presenters on several occasions, Boyd took up a permanent position in April 2000.
In May 2000, he began an experiment on his Sunday night slot whereby calls would go straight to air unscreened. This later evolved into The Human Zoo
. Boyd presented the show with Asher Gould. This style of programme came to light again in May 2006 when the LBC presenter Iain Lee
started a show called Triple M, expanded from a half-hour section of his regular show using this format.
Boyd also hosted a professional wrestling
radio show on talkSPORT called Talk Wrestling. The show's success prompted him to investigate re-introducing wrestling as a mainstream entertainment in the UK. He hired Crystal Palace, and put on one of the biggest UK-run wrestling shows in recent years, including the future WWE heavyweight champion, Eddie Guererro.
Boyd was sacked from TalkSPORT in March 2002 after failing to use the profanity delay to 'dump' a caller's remarks that the royal family
should be shot.
, where he presented a Saturday Night show (with a live internet feed) from 9pm-1am with co-presenter Allison Ferns. It was here that the Human Zoo format was resurrected along with the more controversial aspects of the Talk Radio days.
On the occasions when Allison Ferns was absent, cover would come in the guises of Lisa Francesca Nand
, Alyson Mead, and on one show (New Year's Eve 2005), Boyd's wife, Jayne.
From April 2006 to December 2007 Boyd presented a daily afternoon show from 1pm to 4pm, Monday to Friday. Several popular elements from the past resurfaced, such as "The Angry Hour", "The Irritable Hour", and once again on the final hour of the Friday show "The Wonderful Hour".
, an internet radio station. In January 2008 he moved to Original 106 FM where he hosted the weekday breakfast show until September, before returning to Play Radio UK broadcasting a general talk and phone in show weekday late nights and via podcast
, billed as "Global News Talk".
Boyd provided summer cover for Jon Gaunt on the Sun Talk, an internet-based radio station, and for a week in September 2009 he filled in for Steve Berry
on 106.1 Rock Radio Manchester's Breakfast Show.
In 2009 he launched a company called Digital Sport Radio, which makes radio for major sporting clubs and brands.
He makes it clear that he is still keen on the talk radio concept, stating "I’m still hopeful that we’ll get a proper Talk service in the UK before I go fully senile."
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
.
Early career
Boyd was born in FelthamFeltham
Feltham is a town in the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. It is located about west south west of central London at Charing Cross and from Heathrow Airport Central...
and grew up in Ashford in Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
attending Tudor Grammar School. His father, who was a boxing and weightlifting champion and later a bodybuilder, was from Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
. On leaving school, he worked at a Debenhams
Debenhams
Debenhams plc is a British retailer operating under a department store format in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, and franchise stores in other countries. The Company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to around 160 shops...
store in Staines. Aged 19, he went to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to work at a summer camp as soccer coach. From there, Boyd went on to study at Brighton College of Education. To finance his studies, Boyd worked as a night club DJ and stringer at BBC Radio Brighton; he also worked for two years as a dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
trainer at the Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
Dolphinarium, and later worked two seasons as a red coat
Redcoats (Butlins)
Redcoat is the name given to frontline staff at Butlins holiday camps. A Redcoat may have many duties ranging from adult entertainer or children's entertainer to stewarding.-History:The first Redcoat was Norman Bradford...
entertainer at a Butlins
Butlins
Butlins is a chain of large holiday camps in the United Kingdom. Butlins was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families....
holiday camp in Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, on the south coast of England. It is south-south-west of London, west of Brighton, and south-east of the city of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east-north-east and Selsey to the...
. In 1974, he joined start-up news radio station LBC
LBC
LBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...
as a journalist, and, in 1976, was made editor of the rolling news breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work...
show "AM".
A gifted sportsman, he turned down joining Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
County Cricket Club in 1975 to concentrate on performing.
Children's television
From 1977 to 1980, Boyd was co-presenter of the ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
children's flagship magazine programme Magpie
Magpie (TV series)
Magpie was a children's television programme shown on ITV from the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. It was a magazine format show intended to compete with the BBC's Blue Peter, but attempted to be more "hip", focusing more on popular culture...
replacing Douglas Rae
Douglas Rae
Douglas Rae is a Scottish businessman. At present he is chairman of the Golden Casket confectionery corporation , as well as chairman of Greenock Morton.-References:...
. In 1981, he devised, wrote, and presented, "What's Happening?", a news quiz. He also presented the Saturday TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
show Wide Awake Club from 1986–1990, and its Sunday spin-off WAC Extra, throughout the 1980s. In 1982 he joined the cast of Jigsaw, including Janet Ellis, Sylvester McCoy and David Rappaport. Tommy also hosted his own Children's BBC progamme called Puzzle Trail.
Between 1982 and 1984, Boyd also fronted Central Television's Saturday morning kids TV show The Saturday Show
The Saturday Show (ITV TV series)
The Saturday Show was Birmingham-based Central Television's flagship Saturday morning kids TV show which replaced their previous success Tiswas. It ran on ITV for two series between 1982 and 1984. It was originally planned that popular wrestler Big Daddy would star and that it would be called "Big...
alongside Isla St Clair
Isla St Clair
Isla St Clair , is a Scottish singer, actress and former game show co-host.-Early career:Isla St Clair was born in Grangemouth, central Scotland, in 1952. Her family came from North East Scotland and it was here that she spent her early years...
and followed this with Saturday Starship in 1985 (co-presented by Bonnie Langford
Bonnie Langford
Bonita Melody Lysette "Bonnie" Langford is an English actress, dancer and entertainer. She came to prominence as a child star in the early 1970s then she subsequently became a companion of Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy's Doctor Who and has appeared on stage in various musicals such as Peter Pan:...
). From April 1991 – December 1992, he spent a period as the presenter for ITV's children's strand. In 1993/4, Boyd worked on the The Children's Channel
The Children's Channel
The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a television station in the United Kingdom, Benelux and Scandinavia, which was owned by Flextech . It began broadcasting on 1 September 1984, and was closed on 3 April 1998...
, a satellite television channel.
Southern Sound
During the late 1980s Boyd was a radio presenter on the ILRILR
ILR may refer to:* Institute for Legal Reform, an advocacy group founded in 1998 by the United States Chamber of Commerce* Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations...
station Southern Sound on the late Sunday evening show along with Nicky Keig-Shevlin
Nicky Keig-Shevlin
Nicola Keig-Shevlin is a radio presenter who spent the majority of her career working for Brighton based station Southern FM . She presented the weekday breakfast show 'Danny and Nicky in the Morning' with Danny Pike for 19 years...
. The format of the show was phone-in/quiz style with the occasional record thrown in – 'Two Little Boys' by Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
and 'Narcissus' by Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band are a band created by a group of British art-school denizens of the 1960s...
being two that featured regularly. Boyd signed off each show by playing "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
.
Talk Radio
He was a radio presenter on the British AM station Talk Radio (later talkSPORTTalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
) from its inception in February 1995 until November 1998, when he lost his job in a reshuffle at the station after it was taken over by a consortium
Consortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
led by former Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
Kelvin MacKenzie
Kelvin MacKenzie
Kelvin Calder MacKenzie is an English media executive and former newspaper editor. He is best known for being editor of The Sun newspaper between 1981 and 1994, an era in which the paper was established as Britain's best selling newspaper.- Biography :MacKenzie was educated at Alleyn's School...
. It was during this tenure that Boyd consolidated his reputation for being controversial. Broadcasting at first from 3pm to 7pm, transferring later to the 1am to 4am timeslot, the format of the show would involve Boyd making a proposition (e.g. "Save a life ... Humiliate a sunbather" or "Who needs their legs?") and engaging in a frequently heated debate. Less argumentative strands of the show would also see the emergence of "The Angry Hour" and "The Wonderful Hour", the latter of which would always take place during the final hour of the Friday show.
During this period he presented the TV programme MLB on Five
MLB on Five
MLB on Five was a sports television programme on the British Five Network featuring live coverage of Major League Baseball games. It was usually broadcast on Sunday and Wednesday nights...
in 1997.
LBC & Five Live
Boyd subsequently worked for the local station LBCLBC
LBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...
in London, working on a "Nightline" phone-in programme during the early 80s remembered for its 'Mystery Guest' feature, where a famous person would come in and not talk in their real voice and people would have to call in and guess who it was – Roy Castle
Roy Castle
Roy Castle OBE was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician. He attended Honley High School, where there is now a building in his name...
once featured and 'talked' only by playing his trombone; later he joined BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
. At Five Live he presented the weekday afternoon show 2.00 – 5.00 which consisted of sport and music.
During the late 1970s, he hosted the Saturday morning radio show Jellybone aimed at children. The show featured items such as a phone-in news quiz, and a segment where group or club members – such as bus spotters – were invited into the studio to discuss their hobby/interests, and to take part in the Jellybone Jury, reviewing and scoring the latest record releases. Previous hosts of the show include LBC stalwart Therese Birch, and the late Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle MBE was an English television presenter, writer and producer. During the 1980s, he was a regular face on British television and in two years appeared 50 weeks of the year. His shows regularly topped the charts beating Coronation Street and EastEnders on one...
.
For his Nightline show Boyd was awarded the Royal Variety Club Radio Personality of the Year. He later co-presented the breakfast show with Anne Diamond
Anne Diamond
Anne Margaret Diamond is an English radio and television presenter and journalist. She hosted Good Morning Britain for TV-am and the similarly titled Good Morning... with Anne and Nick for BBC1, both with Nick Owen as her co-presenter...
, leaving the station in 1999.
talkSPORT
In January 2000, Talk Radio was rebranded as talkSPORTTalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
, but with part of its schedules being retained for talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
and non-sport phone in
Phone in
In broadcasting, a phone-in or call-in is a programme format in which viewers or listeners are invited to air their live comments by telephone, usually in respect of a specific topic selected for discussion on the day of the broadcast. On radio , it is common for an entire programme to be dedicated...
. After covering for absent presenters on several occasions, Boyd took up a permanent position in April 2000.
In May 2000, he began an experiment on his Sunday night slot whereby calls would go straight to air unscreened. This later evolved into The Human Zoo
The Human Zoo (radio)
The Human Zoo was a radio programme on talkSPORT, presented by Tommy Boyd, with his engineer Asher Gould effectively acting as co-presenter...
. Boyd presented the show with Asher Gould. This style of programme came to light again in May 2006 when the LBC presenter Iain Lee
Iain Lee
Iain Lee is a British comedian, and a television and radio presenter. His career began when he performed stand-up comedy gigs across venues in London. He subsequently became co-presenter of the comedy current affairs show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 and RI:SE...
started a show called Triple M, expanded from a half-hour section of his regular show using this format.
Boyd also hosted a professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
radio show on talkSPORT called Talk Wrestling. The show's success prompted him to investigate re-introducing wrestling as a mainstream entertainment in the UK. He hired Crystal Palace, and put on one of the biggest UK-run wrestling shows in recent years, including the future WWE heavyweight champion, Eddie Guererro.
Boyd was sacked from TalkSPORT in March 2002 after failing to use the profanity delay to 'dump' a caller's remarks that the royal family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
should be shot.
BBC Southern Counties
In early 2004, Boyd joined BBC Southern Counties RadioBBC Southern Counties Radio
BBC Southern Counties Radio was the BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Surrey and Sussex. The station also covered a large part of North-East Hampshire. It was the first BBC Local Radio station to introduce a controversial all-speech format...
, where he presented a Saturday Night show (with a live internet feed) from 9pm-1am with co-presenter Allison Ferns. It was here that the Human Zoo format was resurrected along with the more controversial aspects of the Talk Radio days.
On the occasions when Allison Ferns was absent, cover would come in the guises of Lisa Francesca Nand
Lisa Francesca Nand
Lisa Francesca Nand is a journalist and broadcaster who started off on BBC Radio before becoming a co-presenter on the Ian Collins show on the UK radio station TalkSPORT. When she was appointed in 2006 she was the first female presenter on TalkSPORT...
, Alyson Mead, and on one show (New Year's Eve 2005), Boyd's wife, Jayne.
From April 2006 to December 2007 Boyd presented a daily afternoon show from 1pm to 4pm, Monday to Friday. Several popular elements from the past resurfaced, such as "The Angry Hour", "The Irritable Hour", and once again on the final hour of the Friday show "The Wonderful Hour".
Play Radio UK
From August 2007, Boyd co-presented a Sunday night show on Play Radio UKPlay Radio UK
Play Radio UK was a British internet radio station based on the South Coast of England. Its output comprised two mainstream music radio streams, a talk radio stream, and several other genre-specific music streams...
, an internet radio station. In January 2008 he moved to Original 106 FM where he hosted the weekday breakfast show until September, before returning to Play Radio UK broadcasting a general talk and phone in show weekday late nights and via podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
, billed as "Global News Talk".
Boyd provided summer cover for Jon Gaunt on the Sun Talk, an internet-based radio station, and for a week in September 2009 he filled in for Steve Berry
Steve Berry
Steve Berry is an American author, professor and former attorney currently living in St. Augustine, Florida. He is a graduate of Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law....
on 106.1 Rock Radio Manchester's Breakfast Show.
In 2009 he launched a company called Digital Sport Radio, which makes radio for major sporting clubs and brands.
He makes it clear that he is still keen on the talk radio concept, stating "I’m still hopeful that we’ll get a proper Talk service in the UK before I go fully senile."