Gyles Brandreth
Gyles Daubeney Brandreth is a British broadcaster, writer and former politician. He has worked as a television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author and publisher.
He was a presenter for TV-am's Good Morning Britain in the 1980s, and has been regularly featured on Channel 4's game show Countdown and the BBC's The One Show. On radio, he has appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Just a Minute.
In 1992 Brandreth was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament for the City of Chester constituency. Representing Chester in the House of Commons until his defeat at the 1997 general election, Brandreth then resumed his career in the media. He has written both fiction and non-fiction books, and makes appearances as a public speaker.
Early life
Born in 1948 at Wuppertal, Germany, where his father, Charles Brandreth was serving as a legal officer with the Allied Control Commission, his mother Alice, née Addison,, became a pioneer in remedial teaching for dyslexic children. His great-great-great-grandfather was Benjamin Brandreth, descended from Thomas Brandreth of Ormskirk via a cadet branch and a cousin of Admiral Sir Thomas Brandreth. He is also a descendant of Jeremiah Brandreth.When Brandreth was three, his parents returned to London where he was educated at the Lycée Français de Londres then Bedales School in Hampshire, becoming friends with Simon Cadell.
Brandreth read Modern History and Modern Languages at New College, Oxford. While there, he directed the Oxford University Dramatic Society and was elected President of the Oxford Union in Michaelmas term 1969, and was a regular contributor to the undergraduate magazine Isis. He was described in a contemporaneous publication as "Oxford's Lord High Everything Else". Christopher Hitchens suggested that Brandreth "set out to make himself into a Ken Tynan. Wore a cloak".
Television
Brandreth has appeared in the "Dictionary Corner" on the game show Countdown more than 300 times, including Carol Vorderman's final edition in 2008, making more appearances than any other guest. He appeared on TV-am's Good Morning Britain. He was known for his collection of jumpers, of which some were sold in a charity auction in 1993.In 1989, he presented Discovering Gardens with his wife Michèle, a documentary television series which explored public gardens across South West England while speaking to the people that created and maintained them.
Brandreth hosted the short-lived game show Public Opinion in 2004. In 2006, he appeared on the television series That Mitchell and Webb Look, on the fictional game show "Numberwang", satirising his appearances in Countdowns "Dictionary Corner". In 2007, he guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio play I.D. From July to August 2009, he hosted the game show Knowitalls on BBC Two. In April 2010, he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Vote Now Show. He made a cameo appearance as himself in Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd, in the episode "The Final Countdown", again as a guest in Countdown's "Dictionary Corner".
A frequent guest on BBC television panel shows, he has appeared on ten episodes of QI and nine episodes of Have I Got News for You. He has appeared in episodes of Channel 5's The Gadget Show, and is a contributor to the BBC's early evening programme The One Show.
He appeared on Room 101 in 2005, while Paul Merton was host, successfully banishing the Royal Variety Performance and the British honours system into Room 101, declaring that he would never accept an honour himself. In 2013, Brandreth clarified his position, stating that he had "no fundamental objection to the honours system", and that he selected the honours system for Room 101 because he could "tell funny stories about it".
In October 2019, Brandreth appeared in Series 3 of Richard Osman's House of Games, winning two of the five episodes.
Also in 2019, he appeared on Series 1 of Celebrity Gogglebox alongside Sheila Hancock. In 2020 and 2021, Brandreth returned for Series 2 and 3, alongside Maureen Lipman. In 2022, he appeared in Series 4 with Joanna Lumley and Carol Vorderman. In 2023, he returned with Lumley for Series 5, as well as Susie Dent.
In 2020, Brandreth and actor Sheila Hancock replaced Timothy West and Prunella Scales in a two-episode series of Great Canal Journeys, travelling down the River Thames. In the first episode West gave the two novice canal boaters a crash course in barging. They navigated the Staffordshire Waterways in 2021 for another two-episode series.
On 16 October 2021, Brandreth appeared alongside Anne Hegerty as a celebrity contestant on the ITV show Beat the Chasers--described as Gogglebox in celebrity guise--in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital to support the Countess of Ulster and her fellow clinicians' work. On 24 October 2022, Brandreth appeared on Bargain Hunt: BBC 100th Birthday Special to commemorate the BBC's 100th Anniversary. His team mate was Tony Blackburn.
Radio
Brandreth has presented programmes on London's LBC radio at various times since its launch in 1973. He has frequently appeared on BBC Radio 4's comedy panel game Just a Minute. On several episodes of Radio 4's political programme The Westminster Hour, Brandreth has shared his thoughts on how to make the most of being a government minister. From 2003 to 2005 Brandreth hosted the Radio 4 comedy panel game Whispers.In 2006, Brandreth appeared in the Radio 4 comedy programme Living with the Enemy which he co-wrote with comedian Nick Revell, in which they appear as a former Conservative government minister and a former comedian. In 2010 he broadcast a Radio 4 documentary about his great-great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Brandreth, the inventor of a medicine called "Brandreth's Pills". For a period, he was the host of the Radio 4 comedy panel show Wordaholics; the programme first aired on 20 February 2012. He appeared on the Radio 4 programme The Museum of Curiosity in August 2017, to which he donated a button that was once owned by a famous actor.
Podcasts
In April 2019, Brandreth began co-hosting a podcast titled Something Rhymes with Purple alongside lexicographer Susie Dent. The podcast discussed aspects of the English language such as historic or unusual words and their origins, as well as the origins of popular phrases and sayings. The podcast ended in July 2024.In September 2023, Brandreth began hosting another podcast, called Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth, where he interviews famous people about "their first memories and first experiences". Interviewees include Judi Dench, Björn Ulvaeus, Miriam Margolyes and Keir Starmer.
Writing
Since the 1970s, Brandreth has written books for adults and children about Scrabble, words, puzzles and jokes; he was also a regular contributor to Games & Puzzles magazine. He wrote an authorised biography of actor John Gielgud, and lipogrammic reworks of Shakespeare. In the 1980s, Brandreth wrote scripts for Dear Ladies, a television programme featuring Hinge & Bracket. Brandreth created the stage show Zipp!, which enjoyed success at the Edinburgh Festival and had a short run in the West End.In 1999, he published diaries chronicling his days as a politician between 1990 and 1997, called Breaking the Code.
In September 2004, Brandreth's book on the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage was published. In July 2005, he published a second book on the royal family, entitled Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair, which concerns the three-decade love affair between the then-Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.
In 2021, following the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Brandreth wrote, "The Duke showed me great friendliness over 40 years but royalty offer you friendliness, not friendship, and you have to remember the difference".
Brandreth has written a series of seven works of historical fiction called The Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries, casting Oscar Wilde as working with both Robert Sherard and Arthur Conan Doyle.
Brandreth has written and toured in a number of comedic one-man shows, including The One-to-One Show in 2010/11, Looking for Happiness in 2013/14 and Word Power in 2015/16.
Brandreth has written a book entitled Have You Eaten Grandma?, about the English language and correct grammar.
Politics
Brandreth served as a Conservative MP, representing the City of Chester, from 1992 to 1997. In 1992, he introduced a Plain Language Bill, to simplify language used in contracts, under the Ten Minute Rule. However, it was objected to at Second Reading and was dropped. He then proposed a Private Member's Bill which became law as the Marriage Act 1994, allowing civil marriages to be solemnized in certain "approved premises". In 1995, he was appointed to junior ministerial office as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, with his role being essentially that of a Whip.He broadcast reminiscences of his parliamentary career on BBC radio as Brandreth on Office and The Brandreth Rules in 2001, 2003 and 2005.
In August 2014, Brandreth was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scots independence from the UK in the run-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. In May 2016, Brandreth told The Spectator that he was likely to vote Remain in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. In 2019, Brandreth confirmed that whilst he had voted Remain, he accepted the referendum result for Brexit saying that the Government now had to "get Brexit done".