Dermot O'Leary's parents moved from Ireland to England in 1968. Photograph: Hodder Children’s BooksBorn in 1973 and raised in a village near Colchester, broadcaster Dermot O’Leary studied at Middlesex University before becoming a TV runner and researcher in the mid-90s.
I don’t know if it was by accident or design, but my parents gave me enough rope that I didn’t feel the need to rebel. If I annoyed them, I knew about it. When I failed my GCSEs, my dad just said to me: “Let’s do this one more time in a different school. If it doesn’t work, then we need to think about what you’re going to do.” That was the only kick up the arse I needed – and by the time I did retake them, I had matured a bit.
I was working on Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins’ Light Lunch when I got my big break. They had sacked the guy who warms up the audience before the broadcast because they’d overheard him on the phone saying: “I can’t believe how much money I am getting for doing this!” I was asked to step in, without the huge wages, and when [TV presenter and producer] Andi Peters came on as a guest we got chatting afterwards. He said: “I’m setting up this thing called T4.
That first show, though. The noise. The audience was just so loud, and it boomed like a cathedral. When I was growing up, the one day of the week we were allowed to watch TV while we were eating was a Saturday. We had a tablecloth on the floor and a picnic tea with Larry Grayson on the telly. It wasn’t lost on me that 30 years later I was doing that very slot. When I got home that night, it was impossible to come down.
Part of me thinks very little has changed from age four to now. My bags are a bit darker, perhaps, but I still have a twinkle in my eye and I’m just as curious and interested in people as I ever have been. – Guardian
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Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »