NAVIGATION
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Manchester
Celebrities
Television, Film, Media & Broadcasting
(22)
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Nick Robinson
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Nick Robinson
(Born 1963)
Nick Robinson was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire in 1963 and attended
Cheadle Hulme Grammar School after which he attended University
College Oxford, where he read Politics, Philosophy & Economics.
He was inspired
to become a political broadcaster by the late "Today"
programme presenter, Brian Redhead,
who was also a family friend. Nick's first broadcasting job was
at Piccadilly Radio in Manchester working for Jim
Hancock of the BBC "North West" programme.
He then moved
into radio working on 'Five Live' before going on to present
the political review show 'Straight Talk' and BBC Two's
live coverage from Westminster. At the BBC in 1986 he had been
a trainee producer on programmes like 'Brass Tacks', 'Newsround'
and 'Crimewatch'.
Robinson left
the BBC in 2002 to join ITV News as its political editor. Before
then, he had been BBC News 24's chief political correspondent.
He recently returned to the BBC as its political editor, replacing
Andrew Marr. He was a former deputy editor of 'Panorama'
and 'On The Record'.
Over time
he has built up a reputation as a respected, authoritative and
tenacious reporter.
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Simon Rimmer
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Simon Rimmer
(Birthdate
unknown)
Greater Manchester Chef Simon Rimmer and TV presenter of "Great
Food Live" and "Great Food Bites" on
UKTV Food, is also the celebrated owner of Greens vegetarian restaurant
in West Didsbury, Manchester.
It began,
so he tells it, in 1990, armed with only two cookery books and
no idea how to cook he decided to set up a restaurant in Lapwing
Lane.
Two years
later, 'The Guardian' newspaper described Greens as one
of the most exciting new restaurants in UK, and it has gone on
since then to win several awards, including The Big Issue's 'Restaurant
of the Year'.
Simon's television
career began with "Granada Breeze", hosting shows
such as 'Livetime' and 'Battle of the Chefs'. He
has also appeared regularly on programmes such as 'This Morning',
'Granada Tonight', 'A Taste for Travel', 'Lunchtime Live', 'The
Afternoon Show', 'Gloria's (Hunniford's) Open House'
and 'Xchange' for CBBC.
Simon also
occasionally presents the property show "To Buy or Not
to Buy" for BBC1.
His more recent
"Grub's Up" regional programme aired on ITV1
in April 2006, he is a regular guest chef and presenter on the
"Saturday Kitchen" programme and recently was
a contestant in the Great British Menu competition on BBC2 Television
to create a 4 course meal for Her Majesty the Queen to celebrate
her 80th birthday - regrettably, he failed to beat chef Marcus
Wareing in the regional heats.
Simon believes
chefs should excite people about cooking, and that it should be
"sociable, straightforward and sparkling". He published
"The Accidental Vegetarian: Delicious Food Without Meat"
in 2004.
His second
Book, "The Rebel Cook", is to be published in
autumn 2006.
Simon is also
a freelance textile designer and ceramic decorator with a degree
in Fashion & Textile Design.
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Kathy Staff
(Born 1928)
Kathy
Staff was born on 12 July 1928 in Dukinfield, Cheshire - now in
the Borough of Tameside in Greater Manchester.
A stalwart
of British acting, and a virtual national treasure, she began
her acting career in a touring theatre company in Scotland, and
had appeared on television in 'Castlehaven', 'Within These
Walls' and 'Hadleigh', but is probably best known by
British audiences as Nora Batty in the BBC's long-running comedy
show 'Last of the Summer Wine' which she starred in from
its very inception as a 1973 Comedy Playhouse presentation. She
had also appeared as Vera Hopkins in Granada TV's 'Coronation
Street'.
The success
of 'Last of the Summer Wine' entailed her being written
out of 'Coronation Street', initially arranged just for
the filming of the first series, but in the event the show continued
for another 17 series, and she became a regular, highly respected
and longstanding permanent member of the cast.
She has also
appeared in many other television shows including 'Freddie
Starr' shows and 'The Lenny Henry Christmas Show'.
Kathy also
has a distinguished career in films, where she has appeared in
'A Kind of Loving', 'The Dresser', 'The Family Way', 'Camille'
and 'Little Dorrit'.
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James Stannage |
James Stannage
(Born 1950)
James Stannage was born on 22 February 1950, started out as an
amateur actor and secondary school teacher, having spent a few
years in San Francisco studying drama. However, he made his mark
as a late night talk show radio host on local Manchester radio
stations, including Piccadilly and Metro, but more especially
he extablished a reputation on the Key 103 station. He
was dismissed from Key 103 in June 2005 after numerous warnings
and a history of run-ins with regulator OFCOM, the broadcasting
media's regulatory body.
His late night
radio show was based around music and a virtually open live discussion
forum, with topics ranging from sport, religion, current affairs,
or politics. He frequently gave air time to local rising celebrities
including the likes of Mike Harding.
Stannage would
often argue his case aggressively (generally from an anti-politics
and anti-religion standpoint); if he disagreed with callers, he
never hesitated to cut them off abruptly mid-sentence, especially
if they were boring, abusive or overly contentious. In many contemporary
surveys, Stannage came out as the number 1 Manchester DJ at that
time.
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James H Reeve
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James H
Reeve
(Born
1951)
James Hengist Reeve is a UK broadcaster, journalist, raconteur
and radio phone-in host based in the Manchester area. James has
hosted shows on Piccadilly Radio, BBC GMR (now BBC Radio Manchester),
BBC Radio Five Live, Sheffield Hallam FM, talkSPORT, TEAMtalk
radio stations and, up until July 2006, presented the late night
phone-in show at Key 103, as a successor to James Stannage (above).
He appeared
in the 1981 TV production of 'Strike: The Birth of Solidarity'
with Sir Ian Holm. James has also worked on radio and television
in Saudi Arabia. He left BBC GMR in 1998 . James also appeared
alongside the late Bernard Manning
in the year 2000 in a video entitled 'Up U Man U'.
A resident
of Prestwich in north Manchester, James is a keen supporter of
Manchester City Football Club.
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