Angus Deayton

Gordon Angus Deayton (born 6 January 1956) is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian and broadcaster.

Deayton read French and German at New College, Oxford, where, in 1978, he was recruited into the Oxford Revue, performing with them at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

This led to the creation of the parody band the Hee Bee Gee Bees in 1980, with the songs written by Richard Curtis and Philip Pope.

Their best-selling single "Meaningless Songs (In Very High Voices)" (plus the B-side "Posing in the Moonlight") was a parody of the falsetto style of disco hits by the Bee Gees.

Deayton began his career on Radio Active, a parody of British local radio stations broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1981 and 1987, which he co-wrote and performed.

He starred with Atkinson as a pool attendant and a man on a park bench in the Mr. Bean episode "The Curse of Mr. Bean" and appeared opposite Atkinson in the Black Adder episode "Born to Be King" (1983) as one of the Jumping Jews of Jerusalem.

From 1988 to 1991, Deayton was a featured player in all three series of the Emmy award-winning sketch comedy programme Alexei Sayle's Stuff. In 1990, Deayton was cast as the Meldrews' neighbour Patrick Trench in the British suburban sitcom One Foot in the Grave and was selected as host of Have I Got News for You.

The same year, he featured on television advertising the Vauxhall Nova.

Andre Ptaszynski tried to persuade him to take the lead role in Steven Moffat's sitcom Chalk, a role eventually taken by David Bamber.

Deayton worked with David Renwick again appearing in the miniseries If You See God, Tell Him.

In an episode of Coupling, he appears in a fantasy sequence with Mariella Frostrup.

It transferred to television as KYTV between 1989 and 1993.

Deayton was the original presenter of the satirical panel game show Have I Got News for You (1990—2002), the host of British panel show Would I Lie to You? (2007—2008), and a regular cast member of the David Renwick sitcom One Foot in the Grave (1990—2000).

He also played George Windsor in the series Waterloo Road.

The youngest of three sons of a Prudential insurance broker/manager English father and a home economics school teacher Scottish mother, Deayton was brought up in Banstead, Surrey, and attended Oakhurst Grange School and Caterham School.

He showed early promise as a footballer and had a trial with Crystal Palace.

He was captain of the Caterham U16 Rugby team.

He hosted the late-1990s BBC show Before They Were Famous, which showed early and frequently embarrassing clips of TV and film stars (including Deayton himself) when they were relatively unknown.

He was much in demand as a presenter of television specials including the BBC's New Year's Eve show and the BAFTA Awards.

He also featured in a series of advertisements for Barclaycard and the films Savage Hearts and Elizabeth.

Deayton's suave manner as host of Have I Got News for You led to his being nicknamed "TV's Mr Sex", by a Time Out listings writer.

In May 2002, the British tabloid newspaper the News of the World reported he had taken cocaine and had sex with prostitutes.

He was ridiculed by Paul Merton and Ian Hislop in the following episode of Have I Got News for You but continued as presenter.

Deayton began the episode with: "Good evening and welcome to Have I Got News for You, where this week's loser is presenting it."

He added later, "There is, by the way, no need to adjust your set, my face is this red."

Following more allegations in October, Deayton was dismissed after two episodes of the new series.

One online poll, on the BBC's own website, showed over three-quarters of respondents wanted Deayton to stay on as the programme's host.

After his stint on Have I Got News for You ended, Deayton's work included a reunion of the Radio Active cast in a new episode in December 2002.

In April 2003, Stephen Fry supported Deayton by refusing to appear on the show again.

In 2003, he guest-starred as Downing Street's spin doctor in an episode of the BBC comedy Absolute Power, starring Stephen Fry and John Bird.

In January 2004, he starred in the BBC comedy Nighty Night.

Deayton had a cameo role as a hotel receptionist in the 2004 film Fat Slags.

A few months later, he presented the quiz Bognor or Bust.

In January 2006, he hosted an ITV show based upon self-help videos called Help Your Self.

Deayton is associated with Comic Relief/Sport Relief and featured in its broadcasts.

He co-presented the Sport Relief charity programme Only Fools on Horses in July 2006.

Deayton appeared for the England team as a second-half substitute in the Soccer Aid match in support of UNICEF on 27 May 2006.

Deayton presented a tribute to Radio Active and KYTV colleague and friend (and long-time BBC producer) Geoffrey Perkins for BBC Radio 4 on 4 October 2008.

Deayton was frequently a straight man alongside Rowan Atkinson.

Responding to Merton's "I didn't stab him in the back, I stabbed him in the front" line regarding the episode, in 2016 Deayton said: "Yes, I've heard this and [his comment] is a way of not answering the question. But it's such a tangled web to describe what happened. And Merton and Hislop probably don't know what was happening in the background."