Johnny Vaughan

Jonathan Randal Vaughan (born 16 July 1966) is an English television and radio presenter and a film critic.

In 1988, aged 21, Vaughan was arrested for trying to sell £15,000 of cocaine to undercover police officers in a hotel on the M1 motorway near Northampton.

After his initial success with Moviewatch, Vaughan said in interviews, including one with Mayfair magazine, that he had been incarcerated for the distribution of pornographic videotapes.

Latterly, Vaughan recalled the event in an interview with the Daily Telegraph,

One night, an old schoolfriend, a student, called and asked him if he had any drug connections; the friend had met somebody who wanted to know.

(The somebody, it turned out, was a drug dealer who had been arrested and was now working for the police.) No, said Vaughan, he didn't.

'The next day,' Vaughan says, 'I do bump into someone.

He calls me and says, "Tell Your Friend it's all sorted."' Vaughan arranged the meeting at a service station on the M1, and went there to introduce the protagonists.

He was slammed against a wall by a policeman who asked him how old he was.

When Vaughan said 21, the cop said, "You won't be seeing sunshine again until you're 36."

He was given a four-year jail sentence for dealing cocaine, served at Stocken Prison in Rutland.

On release from prison, Vaughan started a job working as a journalist for the Peterborough Herald newspaper, reporting on legal cases in his column, Johnny Vaughan in the Courts.

His big break came in 1993 when he visited a friend's production company and through a chance meeting was offered a job with Channel 4.

He started his television career presenting the movie review show Moviewatch, as well as the music show Naked City and his own chat show Here's Johnny.

He also hosted a late night show, Fabulous, on the old BBC Radio Five in 1993.

Channel 4 producers decided he was a natural in front of the camera, and in light of ailing viewing figures he was chosen to front The Big Breakfast from 1997 until 2001, forming a successful partnership with former programme weather girl and actress Denise van Outen from 1998.

Van Outen's cheeky "Essex girl" personality played off well against the quick wit of Vaughan, and together they recovered audience figures to record levels.

One feature of Vaughan's presentation was the way in which he frequently interacted with the various cameramen and technical people in the studio, turning some of them into popular characters in their own right.

His ability to build a rapport with regulars from different walks of life such as Trevor Baylis, Mark Bright and Drusilla Beyfus, as well as the depth of knowledge he revealed in his Shed interviews, established him as something of a polymath.

Also notable was that each programme finished with a zany situational competition in which Johnny revealed considerable talent as a character actor.

In parallel with The Big Breakfast Vaughan presented another film show, The Johnny Vaughan Film Show.

Van Outen left to pursue her acting career at the end of 1998.

The partnership with replacement model Kelly Brook failed to reproduce the chemistry between Vaughan and Van Outen, and audience figures "plummeted".

Brook was replaced by Liza Tarbuck and Van Outen returned again as main female presenter in 2000 but the show was unrevivable.

Vaughan and Van Outen left the show in January 2001 after both their contracts had run out.

In 2001, the BBC reportedly paid Vaughan £2.5 million to leave Channel 4.

He transferred to the BBC to present a late-night talk show, Johnny Vaughan Tonight in the same vein of American shows by Johnny Carson and Jay Leno.

Viewing figures were good (the show regularly received 2.5 – 3 million viewers a night) and commentators suggested that the format was best suited to the free-wheeling Vaughan.

However, a highly promoted BBC Two sitcom vehicle 'Orrible, which Vaughan wrote and acted in, was poorly received by the critics.

The show lost 40% of its audience over its first three episodes and was not renewed for a second series.

In October 2003 he devised and produced and was the first presenter of BBC Radio Five Live's Fighting Talk, a sport-related comedy show.

He was the main presenter of Capital Breakfast alongside Lisa Snowdon on 95.8 Capital FM between 2004 and 2011.

Vaughan currently presents the Radio X drivetime show, weekdays from 4pm to 7pm (commonly referred to on air as The 4til7 Thang) and The Kickabout every Saturday from 11am to 1pm.

Vaughan also writes a weekly column in The Sun newspaper reviewing recent film releases.

Vaughan was born in Barnet, Greater London, to an engineer father, Randal, and a psychotherapist mother, Fay.

Vaughan went to St Andrew's Primary School in Totteridge, Barnet and private boarding schools, Bramcote School, Gamston, Nottinghamshire and Uppingham School, Rutland.

During his school years he showed a talent for comedy, playing the violin and singing.

On leaving school, Vaughan moved back to London and originally wanted to become a writer.

He ended up with a variety of jobs ranging from a grill chef to even starting his own business selling boxer shorts.

Further television appearances ensued, when Vaughan tried a revival of his on screen relationship with Van Outen in 2004 in the BBC's Saturday night family show Passport to Paradise, which lasted for one series.