Des Lynam
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Desmond Lynam ('Des the les' born September 17, 1942 in Ennis, Ireland) is an Irish sports presenter and game show host on British television and radio. He is one of the best known sports broadcasters in the United Kingdom, having hosted television coverage of high profile events for many years. He currently presents the popular daily Channel 4 game show, Countdown, though he has announced that he will leave in December 2006.
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[edit] Career
He started in broadcasting as a freelance in radio, broadcasting on BBC Radio Brighton (1968-1969). He quickly joined national BBC radio in London, originally specialising in commentating on boxing, and went on to anchor Sports Report (1969-1978) on BBC Radio 2. He later moved to television, presenting Grandstand (1978-1992), Sportsnight (1991-1997) and Match of the Day (1988-1999) on the BBC for many years, and also fronted BBC coverage of Wimbledon, The Grand National, the Football World Cup (1982-1998) and the Olympic Games (1980-1998). Lynam made a brief return to BBC Radio 2 in 1998, presenting the 5-7pm Drivetime show on Fridays only. Johnnie Walker had started presenting the show Mondays - Thursdays.
Lynam defected to ITV in 1999, where he presented their flagship football programmes, including coverage of the FA Premier League and UEFA Champions League. He decided to retire from television presenting after the Euro 2004 football championships. Soon afterwards the BBC announced that Lynam would present a new weekly radio programme, Des Meets..., on BBC Radio Five Live from August 2004. He also covered the 2005 Wimbledon Championships for BBC radio.
In May 2005, Lynam presented the BBC1 programme 'We'll Meet Again', marking the 60th anniversary of VE Day and which celebrated the end of the second World War. The following month, he presented an episode of Have I Got News For You on BBC1, the third time he had presented the show having been in the hotseat twice the previous year. In June and July 2005, he co-presented (with Sir David Frost) the series The World's Greatest Sporting Legend on Sky One.
On 22 September 2005, Lynam was named the new host (replacing the late Richard Whiteley) of Channel 4's Countdown, with the first episode airing on October 31. Although his contract was for two years, on 30 September 2006, it was announced that Lynam will quit Countdown at the end of 2006 [1], due to the fact that he needs to regularly travel to Leeds where Countdown is filmed, while his home is in West Sussex. It had previously been suggested that Countdown may move to London to better suit Lynam, but this was impractical as all of the programme's staff are based in the North.
[edit] Trivia
He is one of the few presenters on British television to have a moustache.
He is a supporter and former director of Brighton and Hove Albion F.C..[2]
He is single, was divorced in 1974 and has one son [1].
Des was a master of the (un)prepared witticism, arguably his finest being while presenting the BBC's coverage of the Atlanta Olympic Games: "Going down to the pub is not yet an Olympic sport, but beach volleyball is." (references: [2] [3] [4] [5])
Lynam had a lively upbringing in the English seaside town of Brighton, where he is reputed to have had an obscene tatoo inscribed on his upper lip, thus explaining his reluctance to remove the famed moustache.
[edit] References
- ^ Countdown's Des quits show. Countdown. The Sun (2006-09-30).
- ^ Press release: F.A. Premier League Hall of Fame, "BRIGHTON SUPPORTER DES LYNAM INDUCTED INTO THE HALL OF FANS AT THE FA PREMIER LEAGUE HALL OF FAME", PR Newswire, 1999-08-13
[edit] External links
- BBC News Coverage of Lynam and Countdown
- Channel 4Countdown Profile
- Des Lynam Page
- In-depth article on Des Lynam
Categories: 1942 births | Living people | Irish people | BBC Radio 2 DJs | BBC Radio 5 Live presenters | British football broadcasters | British game show hosts | British radio personalities | British sports broadcasters | British television presenters | Countdown | People of Irish descent in Great Britain
