Timmy Mallett

Timmy Mallett

Mallett in Market Harborough 2008.
Born Timmy Mallett
(1955-10-18) 18 October 1955
Marple, Cheshire, England
Occupation Radio/Television presenter, artist
Spouse(s) Lynda[1] (since 1990)
Website www.timmymallett.co.uk

Timmy Mallett (born 18 October 1955) is an English TV presenter, broadcaster, and artist. He is known for his striking visual style, colourful glasses, loud shirts, and giant pink foam mallet, known as "Mallett's Mallet", as well as his "utterly brilliant!" and "blaaah!" catchphrases.

Career

Early radio career

Mallett was born in Marple, Cheshire. His media career started while he was a student at the University of Warwick where he worked on the student radio station, Radio Warwick. After graduating with a degree in History he started working at BBC Radio Oxford. He later moved to Centre Radio (now Leicester Sound) as the station's launch presenter. He also presented on Radio Luxembourg and Manchester's Piccadilly Radio. The programme he hosted at Piccadilly was Timmy on the Tranny, a popular weekday evening show that ran from 8.00pm–11.00pm and took its name from Mallett's lunchtime and later afternoon shows on Radio Oxford. Among Mallett's team of helpers were Chris Evans (known as 'Nobby Nolevel), Andy Bird (who played the pirate radio character 'Radio Diggle') and Karen Walsh (the original 'Aunty Boney kneecaps'). This led to Mallett co-presenting the Manchester-based BBC2 youth music show Oxford Road Show for a year in 1984. In March 1985 he also stood in for David Jensen on the Network Chart.

Mallett won two Radio Academy Awards for Best Local Radio presenter (1984) and Best pop music show (1986).[2]

Television break

In 1983 he helmed Summer Run on Saturday mornings for the new breakfast television station, TV-am. The following year he became a presenter of Wide Awake Club, a new Saturday morning children's programme on TV-am, with co-presenters Michaela Strachan, James Baker, Arabella Warner and Tommy Boyd. Future actor Mike Myers also had a minor role alongside Neil Mullarkey. TV-am found itself lacking a school holidays programme after Roland Rat moved to the BBC, and he was offered the chance to present it. The replacement, a spin-off of Wide Awake Club, was called Wacaday (based on the addition of 'aday' to the initials 'WAC' for Wide Awake Club) and began broadcasting in 1985.

The programme was characterised by games such as "Mallett's Mallet", a word-association game where contestants were hit over the head by his famed mallet for getting answers wrong. In later years, a talking mini-version of the mallet called "Pinky Punky" was introduced (the name chosen after Mallett asked viewers to write in with their ideas) and soon became one of Mallett's established sidekicks along with Magic, his pet cockatiel. Wacaday ended in 1992 when TV-am lost its franchise to broadcast.[3]

Since then, Mallett has run his own production company, Brilliant TV.[4]

In 1993, Mallett starred in The Children's Channel's Around the World in 80 seconds as Captain Everything.[5]

From 1997 until 2002, he acted in Timmy Towers, for CITV,[6]

Recent work

In 2002, Mallett made West Ham United F.C. agree to stop selling copies of their mascot, Herbie the Hammer, in their club shop after he complained that it looked too similar to Pinky Punky. West Ham United withdrew the item.[7]

In 2004 he was a stand-in contestant for the ITV1 jungle-based reality series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. He did not become a contestant on the show, but recorded a video diary of his exploits in Australia, the setting for the series, for the ITV2 companion programme I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! NOW!.[8] In 2008 he entered the show as a full contestant.

From 2007, Mallett can be heard as the voice of Smelly Beep in the pre-school sitcom The Beeps on Five.[9]

In 2008, Mallett appeared on Big Brother's Little Brother.[10]

In September 2008 Mallett appeared on the BBC One politics show This Week talking about being positive when things get tough.[11]

In November 2008 Mallett appeared in the eighth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. He entered the show in a unique way: by being captured in an oversized net and imprisoned in jungle jail. The celebrities were given an option to trade their possessions for him and David Van Day to enter. They refused. On 30 November 2008, Mallett was the fourth contestant eliminated from the show after being placed in the bottom 2 in the public voting and taking part in a (play-off) Bushtucker eating trial to Brian Paddick.[12]

Music

With producer Andrew Lloyd Webber, Mallett formed the "band" Bombalurina, along with female vocalists/dancers Dawn Andrews (wife of Gary Barlow) and Annie Dunkley, and released a cover of the single "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini". It reached no 1 in the UK charts in August 1990.[13]

Follow up singles included "7 Little girls sitting in the backseat" which reached number 18 in the UK charts in December 1990.[14]

The Bombalurina album "Huggin and a kissin" with 14 tracks was released in December 1990.[15]

For "Tommy's campaign" Timmy recorded "The Laughing Policeman" with producer George Martin in 1991.[16]

Under the name "Del Costa" Timmy released a megamix version of "Hot Hot Hot" in summer 1992.[17]

In 2008 Mallett featured in Skepta's video "Rolex Sweep"[18] and accompanied Skepta to the MOBO nominations.[19]

In 2013 Timmy recorded Gilbert O'Sullivan's hit "Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day"[20]

"Summer Holiday" video was made in 2014.[21]

Stage shows

Mallett has appeared in pantomime in Lewisham theatre, Cliffs Pavilion Southend, Hexagon Reading, Derngate Northampton, Arena St Albans, Wyvern Swindon, Forum Billingham Pavilion Worthing Grand Pavilion Porthcawl Playhouse Weston-super-Mare.

While staying at Hartlepool Timmy rescued a woman from the marina in December 2001.[22]

He toured the Pontins holiday camps with the "Utterly Brilliant Timmy Mallett show" in 2014.[23]

He now tours Park Holidays UK's sites doing the 'Mallets Mallet' show.

Art

Mallett is an oil painter and acrylic artist whose work sells in galleries across UK and Europe.[24] His work is distributed and published in limited editions by De Montfort Fine Art[25]

In 2002, he painted 50 portraits for the Queen's jubilee including Wendy Craig, Jim Rosenthal, Lorraine Kelly, Ulrika Jonsson and Sir Clive Woodward.[26]

In 2012, Mallett won the Best up and coming artist Fine Art Trade Guild.[27]

In 2012 Mallett painted a telephone box in Windsor with likenesses of HRH the Queen, Prince Harry and Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge [28]

Selected television programmes

Sport

Timmy is a big supporter and follows Oxford United F.C.[29] and Maidenhead United [30]

Timmy is a keen cyclist and is often found touring on his bike.

He rode through Northern Ireland in May 2015,[31] Lincolnshire in summer 2015 [32] and through Cumbria in May 2016.[33]

Timmy enjoys disco dancing and often can be found showing his moves at club nevaro, near his residency.

References

  1. ↑ Colin Robertson (25 November 2008). "Timmy Mallett's wife Lynda talks to The Sun". The Sun. London. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  2. ↑ "Radio Academy Awards History - May 2014 - PUBLIC - Google Sheets". google.com.
  3. ↑ Wacaday - Index. Brillianttv.co.uk. Retrieved on 2013-02-18.
  4. ↑ Brilliant TV. Brilliant TV. Retrieved on 2013-02-18.
  5. ↑ Timmy Mallett - television, Around the World in 80 seconds!. Brillianttv.co.uk. Retrieved on 2013-02-18.
  6. ↑ Timmy Mallett - television, Timmy Towers. Brillianttv.co.uk. Retrieved on 2013-02-18.
  7. ↑ "BBC News: West Ham 'hammer' knocked on the head, 2002". 23 November 2002. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  8. ↑ He's a celebrity BrilliantTV.co.uk Archived 9 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ "The Beeps" (2007) IMDB.com
  10. ↑ Timmy Mallett - television, Big Brother's Little Brother 2008. Brillianttv.co.uk. Retrieved on 2013-02-18.
  11. ↑ "BBC This week: Timmy's Upside to the downturn, 2008". BBC News. 19 September 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  12. ↑ Timmy Mallett leaves jungle | The Sun |Showbiz|TV|Im A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. The Sun (2008-11-30). Retrieved on 2013-02-18.
  13. ↑ UK number one singles of 1990
  14. ↑ "Timmy Mallett - recordings - 7 little girls". brillianttv.co.uk.
  15. ↑ "Timmy Mallett - recordings - Huggin an a Kissin". brillianttv.co.uk.
  16. ↑ "Timmy Mallett - recordings - The Laughing Policeman". brillianttv.co.uk.
  17. ↑ "Timmy Mallett - recordings - Hot Hot Hot". brillianttv.co.uk.
  18. ↑ MistaJam: Timmy Mallet gets in on the Rolex Sweep. BBC (2008-04-26). Retrieved on 2013-02-18.
  19. ↑ UK NEWS: MORE MOBO 2008 NOMINATIONS LAUNCH PICS / FULL LIST OF NOMINEES « WWW.MADNEWSUK.COM. Madnews.wordpress.com. Retrieved on 2013-02-18.
  20. ↑ Ooh Wakka doo Wakka day (Wacaday)! by Timmy Mallett. YouTube. 2 November 2013.
  21. ↑ Timmy Mallett Summer Holiday. YouTube. 5 August 2014.
  22. ↑ "Timmy Mallett - Theatre - Cinderella, Billingham - rescue". brillianttv.co.uk.
  23. ↑ "Entertainment Breaks". pontins.com.
  24. ↑ "Mallett's Palette". mallettspalette.co.uk.
  25. ↑ "DeMontfort Fine Art". demontfortfineart.co.uk.
  26. ↑ "Cookham Jubilee - Categories - Mallett's Palette". mallettspalette.co.uk.
  27. ↑ "Timmy Mallett". buy-fineart.com.
  28. ↑ "Timmy Mallett RingARoyal phonebox".
  29. ↑ "Timmy Mallett on Oxford United's 4th round FA cup tie".
  30. ↑ "dramatic Maidenhead equaliser celebrated".
  31. ↑ "Timmy Mallett in Antrim".
  32. ↑ "Timmy Mallett in Lincolnshire".
  33. ↑ "Timmy Mallett in Cumbria".
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