Angus Deayton

Gordon Angus Deayton was born on 6 January 1956 in England and raised in Banstead, Surrey, where he attended Oakhurst Grange School before moving on to Caterham. As a young man he showed athletic ability, captaining the Caterham under-16 rugby team and earning a trial with Crystal Palace football club. He subsequently read French and German at New College, Oxford, and in 1978 joined the Oxford Revue, performing with the group at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. That experience led directly to the formation of the parody band the Hee Bee Gee Bees in 1980, whose material was written by Richard Curtis and Philip Pope. The band's best-selling single, "Meaningless Songs (In Very High Voices)," parodied the falsetto disco style of the Bee Gees.

Deayton launched his broadcasting career on Radio Active, a BBC Radio 4 parody of British local radio that ran from 1981 to 1987, which he co-wrote and performed. The programme later transferred to television as KYTV, airing between 1989 and 1993. During the same period he worked frequently alongside Rowan Atkinson, appearing opposite him in the Black Adder episode "Born to Be King" in 1983 as one of the Jumping Jews of Jerusalem, and co-starring with Atkinson in the Mr. Bean episode "The Curse of Mr. Bean" as a pool attendant and a man on a park bench. This professional association with Atkinson extended to Broadway, where Deayton appeared in 1986 in Rowan Atkinson at the Atkinson, originating from his base in London, England. From 1988 to 1991, he was a featured player across all three series of the Emmy Award-winning sketch comedy programme Alexei Sayle's Stuff.

The year 1990 marked a significant expansion of Deayton's television profile. He was cast as Patrick Trench, the Meldrews' neighbour, in the British sitcom One Foot in the Grave, a role he held from 1990 to 2000. That same year he was selected as the inaugural host of the comedy panel show Have I Got News for You, a position he held until 2002. His composed on-screen manner in that role earned him the nickname "TV's Mr Sex" from a Time Out listings writer. In May 2002, the News of the World published allegations that he had taken cocaine and had sex with prostitutes. Deayton continued as presenter for a period following the story, opening one subsequent episode with the line "Good evening and welcome to Have I Got News for You, where this week's loser is presenting it." After further allegations emerged in October, he was dismissed following two episodes of the new series. An online poll on the BBC's own website indicated that more than three-quarters of respondents wished him to remain as host.

Beyond Have I Got News for You, Deayton was in considerable demand as a television presenter throughout the 1990s, hosting BBC New Year's Eve broadcasts and the BAFTA Awards. He presented the late-1990s BBC programme Before They Were Famous and appeared in advertising campaigns for Vauxhall Nova and Barclaycard. He also had roles in the films Savage Hearts and Elizabeth, and featured in an episode of Coupling in a fantasy sequence alongside Mariella Frostrup.

Following his departure from Have I Got News for You, Deayton remained active across multiple platforms. In 2003 he guest-starred as a Downing Street spin doctor in the BBC comedy Absolute Power, and in January 2004 he starred in the BBC comedy Nighty Night. He co-presented the Sport Relief charity programme Only Fools on Horses in July 2006 and played as a second-half substitute for England in the Soccer Aid match in support of UNICEF on 27 May 2006, returning as a starting player for England in a rematch on 7 September 2008. In June 2007 he returned to the BBC to host the panel show Would I Lie to You?, presenting both its first and second series before being replaced by Rob Brydon. On 3 September 2007 he hosted the third series of Hell's Kitchen, but was dismissed in 2009 following disputes with chef Marco Pierre White and was replaced by Claudia Winkleman. On 6 December 2008 he presented the British Comedy Awards after host Jonathan Ross stepped down amid controversy surrounding The Russell Brand Show prank calls row.

Deayton joined the BBC drama series Waterloo Road on 12 December 2012, playing the cynical teacher and later deputy head George Windsor across the eighth and subsequent series, with his first appearance occurring in episode 27 of the eighth series in 2013. He co-starred with Anna Chancellor in the BBC sitcom Pramface the same year. In August 2016 he wrote and performed in a revival of Radio Active at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. From 2017 to 2022 he featured in Moray Hunter's BBC Radio 4 sitcom Alone, playing Mitch, a widower and part-time therapist.

Deayton's personal life included a relationship with Helen Atkinson-Wood while at Oxford; during a tour with the Hee Bee Gee Bees in Australia in the 1980s, he rescued Atkinson-Wood after she was caught in a rip current off Sydney's Manly Beach. In the 1980s he lived with singer and actress Stephanie De Sykes. From 1991 to 2015 he was in a relationship with scriptwriter Lise Mayer, with whom he has a son.