Keith Chegwin
Keith Chegwin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 January 1957 |
| Occupation(s) | Television presenter CEO Cheggers Bingo & Chegwin Media Associates |
| Website | keithchegwin.com cheggersbingo.com |
Keith "Cheggers" Chegwin (born 17 January 1957 in Bootle) is an English television presenter and former child actor and singer. He is the brother of DJ Janice Long[1].
Biography
His early roles were in works of the Children's Film Foundation, appearing as Egghead Wentworth in The Troublesome Double (1967) and Egghead's Robot (1970). Chegwin's most prestigious acting role was that of Fleance in Roman Polanski's 1971 film Macbeth. He then had smaller parts in The Liver Birds, The Adventures of Black Beauty, My Old Man (with Clive Dunn from Dad's Army), and ITV's The Wackers, and The Tomorrow People in 1975. His last major acting role was Robin in the 1975 film Robin Hood Junior, although he had two small roles with Tom Courtenay in the Chester Mystery Cycle (1976) and 23 years later in the 1999 film set in the 1970s Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?. He appeared in TV ads for Pepsi, Barley Water, Tizer, Cadbury Cream Eggs and more.
He performed in West End in stage shows such as Tom Brown's School Days with Russell Grant and Simon LeBon, The Good Old Bad Old Days with Anthony Newley and Captain Pugwash, written by Bill Kenwright.
In the 1970s he had a very brief career as a singer releasing singles on the Pye Records label. He also worked as a disc jockey for 194 Radio City[2], plus 4 years at BBC Radio One.
In the mid 1970s he moved away from acting and became a household name presenting programmes such as Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Cheggers Plays Pop and Saturday Superstore. As Brown Sauce, he and Swap Shop co-presenters Maggie Philbin and Noel Edmonds released the pop single I Wanna Be a Winner, which reached number 15 in December 1981, and a follow-up single as The Saucers called Spring Has Sprung, which went straight in at No. 39 in Bulgaria.
Chegwin's career waned in the late 80s and 90s, because of his addiction to alcohol[citation needed]. He stopped drinking after his appearance of the Richard & Judy show This Morning on 5 November 1992. Chegwin's career regained speed in 1993 when he presented the "Down Your Doorstep" outside broadcast segment on The Big Breakfast, in which he cried, "Wake up you beggars, it's Cheggers!". He subsequently hosted the show itself, and went on to present a revived version of the 1970s gameshow It's a Knockout in 1999 on Channel 5.
The following year, Chegwin caused controversy by presenting a one-off edition of Naked Jungle, a gameshow in which all the contestants (and Chegwin himself) appeared entirely naked. According to the Daily Mail, the show "plumbed new depths [of indecency on television]".[citation needed] He identifies Naked Jungle as "the worst career move" in his entire life.[3] The programme and Chegwin were condemned in the House of Commons.[3]
More recently, Chegwin presents regularly on GMTV very similar to his earlier role on The Big Breakfast'. He appeared in an episode of the sitcom Extras in 2005. He has his own recording studio and video edit suite and does his voice over work from home.[3] He frequently sends in jingles to the Chris Moyles' Breakfast Show on Radio 1, where he could be considered a friend of the show.
A video game by Oxygen Interactive Software for the PS2, Wii & PC called Cheggers Party Quiz was released on October 26 2007.[4]
Cheggers also produced a semi autobiographical, anecdotal book about his personal experience and addiction to alcohol entitled: "Shaken But Not Stirred".
In 2007 Chegwin presented the BAFTA Children's Awards.[3]
Personel life
He married Maggie Philbin in 1982, and the couple had a daughter Rose (born April 29, 1988). The couple divorced in 1989. In 2000 he married long time partner Maria (nee Fielden). They have a son Ted (born July 13, 1998)[citation needed]
References
- ^ Cheggers - Seamus Lyte 07930 391 401
- ^ North West Radio website, viewed 1 July 2007.
- ^ a b c d Levine, Nick (2007-11-20). "Television - Interview - Keith Chegwin". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
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