Vernon Kay

Infobox Celebrity
name = Vernon Kay


caption =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1974|4|28|df=yes
birth_place = Bolton, Greater Manchester, England
occupation = Television presenter, Disc jockey
salary =
networth =
spouse = Tess Daly
website =
footnotes =
children = Phoebe Elizabeth Kay

Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is a British television presenter, DJ and former model from Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. He began TV presenting on the BBC children's show "FBi", a spin-off of "Fully Booked". Since then he has presented various shows, most notably "T4", "Beat the Star" and "All Star Family Fortunes".

Early life

He attended St Joseph's RC High School in Horwich and then later attended St John Rigby College (Wigan) in Orrell, Greater Manchester, England. [cite web | url=http://archive.theboltonnews.co.uk/2003/1/6/574710.html | title=Vernon's romantic proposal to Tess | date=2003-01-06 | accessdate=2008-03-21 | work=Bolton Evening News | publisher=Newsquest Media Group ]

Career

Television presenting

2005

Vernon Kay is a former host of T4. He also presented "Boys and Girls", "HeadJam", "Celebrities Under Pressure" and "California Dreaming". He presented "Hit Me Baby One More Time" which first aired on British television in 2005. The show was then picked up by NBC for broadcast in the United States, which Kay also hosted.

In 2005, Kay hosted the annual "The Record of the Year" competition.

Also in 2005, Kay competed with a host of other celebrities in a series titled, "Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon", in which TV personalities battled each other in a series of well-known game formats that had been featured on ITV over the past 50 years. The series was screened as part of ITV's 50th anniversary celebrations. Kay managed to reach the final of the competition, however losing out to Carol Vorderman and her family, in a special edition of "Family Fortunes".

2006

Television bosses were reportedly so impressed with Kay's performance on the show, that they announced plans to revive "Family Fortunes" with Kay as the host; the first episode aired on 28 October 2006. The show is now titled "All Star Family Fortunes" as it features celebrities and their families as well as the contestants. Kay was also selected to host the second series of "Gameshow Marathon" in 2007.

In 2006, he presented alongside his wife Tess Daly on the BBC One celebrity singing contest "Just the Two of Us".

In 2006 he hosted a segment on ITV's coverage of "The Prince's Trust 30th Birthday Live" and a special entitled "Duet Impossible", featuring contemporary music stars performing with their deceased pop heroes via technical wizardry. It was announced on 26 April 2007 that Kay will host a new talent search show called "Search for the next Elvis" in which Elvis impersonators will compete for a prize. Votes will be cast by a set of judges as well as viewers.

Kay appeared in the first episode of "Nathan Barley" where he was the main character in the story "Rise of the Idiots".

He presented "The Paul O'Grady Show" as a substitute host, on 23 October 2006 and 9 May 2007.

2008

In 2008 Kay hosted the English language adaption of the German TV show "Schlag den Raab". The game - "Beat the Star" - brodcasted on ITV1 in an eight part series, which ran from 20 April 2008 to 22 June. In the final episode, Phillip Schofield surprised Kay by revealing that Kay himself was to be that night's star rather than the presenter. Kay then went on to beat the marine contestant through a series of the seven challenges.

Radio presenting

In January 2004, Kay joined BBC Radio 1 and presented an entertainment show every Sunday. In April 2004, he was given the 10 am – 1 pm weekend slot, which was previously hosted by Colin Murray and Edith Bowman and previously broadcast on both Saturdays and Sundays on the popular radio network. From October 2007 Dick and Dom took over Sunday mornings. Kay's show now runs between 10 am – 1 pm on Saturday. In 2008 he was one of a team of dj's who will fill in for Edith Bowman while she is on maternity leave along with Fearne Cotton and Nihal

Wikipedia incident

One notable incident was when Kay's Wikipedia entry was vandalised; false information that he had died in a boating incident was added. Some of his family members read this, and his aunt informed his holidaying parents that he had died. The incident was referenced on "Mock the Week", and Kay discussed it on "The Paul O'Grady Show" on 23 September 2008. [ [http://uk.news.yahoo.com/itn/20080915/ten-vernon-kay-denies-death-rumours-ea4616c.html] ]

Personal life

He married fellow television presenter, Tess Daly, on 12 September 2003, at St Mary's Catholic Church in Horwich. [ [http://archive.theboltonnews.co.uk/2003/9/13/531810.html THE sun shone, the bride wore white . . . and so did the groom ] ] They have one child together, a girl named Phoebe Elizabeth Kay, [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/vernonkay/biography.shtml BBC - Radio 1 - Vernon Kay - Biography ] ] who was born in Westminster, London, [ [http://www.findmypast.com Births England and Wales 1984-2006] ] on 17 October 2004. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0443201/bio Vernon Kay - Biography ] ]

Kay made his first step in to the world of showbusiness when he was spotted by Select model scouts for the Clothes Show Live. In 1998, he made his first appearance on television when he featured in the ITV fly-on-the-wall documentary series called Babewatch. His stylish ways led to him being presented 2005's Most Stylish Man award by Mens' Magazine "FHM".

References

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/vernonkay/ Vernon's Radio 1 minisite]
*imdb name|id=0443201|name=Vernon Kay