- Simon Donald
Simon Donald is a co-founder and co-editor of the British
comic magazine "Viz".He set up the magazine in 1979 with his brother Chris from a bedroom in Newcastle. His most famous creation for the magazine is probably
Sid the Sexist .When Chris quit as editor in 1999, Simon took up the role of co-editor along with
Graham Dury ,Simon Thorp ,Davey Jones andAlex Collier . He and Alex left the magazine in 2003.Biography
Born Newcastle upon Tyne 1964.Schools: West Jesmond Primary School 1969-1973, West Jesmond Junior School 1973-1975, Heaton School (comprehensive) 1975-1980, Newcastle College of Arts & Technology 1981-1983.
In 1976 Simon joined Newcastle’s People’s Theatre, training in theatre skills. He acted in several of the theatre’s ground breaking Young People’s Theatre productions He worked as assistant stage manager for the RSC on their People's Theatre visit in 1977. He also performed at the Guilbenkian Theatre. He left the People's in 1980.
Between 1981-1983 Simon was singer and lyricist with comedy rock band Johnny Shiloe’s Movement Machine. The band comprised Dave Rose (music writing and drums), Paul Rose (guitar) and Gary Shaw (bass).
In 1981, he appeared in an episode of BBC2’s "Something Else" programme. In 1983 he co-wrote and appeared in an episode Sparks, also on BBC2.
He specialised as an antagonist on Carlton TV’s live debate programmes in the early 1990s and moved on to play an important role in the BBC’s "I Love" series, and Channel 4’s "100 Greatest".
He presented a self-penned film at the launch of BBC Choice (now BBC3), and did the same for a project by Carlton ‘The Great London Debate’.
In 2004 he presented "the Regionnaires", a six part north-east regional panel show broadcast on ITV Tyne Tees, which he co-wrote with his former Viz partner Alex Collier.
In September 2005 he started performing his stand-up comedy routine, and began working the circuit on Tyneside and Wearside. He has compered both The Horse’s Mouth in Newcastle and Mack’em Laugh in Sunderland.
In November 2005 he met Hungover Stuntmen and in 2006 joined their management team. He became their sole manager in 2007.
External links
* " [http://www.simondonald.com/] SimonDonald.com" - Simon Donald's website, currently showing his MySpace page.
* [http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/C/comedy_circuit/notonly.html Simon Donald] questions and answers on theChannel 4 website (reference)
* " [http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,7495,496452,00.html Brown bids for Viz] " - an article by Jessica Hodgson, datedMay 25 ,2001 (reference)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
