Andy Hamilton
Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist and novelist.
Andy Hamilton | |
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![]() Hamilton in 2007. | |
Birth name | Andrew Neil Hamilton |
Born | 28 May 1954 Fulham, London, England |
Medium | Radio, television |
Nationality | British |
Years active | 1972–present |
Genres | Political satire |
Subject(s) | Politics |
Spouse | Libby Asher
(m. 1988) |
Children | 3 |
Notable works and roles | Old Harry's Game Outnumbered |
Early life and education
Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He was educated at Westminster City School which was then a voluntary aided grammar school[1] and later read English at Downing College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society (CULES).
Career
Hamilton first came to notice while performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the 1970s. In the mid-1970s he sustained himself by taking jobs at Harrods and the Post Office before joining the BBC in 1976.[2]
His early radio work, mostly on BBC Radio 4 included Week Ending, The News Huddlines and The Million Pound Radio Show (with Nick Revell). He has since appeared regularly in Chelmsford 123, Have I Got News for You, The News Quiz, QI, and If I Ruled the World. Hamilton is frequently invited as a panellist on The News Quiz and as a guest panellist on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
He is the voice of Dr Elephant, the dentist in the children's show Peppa Pig. He was also the original voice of Bob Fish, who is also a dentist, in the cartoon Bob and Margaret. Hamilton is also the voice of Captain Squid, the pirate in the children's show Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom.
On 16 March 2007, he co-presented BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour programme alongside usual presenter Martha Kearney as part of that day's Comic Relief fundraising activities, after defeating Richard Hammond and Kelvin MacKenzie in a poll.
Since 1995, Hamilton has written and played the lead role of Satan in the Radio 4 sitcom Old Harry's Game. He toured with his UK stand-up show Hat of Doom in 2008.
In 2009, Hamilton presented the BBC Four series It's Only a Theory with Reginald D. Hunter.
BBC Radio 4 broadcast the first of a four-part series, Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers, in October 2017; the series comprised the topics of childhood, politics, the human body, and animals, based on his own personal experiences of them.[3]
Personal life
Hamilton is 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) tall.[4] He has no thumb on his right hand. He joked that it was amputated when he was five "by a surgeon who felt that symmetry was over-rated" to the audience of Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers on Radio 4 in October 2017.[5][6]
He married Libby Asher in 1988, and they have three children together; as of 2005, they were living in Wimbledon, south London.[6]
He is a supporter of Chelsea Football Club.
Writing
Hamilton has written for:
Television
- Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979)
- Shelley (1979)
- Scotch and Wry (1980)
- Who Dares Wins (1983)
- Alas Smith & Jones (1984)
- The Kit Curran Radio Show (1984)
- Kit Curran (1986; with Guy Jenkin)
- Scotch & Wry (1986)
- Drop the Dead Donkey (1990; co-creator with Guy Jenkin)
- Eleven Men Against Eleven (1995)
- Never Mind the Horrocks (1996)
- Underworld (1997)
- Bedtime (2001–2003)
- The Exam (2002; for the National Theatre Connections Anthology)
- Trevor's World of Sport (2003)
- The Armstrong and Miller Show (2007)
- Outnumbered (2007–2014; co-written with Guy Jenkin)
- The Two Ronnies
- It's Only a Theory (2009)
- Just Around The Corner (2012; Pilot only; co-written with Guy Jenkin)
- Ballot Monkeys (2015)
- Power Monkeys (2016)
- Kate & Koji (2020–present)
Radio
- The Million Pound Radio Show (with Nick Revell)
- The News Huddlines
- Old Harry's Game (creator, in which he also stars as Satan)
- Trevor's World of Sport (radio version broadcast years: 2004, 2005 and 2007)
- Revolting People (co-creator with Jay Tarses, in which he also stars as Sergeant McGurk)
- Week Ending
- Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers (2017)
Film
- What We Did on Our Holiday (2014)
Books
- The Thatcher Papers (New English Library, 1980) (with Alistair Beaton)
- Andy Hamilton (1994), Drop the dead donkey 2000, London: Little, Brown, ISBN 0316912360, OL 22627103M, 0316912360
References
- Westminster City School – A Brief History Archived 28 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2015-04-21
- Have I Got News for You – Series 44 – Episode 10 (BBC), 21 December 2012
- Presenter and writer: Andy Hamilton (18 October 2017). "Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers". Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers. BBC. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- Andy Hamilton trivia at the Internet Movie Database
- Drop the Dead Donkey Series 1 DVD
- Wark, Penny (13 July 2005). "I was made to feel quite special". The Times (paywall restrictions apply). London.