Timmy Mallett
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Timmy Mallett (born 18 October 1955, Cheshire, England) is a former English children's TV presenter and broadcaster who achieved cult status in the UK during the 1980s.
Mallett is most notable for his striking visual style, involving loud shirts, comedy glasses and the giant pink foam mallet, labeled Mallett's Mallet that he carried with him, as well as his 'utterly brilliant!' and 'bleurgh!' catchphrases.
The son of a vicar from Hyde in Cheshire, he attended Hyde Grammar School. His media career started while he was a student at the University of Warwick, where he worked for the student radio station, Radio Warwick. After graduating with a degree in History, he started work straight after his graduation day at BBC Radio Oxford and, after a time juggling both his academic and broadcasting pursuits, chose to pursue a media career and dropped out of his master's course. He soon moved to Manchester's Piccadilly Radio where his energetic style won him many fans and Sony Awards. This led to him presenting the Manchester based BBC2 youth music show Oxford Road Show for a year in 1984.
And it was in television that he was to see his biggest success. In 1984 he became a presenter of Wide Awake Club, a new Saturday morning children's programme on ITV's breakfast station, TV-am. Mallett's personality came to dominate the show to such an extent that when TV-am found itself lacking a school holidays programme after the sale of Roland Rat to the BBC, he was offered the chance to present the replacement solo. The replacement, a spin-off of Wide Awake Club, was called Wacaday (based on the addition of 'aday' to the initials 'WAC' for Wide Awake Club) and began broadcasting in 1985.
Wacaday was even more successful than its parent. The programme was characterised by games such as Mallett's Mallet, a word association game where contestants were hit over the head by his famed mallet for getting answers wrong. A talking mini version of the mallet called Pinky Punky was introduced and soon became one of Mallett's established sidekicks along with Magic, his pet cockatiel.
At the height of his fame, Mallett was so successful that there was an official magazine called The Utterly Brilliant Timmy Mallett devoted to him. Mallett formed the band Bombalurina, along with female vocalists / dancers Dawn and Annie, and released the single Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. The song, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, entered the UK charts at number 23, rose to 13 the next week, then to 3 and finally to number 1 on August 19, 1990, where it stayed for three weeks. More than 1,000,000 copies of the single were sold in the UK before it went on to be a hit in over a dozen more countries. More, less successful, singles in a similar vein (covers of novelty records) followed, as well as an album, Huggin' an' a Kissin'.
Another memorable moment occurred when Mallett met the then-Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher - and hit her over the head with his giant mallet.
Wacaday ended in 1992 when TV-am lost its licence. Since then Mallett has made only limited TV appearances, preferring to concentrate on his behind-the-camera career centred around his production company, Brilliant TV.
As well as his broadcasting work, Mallett tours a lot of students' unions, performing for students who remember watching Wacaday when they were children. He also regularly performs in panto.
Mallett briefly returned to the limelight at the end of 2001 when he rescued a woman who had fallen into freezing waters at a marina in Hartlepool.
At the moment, Mallett presents a Radio Show on BBC Radio Berkshire, on Sundays from 10am to 1pm. In 2005, he opened the Sky interactive gaming channel BIG Game TV!.
Mallett is also a supporter of Oxford United and regularly attends matches there. During a match in 2004 he appeared as the pre-match warm up, performing Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini in front of the crowd.
[edit] Television programmes
- Oxford Road Show (1984)
- Wide Awake Club (1984-1990)
- Wacaday (1985-1992)
- Utterly Brilliant (1989-1991)
- Around the World in 80 Seconds (1993-1994)
- Timmy Mallet's Big Mallet Mash (1996-1997)
- Way to Go (1996-1997)
- Timmy Towers (1997-2002)
- BIG Game TV!
