Nick Owen

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For the BBC News 24 journalist, see Nicholas Owen.

Nick Owen is an English television presenter. Born November 1, 1947 in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, to father Bertie, a headmaster and Dunkirk veteran, and mother Esme, a music techer. He attended Kingsland Grange prep school, an independent boarding school in Shrewsbury, from the ages of 7-13, then Shrewsbury School itself from the ages of 13-18. While at Kingsland Grange, Nick borrowed a Cliff Richard record from Bob Warman, who later went on to become the longest serving regional news presenter on ATV / Central in the midlands.

After 3 years studying Classics at Leeds University, Nick's first job was as a graduate trainee on the Doncaster Evening Post. After two years of reporting on town hall debates, Nick moved to a job at the Birmingham Post, where he covered local football among other duties. He started working for the BBC's local radio station Radio Birmingham in 1974. His first live broadcast was an early morning news bulletin during the Les Ross show.

He later became a presenter at Central TV, teaming up with Anne Diamond. He went on to present Good Morning Britain on TV-am in 1983, co-presenting it with Anne Diamond until 1986. He then became a presenter for ITV Sport after leaving TV-am until 1993 presenting Midweek Sports Special and also presented ITV's coverage of the 1990 World Cup as well as the gameshow Sporting Triangles. From 1992 to 1996 he co-presented Good Morning with Anne and Nick on BBC One. At first this was a hit show, but eventually was axed due to falling ratings.

He is currently the main presenter on Midlands Today with Peter Sissons, the BBC regional television news programme for the West Midlands. He is well known for his awful jokes and puns, usually connected to light hearted stories. In the fictional world of Alan Partridge, he is friends with the chat show host, and is thought by some to have partially inspired the Partridge character who, like him, moved from sports reporting to hosting a sort of "Middle England" chat show format.

Nick is married with four children, Andy, Tim, Chris and Jenny.

He is also a huge fan of Luton Town Football Club, and a lounge at the club is named after him.

Nick Owen also has his own official fan club. The club is based in Solihull and can be seen regularly at public events featuring Nick Owen.

On 17th October 2006, Midlands Today's science and environment correspondent David Gregory helped launch an official MySpace page for Nick in an attempt to make a mark on the world's largest blogging community. During that evening's bulletin when the page was featured, Nick's page received over 200 friend requests and a deluge of comments for the TV presenter.

Famous Quotes: "GEEESSSCCCCHHHHHH", "Dude, get in the game", "She was all over me like a cheap suit", "Whoa there trick daddy", "She's out" *sfffhhhhhh* (and motion thumb over shoulder), "What are you talking about?", "Oh, you work out too? What can you bench? I can do 240...once",