Danny Baker

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Danny Baker (born June 22, 1957, Deptford, South London) is an English comedy writer, radio and television presenter.

Contents

[edit] Early Days as a Rock Journalist

Born in the working class district of Deptford in south east London, Baker left school in 1972 at the age of 15. Baker initially worked in One Stop Records, a record shop in South Molton Street in London's West End. In 1976, with fellow Deptfordian Mark Perry, Baker founded the proto-punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue, and this led to an offer from the New Musical Express, home to the likes of Julie Burchill, Tony Parsons, Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent. Baker initially began working as the receptionist, but was soon contributing regular articles and reviews before progressing to interviews. He often refers to these times during his radio shows, regularly citing examples of the ridiculous rock star behaviour exhibited by his interviewees.

[edit] Radio career

[edit] BBC GLR

Baker began his radio career on BBC GLR in 1989, presenting Weekend Breakfast from 6-9am on Saturdays and Sundays. The show was produced by Chris Evans, who became a good friend to Baker.

With GLR eventually opting for a more orthodox breakfast show at weekends, Baker moved to the 10am to 1pm slot on Sundays.

[edit] BBC Radio 5

In 1990, Baker joined the newly launched BBC Radio 5, presenting Sportscall, a phone-in sports quiz broadcast every Saturday lunchtime.

From October 1991 to October 1992 he presented "606" and, from February 1992 until October 1993, he presented Morning Edition from 6.30-9am every weekday morning. This was Baker's heyday - Morning Edition still stands out in the memory of his fans as one of the funniest and most innovative programmes in the history of British radio. The show blended Baker's love of unusual trivia with 'grown-up' music. This was where Baker first teamed up with Danny Kelly and Allis Moss. Mark Kermode added weekly film reviews, and would later appear with his band 'The Railtown Bottlers' every week on the first series of Baker's TV show.

Baker's anchoring of 606 polarised opinion. To fans of a non-conservative nature he was hailed as a genius, while traditionalists abhorred his loud-mouthed, iconoclastic approach. His influence at the station remains. His fearless attacks on football authority, particularly the 'blazers' at the Football Association, paved the way for BBC 5 Live's present day preparedness to court unpopularity within the game through its kissing up to players, managers and referees.

Kelly was originally drafted into the show to review the day's newspapers. Kelly started amusing his team members by doodling beards, glasses and Frankenstein-style neck bolts onto photographs of people in the newspapers, which would inevitably cause the team to dissolve into laughter on air; the visual joke was, of course, completely lost on the listeners. Over the weeks, the doodles grew increasingly elaborate until, eventually the paper review feature was dropped altogether in favour of a feature in which Kelly presented Baker with a pink folder containing photographs clipped from the day's papers. These usually featured photographs of people in odd situations where they would perhaps have preferred not to have been photographed, with the word "turmoil" scrawled on their foreheads in pen. These photos were juxtaposed with often surreal headlines taken from elsewhere in the paper, and the duo would collapse into hysterical laughter together, often for several minutes at a time. In time the feature became known as "University Of Turmoil".

[edit] Radio 1

Baker then joined BBC Radio 1 in October 1993, taking over the weekend mid-morning show from 10am-1pm from Dave Lee Travis who had resigned on air following the sackings instigated by Matthew Bannister and Trevor Dann during the early 1990s. However, due to poor ratings, from November 1994 he was heard on Saturdays only from 10am-12midday. Simon Mayo took over Sunday Mornings.

Baker's original style led to a fall in listeners at Radio 1 but despite his tendering his resignation on at least two occasions, management added extensions to his contract. From October 1995, his Saturday show went out from 12.30-2.30pm. He left the station in September 1996. His co-hosts during this period included BBC continuity announcer Allis Moss, Dr.H, Laurie Sore, Andy Darling and Danny Kelly.

[edit] 5 Live & GLR

While continuing with his Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 1, in 1996 Baker joined BBC Radio Five Live to present a Sunday lunchtime show with Danny Kelly, Baker & Kelly Upfront.

On leaving BBC Radio 1, Baker returned to BBC GLR to present a three-hour Sunday show from 10am-1pm. 'Baker and Kelly Upfront' also returned, now at Saturday lunchtime, while Baker also took on a new show, 'The Baker Line', a Wednesday evening version of the 606 phone in show.

While 'Baker and Kelly Upfront' was light-hearted, 'The Baker Line' was darker and emotionally charged. Baker was at his most outspoken, and in early 1997, he was sacked from Five Live when station bosses alleged that he had incited threatening behaviour during an angry outburst about a referee.[1]Arts: Danny Baker - `There's this idea that I talk too much'

Baker announced in his BBC London radio show on 21st May 2008 that he will be returning to present 6-0-6 for a limited period in the summer of 2008. [2]

[edit] Talk Radio

Baker joined Talk Radio to present a similar football phone-in with Kelly each Saturday from 5.30-7.30pm. A pre-match show was added from 11.30am to 1pm. After moving to the Saturday breakfast slot (8am to 12 noon), he engineered his own dismissal after a matter of weeks by refusing to centre the show on football, preferring to intersperse chat with his own music selections.

[edit] Virgin Radio

After leaving Talk Radio, he joined Virgin Radio in early 1999, taking over from Jonathan Ross on Sundays from 10am-1pm.

Not long after, Baker was approached by the BBC and was asked whether he wanted to present a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2. Baker turned down the offer by saying the time wasn't right. Baker also deputised on Virgin's Saturday lunchtime football show from 12-2pm for a handful of shows, alongside Danny Kelly until he left the station in 2000.

[edit] BBC London 94.9

In September 2001, Baker joined BBC London 94.9 presenting a Saturday morning show from 8-11am. Just 6 months later, in March 2002, and with a new co-presenting team which included Amy Lamé, Baylen Leonard and David Kuo, he took over the breakfast show from 6-9am, with a new theme tune in the form of the Anthony Newley song The Candy Man.

Although not drawing a large listenership, the show was much loved by those who did tune in, and he won "Sony Radio DJ of the year" for the show. However, the day after winning the award, he announced his intention to leave the show at the end of the month. The last show was on Friday 27 May 2005.

On Monday 17 October 2005, after a sabbatical at home, Baker rejoined BBC London 94.9 where he took over the weekday 3-5pm show from Jono Coleman, who had moved to co-present the breakfast show with former actress JoAnne Good.

His current (2005- ) BBC London 94.9 shows tend to feature off-the-wall phone-ins and discussions with his on-air team, Amy and Baylen, often regarding music and entertainment nostalgia of the 1960s and 1970s. His interviews focus on off-beat trivia rather than the guests' latest or most famous work. He takes pleasure in interspersing his shows with relatively obscure rock tracks from bands such as Yes, Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart with talk occasionally punctuated with a recorded toot from the Woolwich Ferry's whistle

[edit] All Day Breakfast Show

On March 15 2007 Baker launched the All Day Breakfast Show, a podcast to reach listeners beyond BBC London's FM radio reach. Regulars Amy Lamé, Baylen Leonard and David Kuo all contributed and the first show featured an appearance by comedian and actor Peter Kay.

The All Day Breakfast Show was recorded daily, Monday to Friday at 11am GMT, "in the past for listeners in the future" originally in Baker's own studio based from the kitchen of an Italian restaurant and known as La Cucina and later from the offices of Wippit media. Each show was available as a download and lasted between 40 and 60 minutes.

After nearly six months of free podcasts, the All Day Breakfast Show began charging £2 per week in early Setpember 2007. However, after one week of paid shows, Baker put the ADBS on indefinite hold until "a few things get sorted out". Users had reported short shows and difficulty downloading episodes. After several weeks of silence and no small amount of internet "twitch" and News of the World "nonsense" about the break up of Danny's 27 year marriage, the All Day Breakfast Show officially announced its return to the air on 19 October 2007. No announcement on the main website was given, but in a 5 minute mini-show downloadable initially only to paid subscribers who happened to check the download section of the website, Danny Baker and Baylen Leonard announced the return of the show. They confirmed that from "next week" they would be broadcasting three times a week. They also suggested (possibly only partially in jest) that due to BBC cuts announced the previous day, that they may be planning to end their official BBC London show and move to being an "Internet only" show.

This new scheduling model continued - apparently successfully - for the next eight weeks. However, on 15 December 2007, Baker himself posted a notice on the "All Day Breakfast Show" and "Baker and Kelly" websites announcing that both shows were cancelled with immediate effect. The notice said that this was a result of "an irreversible and utter breakdown between the on-air team and the company Wippit media who have ... provided it to you online."

The notice in full:

Dear All,

It appals me to say it but there will be no more All Day Breakfast Shows nor Baker & Kelly's. There has now been an irreversible and utter breakdown between the on-air team and the company who have, with varying degrees of success, provided it to you online. I suppose I should have heeded the warning of many of you after the initial, half-assed sign up but, Jesus Christ, I wanted this to work. I have absolutely no idea where any subscription fees are, went or remain. All I know is that we all have created an enormous amount of strong, funny, unbeatable internet shows and in return received nothing. And I mean nothing. Not a brass penny in nine long months just some hefty studio bills along the way. Now it has come down to the old "Ah well if you read your contract you'll find..." and I feel like some dumb-cluck boy band.

Truth is when you're fifty years old, a successful broadcaster for two thirds of your life, and you're standing, crushed, on the sweaty Northern Line every day going to work without even so much as getting your ticket reimbursed... well it kind of rankles you know? I don't know any of my peers or, indeed, any of our genuinely genius audience who would tolerate such a circumstance. It's a rotten shame but enough is enough. The shows were too good and I have too much respect for myself and the team to allow this farcical situation to continue a belly-laugh longer. When I think of the hours and hours of midnight oil that Sonny put in to the magnificent websites alone it frankly makes my blood boil. What a sucker. (Me that is, not you Son).

Radio - in whatever form I can deliver it - is what I do for a living. The current situation is, professionally, killing us all.

I can't thank you enough for any of the two-quids - wherever they currently are - that you were good enough to invest in the ADBS. I just hope what you heard made it worthwhile. That will be the only recompense I can take from this whole wretched episode.

Regards and with great apologies to you all,

DB.

Wippit responded on December 17, 2007 with the following, alluding to Baker's failure to quit his daily radio show as agreed.

"Unfortunately the All Day Breakfast Show in COLOR has ceased to be due to a breakdown in contract negotiations between our company and Danny Baker. Mr. Baker did not wish to meet his agreed obligations regarding exclusivity and the new terms proposed by his agent were not acceptable to Wippit. Last week Wippit offered Mr. Baker 100% of ADBS in COLOR revenues and declared no further interest in the podcast, but this offer was rejected by Baker’s agent. With the exception of ADBS and Baker and Kelly none of the other seven podcasts produced by Wippit are affected."

[edit] Baker and Kelly

On September 8 2007 Baker and Kelly resumed their partnership, releasing the first podcast of their football programme for the 2007-2008 season. A total of twelve such podcasts were produced, before their cancellation was announced on 15 December 2007 as a result of the dispute with Wippit.

[edit] Return To 6-0-6

Baker will return as host of BBC 5 Live's football phone-in 6-0-6 during Euro 2008 for six editions starting from Sunday 8 June following Austria's game against Croatia and culminating after the final on Sunday 29 June.[3]Danny Baker returns to 606 on Radio 5 Live

[edit] Television and writing career

On television, early appearances included a 1981 teaming with Janet Street Porter on LWT's 20th Century Box, an example of Porter's youth TV production style that kick-started her career. The show consisted of a series of 30-minute documentaries on elements of youth culture, the most memorable the burgeoning New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) scene which included an early TV appearance of Iron Maiden performing at The Marquee Club, and hilarious interviews with "air guitarists".

Baker's first mainstream break was as roving reporter-presenter on the Michael Aspel's LWT regional magazine The Six O'Clock Show alongside former Mastermind winner and former London black cab driver Fred Housego. Paul Ross (brother of Jonathan Ross whom Baker had as his best man) was his researcher. Baker's most memorable moment during his stint on The Six O'Clock Show (continually resurrected for clip shows) is his altercation with a railway platform guard in which Baker can be heard remonstrating "Don't you know who I am?".

Baker drifted into television writing after being asked to prepare a piece for one of the first clip shows: TV Hell (an A-Z of the worst TV programmes ever). Just prior to this he had performed in pantomime as Idle Jack in Dick Whittington at Barking alongside Michael Robbins ("Olive"'s husband "Arthur" from vintage sitcom On The Buses). None of the cast was paid.

Since then he has presented television shows such as Win, Lose, or Draw, Pets Win Prizes and TV Heroes, the last a series of 10-minute homages to some of Baker's entertainment idols including Fanny Cradock, Peter Glaze (from Crackerjack) and the Top of the Pops audience (in which Baker once appeared leaping around to a performance of "Ooh What A Life" by the Gibson Brothers in 1979 - it was captioned as "Danny Baker's first TV appearance". Baker later described himself as 'looking like he was trying to put out a small fire'.

He landed his own BBC Saturday night chat show (Danny Baker After All) which borrowed from the Late Night with David Letterman US talk show, but his style and guests (Rick Wakeman of prog rock band Yes was a regular) did not attract the mainstream audience the slot demanded.

His later appearance fronting a series of television adverts for Daz washing powder and Mars chocolate led to a feeling of over-exposure and even sell-out from some quarters. Adult satire comic Viz featured a savage cartoon featuring Baker as the main character. Baker parodied his Daz ads by appearing as himself on the sitcom Me, You and Him.

In 1997 Baker presented the nostalgic BBC programme Match of the Eighties, a six-part series of football between 1980-81 and 1985-86.

During the late 1990s he made guest appearances on comedy shows including Have I Got News For You, Shooting Stars and Room 101. During this period he appeared in the press as a result of nights out with friends Chris Evans and England footballer Paul Gascoigne. Gascoigne was under media scrutiny for drinking and socialising while preparing for tournaments. This included an incident when Gascoigne was photographed by paparazzi in the early hours wolfing down a doner kebab a few days before a game. After Gascoigne was left out of the 1998 World Cup squad, Baker went on Have I Got News For You to defend his friend and criticise the omission.

Baker made 3 football videos titled: 'Danny Baker's Own Goals and Gaffs' released in 1992, 'Danny Baker's Own Goals and Gaffs 2', released 2 years later, and also 'Danny Baker's Fabulous World of Freak Football' in 1995.

Baker was also a writer on Evans' show TFI Friday, as well as writing for presenters such as Angus Deayton and Jonathan Ross, and writing a weekly column for The Times. He was briefly a columnist for early issues of movie magazine Empire.

He also appeared on The Terry and Gaby Show from 2003 to 2004 (which will be remembered for the moment when he burnt his hand trying to perform a trick with a microwave and a piece of soap) and has appeared on BBC Four quiz show QI.

Baker worked again with Charles Shaar Murray on the Ramones documentary End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones, providing an audio commentary.

In 2005 Baker appeared in the video to "Is This the Way to Amarillo?" a number 1 single for Peter Kay and Tony Christie, which also featured other British personalities such as Keith Harris, Geoffrey Hayes, Shakin' Stevens and Jimmy Savile.

Baker's most recent TV project was The Sitcom Showdown which began on UK TV Gold in late April 2006. Baker appeared on Comic Relief Does The Apprentice in 2007 for Comic Relief. He also starred in The Rocky Horror Show, as the narrator, at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley and the New Wimbledon Theatre.

Danny Baker is a life long supporter of his local football club, Millwall F.C.[4]

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • He was witness at Chris Evans' marriage to Billie Piper
  • On meeting one of his heroes Mel Brooks he was delighted to find Brooks had used the name "Danny Baker" as character names in one his early works as he felt it "was the most Gentile name I could think of"
  • His passions range as widely as punk music, the U.S., progressive rock, Steely Dan, The Marx Brothers and P. G. Wodehouse.
  • He has a large collection of vinyl records and a collection of redundant laserdiscs that his family refer to as 'Baker's folly'. On Friday, 8th February 2008, two days after giving up drinking for Lent in support of Amy Lamé, Danny announced on air on his BBC London 94.9 show, that he was selling his record collection.
  • The song 'Dethink To Survive' by British band McLusky finishes with a repeated, screamed refrain of 'Danny Baker!'
  • Has frequently claimed that he inadvertently killed Bob Marley by treading on his foot at a charity football match. Marley later developed cancer in that foot and died as a result of it. [5]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Arts: Danny Baker - `There's this idea that I talk too much'
  2. ^ Baker's return can only be good - Guardian blog on this story
  3. ^ Danny Baker returns to 606 on Radio 5 Live
  4. ^ FA Cup Final on Match of the Day
  5. ^ When Bob Marley joined the Bloomsbury Set

[edit] References

Persondata
NAME Baker, Danny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION television presenter
DATE OF BIRTH June 22, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Deptford, South London
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH