Dominik Diamond
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| Dominik Diamond | |
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| Birth name | Paul Dominik Diamond |
| Born | December 31, 1969 Arbroath, Scotland |
| Show | Diamond and de Andrade Talk 107 1400-1800 Mon-Fri |
| Style | Disc Jockey Comedian |
| Country | Scotland |
| Previous show(s) | "The Dominik Diamond Breakfast Show" Xfm Scotland 6:00 - 10:00 a.m. Monday-Friday "The Dominik Diamond Show" Beat 106 1000 - 1300 Saturday/Sunday |
Paul Dominik Diamond (known as Dominik Diamond) is a television and radio presenter and newspaper columnist from Arbroath, Scotland. He is best known as the original presenter of Channel 4's video gaming programme GamesMaster, as host of The Dominik Diamond Breakfast Show on Xfm Scotland and columnist of The Daily Star. Following his success at Xfm, Diamond and his former co-host Marisa de Andrade now present Diamond and de Andrade on Scottish news/talk station Talk 107.
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[edit] Early life
Diamond first attended Strathallan School in Forgandenny, Perthshire.[1] He then went on to study drama at Bristol University, also attended by Little Britain star David Walliams. Walliams and Diamond were part of a comedy troupe called "David Icke and The Orphans of Jesus", in which they were also joined by Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz). Walliams & Diamond fell out after Walliams appeared as a guest on Diamond's Paramount show "Dom'n'Kirk's Night O Plenty" - after which Diamond said that Walliams and co-Little Britain star Matt Lucas were "complete arseholes". Diamond has not spoken to Walliams since, yet still refers to him as a "comic genius".[2]
Pegg appeared on Diamond's Xfm Scotland Breakfast Show as a guest while promoting Hot Fuzz and revealed that seeing Diamond do stand-up comedy at Bristol University inspired him to do it as a career.
[edit] Television & publications
An avid Celtic fan, Diamond had a column in the football monthly FourFourTwo when it lauched in 1994. Diamond co-hosted sports programme Live and Dangerous in 1997, and When Games Attack, aired in 2004. Since 1996, he writes a twice-weekly column in the Daily Star and had a regular column in the monthly magazine PC Zone until the August 2006 edition. Diamond's biggest role on television to date came on Channel 4 computer and video game show Gamesmaster, which ran from 1992-1998. He presented the short-lived BBC Scotland panel show Caledonia McBrains in 2002.
In 2006, Diamond filmed Five documentary, Crucify Me. During filming, he took part in the live annual Holy week re-enactment of the crucifixion at San Pedro Cutud. However, he backed down at the last minute, breaking into tears.[3][4] He also has featured on Discovery Real Time programme, Rubble Trouble, which charts the development of his house extension.
In July 2006, he appeared in the satirical quiz show spoof, "Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive" where his career was parodied and one of the more noticeable jokes was his expectation of getting a column in The Financial Times as a result of his appearance on the show.
He is a regular host of What The Papers Say on BBC2, a humorous round-up of the week's newspapers.
[edit] Radio career
Diamond hosted the debut of Fantasy Football League on BBC Radio Five Live at least one season before it appeared on BBC TV. Diamond presented Sportscall on BBC Radio Five Live in the 1990s and occasionally hosted the station's phone-in football show 6-0-6.
[edit] Xfm Scotland
Diamond most recently presented "The Dominik Diamond Breakfast Show" during weekdays 6 till 10 on Xfm Scotland. Numerous traits previously used on Gamesmaster were shown on the show, such as frequently "pushing the boundaries" with use of words which would not normally be used on air at that time of day. He was named Scottish Radio Presenter of the Year for his efforts at the 2007 XTrax Scottish Radio Awards. Diamond also received a nomination for a Sony Radio Award in 2007 as UK Radio Music Personality of the Year. Dominik's departure was first announced on June 9, 2007 when The Sunday Herald newspaper reported that Diamond had asked for a pay rise following his Sony Radio Award nomination. GCap Media bosses denied this, and Dominik aired his last show on June 22, 2007. Dominik was replaced on Xfm Scotland on July 4, 2007 by Julyan Sinclair.
Diamond would frequently include producer Scott Shaw and news presenter Marisa de Andrade throughout the show, most notably a segment named "Fib Of The Day". The segment involved each of the three making an ambiguous - and sometimes near unbelievable - statement about a news issue of the day (where only one was genuine). Listeners would then text in which of the three statements they believed were true.
[edit] The A.M's
Diamond's most triumphant moment as part of the Xfm Scotland team came during UK Music Week 2006. After declaring that Meg White of The White Stripes was "rubbish" at drumming, he challenged news presenter Marisa de Andrade to successfully learn to play the drums in the five days that the breakfast show took place. This would culminate in the entire breakfast team playing together as a whole, with Scott Shaw playing bass guitar and Diamond on guitar and vocals. The station followed de Andrade's progress throughout the week, and, as promised, the trio were recorded playing a special cover of The White Stripes' "7 Nation Army". The song was distributed on the Xfm website under the band name, "The A.M's".
Throughout the next year, the band would play a number of key support dates, supporting such acts as Maxïmo Park, Teenage Fanclub and Little Man Tate. They would even go as far as to play a number of their own shows at Glasgow's King Tut's Wah Wah Hut.
Towards the beginning of UK Music Week 2007, the week which would mark a year since the band's creation, The A.M's announced through Xfm that they would be releasing their debut single on Nineteen Percent Records. The single, a double a-side of two of the band's own songs, "Billy the Dancer / Isobel Campbell", was released on May 21, 2007.
The band would also announce their own tour, taking place every night of UK Music Week. Each night, the band would travel to different areas of the UK, and present the Breakfast Show at the location of the gig. Oddly enough, the band's manager, who travelled with them throughout the tour was fellow Xfm DJ, Al Lorraine.
The band most recently played a number of homecoming shows at numerous small venues in Glasgow. All three members of the band (and manager) have all now left Xfm Scotland, yet continue to play around the country. Prior to Diamond leaving, it was announced on the band's MySpace page that they would be playing at this year's Wickerman Festival in Dumfries, Scotland on July 21, 2007, which was a huge tent filling success.
[edit] Present work with Talk 107
On June 27, 2007, RadioToday.co.uk announced that Diamond had joined Talk 107 to cover a number of programmes over the summer months. He also stood in for James Whale on talkSPORT in July.
From October 13, 2007 Diamond presented the Dominik Diamond Breakfast Club on Talk 107 7 till 10am Saturday/Sunday. He was joined by Marisa de Andrade who worked with him on his award winning Xfm Scotland Dominik Diamond Breakfast Show.
In January 2008 Dominik took over Talk 107 Drive, again with Marisa de Andrade.
In April 2008 following a station revamp the show became 'Diamond and de Andrade' broadcasting for 2 til 6pm weekdays.
[edit] Personal life
Diamond and his partner, Phoebe, have three children, Molly, Charlie and Honor. Diamond has never kept his presenting and personal lives separate, as he frequently refers to his family on his show. One unexpected twist of this was when he presented a breakfast show from the basement of his house, in order for him to watch his children while his wife was not there.
He is a devoted supporter of the football team Celtic and is known to be significantly under 5'8 in height.
[edit] References
- ^ "Dinner with Dominik Diamond". The Scotsman newspaper. Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
- ^ "Diamond Geezer". From the News And Star Website. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
- ^ A crucifixion too far (HTML). The Scotsman (2006). Retrieved on 15 April 2006.
- ^ Crucify me? Sorry, I've changed my mind (XML). Daily Telegraph (2006). Retrieved on 15 April 2006.
