Tony Barber

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Anthony "Tony" Barber

Born 28 March 1940 (1940-03-28) (age 68)
Oldham, Lancashire, England
Occupation Television Host
Spouse Helen[1]
Children Kelly, Jacqueline[1]

Anthony "Tony" Barber (born 28 March 1940 in Oldham, Lancashire, England) is an Australian game show host and television personality.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Born in 1940, Tony claims he "owes much of his enthusiastic and driving personality to a loving Irish grandma and a whole street full of Aunties who kept the spirits high during the dark years of World War 2". He moved with his family moved to Australia in 1947 and was schooled by the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers.

He then spent seven years in the Royal Australian Navy before leaving the service and getting his teeth into his career as a cadet announcer at radio station 6GE in Geraldton in 1961. In his own words:

“The sisters of so-called mercy taught me to sing & dance,the brothers taught me to bob & weave.The navy taught me to play rugby,”

By the end of 1962, Barber was a leading Perth radio announcer as well as the star of a weekly floor show at the Charles Hotel as well as another twice-weekly event at the Lido Coral Room where he performed impressions of Johnny Mathis and Paul Anka. Before leaving Western Australia for New South Wales he also stared in a number of plays with the Scarborough players.

Having moved to Sydney, Tony continued to pursue his dreams at numerous Hotel talent quests, a regular role as resident compere and vocalist at the Spellsons nitery in Pitt St. This was in addition to holding down a regular job as an advertising executive, where at one point he cast himself as the “Cambridge Whistler”, a central character in a 1960's cigarette commercial which brought him under national scrutiny. It was at this point that then head of the Seven Network Bruce Gyngell spotted Barber and was understood to have liked what he saw, and immediately suggested that he host a Grundy show[2].


[edit] Media career

While Barber is more noted for his role as host of Sale of the Century, his origins in television date back to the 1970's where he hosted the then popular Seven Network game show, Great Temptation[3]. Presented with co-host Barbie Rogers, the show was successful enough for the network that both daytime and prime time editions of the show were screened. The show only faltered when in 1974, Seven decided to move the show from its 7pm timeslot to the later 8.30pm timeslot in an effort to drag viewers away from the ever popular rival series Number 96 screening on 0-10 Network's. However, Number 96 won the ratings battle and Great Temptation aired its last show in 1975. Before moving onto the Nine Network, Barber hosted the Australian version of Family Feud from 1977 until 1979.

In 1980, The Grundy Organisation under the advice of founder and producer Reg Grundy decided to revive the format using the original international title, Sale of the Century. Screened nationally on the Nine Network, he hosted the show from 1980 to 1991, before leaving the show at the same time as then co-host Alyce Platt. The show resumed airing in 1991 passing on the reigns to Glenn Ridge and Jo Bailey. Barber's hostesses during his time as host included Victoria Nicholls (1980-1982), Delvene Delaney (1982-1986) and Alyce Platt (1986-1991).

During the 1990's, Barber went on to host the Australian versions of Wheel of Fortune (Seven Network) and the short-lived Jeopardy! (Network Ten). During his time on TV, Tony estimates that he has hosted over 8,500 individual episodes of successful Grundy Games[4].

Currently he hosts a small competition on the Australian Cable TV network Foxtel seven nights a week which he has been doing for the last few years.

On March 14, 2007, Barber returned to his roots making an appearance as Guest Host on Temptation alongside his former co-host Alyce Platt during the Battle of the Network Shows series. Regular hosts of the show Ed Phillips and Livinia Nixon were appearing as contestants.

[edit] Other Works

  • In 2005, he also appeared on Good Morning Australia during an Infomercial segment as a seller of Dick Wick's Magnetic Underlay products.
  • Barber is understood to have made a recent foray into a Singing career, but not much information is currently available about this.
  • Shortly after being replaced as host of Sale of the Century by Glen Ridge, Tony Barber appeared on the Australian version of the Late Show and was on the 'spy' team that caused Jane Kennedy to lose.


[edit] Awards

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Tony Barber's Virtual Office (2004-04-12). Biography. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
  2. ^ "Lead us into Temptation", The Age, 2005-05-26. Retrieved on 2007-03-14. 
  3. ^ Television.AU (2006-07-29). Aussie TV Game Shows. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
  4. ^ Celebrity Speakers Australia/Christine Maher Group. Speaker Biography - Tony Barber. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Tony Barber
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Australian TV host
DATE OF BIRTH 28 March 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Oldham, Lancashire, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH