| Mike Elliott | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 1946 (age 65) Sunderland, England |
| Nationality | British |
Mike Elliott (born July 1946, Sunderland, North East England) is an entertainer: he has been an actor, stand-up comedian, television presenter and radio phone-in host.
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Elliott taught English at Hartlepool's Dyke House School.[1] He first found national fame in 1983 on the Tyne Tees Television produced series, At Last It's Mike Elliott broadcast on Channel 4. For several years, Elliott was a mainstay of Folk Rock group Lindisfarne's UK tours, working as warm up and compere.
Mike released two albums on Newcastle-based Rubber Records - Out Of The Brown RUB 025 (1976), and At Last It's Mike Elliott RUB 044 (1982)
Mike returned to work for Tyne Tees Television in 1992 presenting a number of regional documentary series, including, Down Colliery Way about North East coal miners.
Elliott has also had a number of acting roles. These include playing boxing trainer George Watson in the film Billy Elliot and a number of roles in television drama series, including Catherine Cookson adaptations, Crocodile Shoes, Byker Grove, Spender, Harry, and a variety of roles in New Voices, a showcase of short movies screened locally on Tyne Tees Television, and played a taxi driver in the 2005 film Goal and its 2009 sequel Goal! 3: Taking on the World.
In February 1995, Mike Elliott was given a new nickname as “Mike The Mouth” when he launched the first late night talk show on 100-102 Century FM in the North East. He was suspended in his first year at the station for swearing at a woman caller who said she was a benefits swindler, but was reinstated after fans protested outside of the station's studios in Gateshead.[2] In January 2000, he was taken off the air in the middle of his show following an expletive-filled outburst at a caller.[2] Bosses sacked him, assuming, from his behaviour and slurred speech, that he was drunk.[1] However, Elliott claimed that his "strange behaviour" was caused by combining two glasses of wine during a family meal with the cold remedies Benylin and Night Nurse.[1] He was reinstated by the station in June that year.[2]
He launched a board game in 2001 called Social Insecurity, with some similarities to Monopoly.[3]
A new Mike Elliott radio show launched on North East Magic Radio in the same slot as his previous programme in December 2002. However on MW it failed to gain the same amount of listeners that the Century FM series had achieved, and Elliott was released from his contract in July 2003, whilst on holiday.
December 2003 saw Mike back on air on Sunderland's Sun FM.In January 2006 the show was rebranded North South Divided pitched the Northern stations of the Local Radio Company against their Southern counterparts. Broadcast over almost 30 stations, this was the first time listeners outside of the North East had a taste of “Mike The Mouth.”, alongside another male presenter, Alex Dyke (later replaced by Carol McGiffin). North South Divided ended on 5 July 2006.