Last updated May 2007
Category: Radio 2
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Chris Evans joined BBC Radio 2 in September 2005 to present a live three hour show
every Saturday afternoon from 2.00pm.
He took over Radio 2's drivetime show
(5.00-7.00pm) on 18 April 2006.
Chris won a Sony Gold award for Music Radio Personality Of The Year in 2007 and 2006. And his drivetime show won a Sony Gold Entertainment award in 2007.
Chris Evans was born on 1 April 1966 in Warrington, England.
Chris'
entrepreneurial zeal emerged at an early age, when he ran a newsagent's in his
home town of Warrington and set up his own kiss-o-gram and private detective
agencies.
His meteoric rise to fame has since taken him from opening Timmy Mallett's mail
to being one of Britain's most high-profile presenters.
Chris started his broadcasting career at Piccadilly Radio, then moved to BBC GLR,
where his Saturday morning show attracted a cult following.
A stint on short-lived BSB Channel, The Power Station, allowed Chris time to cut
his teeth in television before serving up a different type of early morning show
to the nation with Channel 4's The Big Breakfast.
Within weeks, the show topped
two million viewers.
In 1993, Chris formed his own company called Ginger Productions to formulate a
brand new variety show for Saturday nights, Don't Forget Your Toothbrush.
Devised, written and performed by Chris, the ratings peaked at six million
viewers.
To date, the rights to the format have been sold to networks throughout Europe
and all over the world including Australia and Brazil.
With Chris at its helm,
Ginger Productions fast became one of the major players in entertainment
production.
Under the Ginger banner, Chris produced and presented a second series of Don't
Forget Your Toothbrush and then revitalised BBC Radio 1 with his Breakfast Show
- for which he won UK Broadcaster of the Year at the 1996 Sony Awards - before
bowing out in January 1997 to concentrate on his unique end-of-the-week Channel
4 show, TFI Friday.
Chris later returned to his radio roots when he hosted the Virgin Radio
Breakfast Show alongside his former Radio 1 team.
More recently, Chris has presented the breakfast show on UK Radio Aid's day of
programming for the victims of the Asian Tsunami; Comic Relief; the Brit Awards
and Radio 2's Live 8 coverage.
The majority of his time is spent developing programmes for his new
production company, UMTV, and working on his new drivetime show for Radio 2.