Chris Tarrant Biography

Born Christopher John Tarrant, he attended King’s School, Worcester, from 1960 to 1964 where he showed a flair for hockey and cricket. Tarrant turned down a place at Oxford University, selecting instead to attend the University of Birmingham to read English. Following graduation, he worked for a while as an English teacher in East London. It was during this time, he made the press as his chosen “digs” was in the back of his white mini van, which he parked in the grounds of the school. Regularly he had to be woken up for classes by his pupils!

When his teaching contract came to an end, he decided to pursue his dream of working in television. Tarrant took up work as a truck driver whilst writing letters to television companies, claiming he was the face of the 1970s and they should grab the chance to hire him. His bold persistence eventually resulted in an audition for ATV, based in the Birmingham. He was hired as a regional reporter and was finally taking his first steps towards his dream career.

Tarrant reported on ATV’s main daytime bulletins, which included light-hearted stories which helped raise his profile. In 1974, ATV wanted to develop a new show and it needed a host. They offered the job to Tarrant. He eagerly accepted and became the host of ‘Tiswas’, a Saturday morning children’s show. Over the next eight years, he worked with a number of co-hosts, including John Asher, Sally James, whom he introduced to the show, the young Lenny Henry, John Gorman, Jim Davidson and Bob Carolgees. It was ‘Tiswas’ that gave Tarrant his first network audience and his popularity soared.

In 1971, when Tarrant was 25, he married Sheila, a secretary, and they had two daughters, Helen and Jennifer. Unfortunately, their marriage broke down and ended in divorce in 1982. 'Tiswas’ ended its run in 1982, and the young Tarrant was hired to front ‘O.T.T.’ (1982), a saucier adult version of the show. However, the country wasn’t ready for the naked shenanigans, including topless dancers and on one occasion a group who danced naked with balloons. There was a public outcry and the series was axed at the end of its first run.

In a move from television to radio, Tarrant joined London’s commercial station, Capital Radio in 1984. He began by presenting a weekend lunchtime show before being asked to take on the breakfast show in 1987. It was the start of a long and extremely successful career in radio, during which time he became the best known, highest earning and most successful breakfast disc jockey in the UK. Throughout his tenure at Capital, the station experienced their highest ever ratings.

In his early days at Capital, Tarrant also worked as a reporter for the fledgling breakfast station TV-AM and it was there, in 1985, that he met Ingrid Dupre. Ingrid was separated from her husband and pregnant with her second child. A romance blossomed, and several months later, after the birth of Ingrid’s second child, Fia, Ingrid and Chris moved in together. The couple married in 1991. Besides two children each from their previous marriages, the couple also have a daughter, Samantha, and a son, Toby. Ingrid is a successful businesswoman in her own right working as a fashion designer, journalist, travel writer and television presenter.

Tarrant found that, in working as a breakfast presenter, he always had the rest of the day to find other things to do, and soon developed a string of contracts involving him in voice-over work for radio and TV, and also a range of TV projects.

‘Tarrant on TV’, featuring outrageous clips from TV around the world, was launched in 1992, and the show is still part of ITV’s schedules fourteen years later. He also hosted ITV’s quiz show ‘Lose a Million’; the game show ‘Cluedo’ (1990-1993); and ‘Pop Quiz’ (1994).

In 1998, Chris was selected to host ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’, a quiz show where contestants can win £1 million for correctly answering fifteen questions. The show was a huge hit and rocketed Tarrant to the very top of his profession. The programme remains a regular programme in ITV’s schedule and the format has been sold to nearly every country in the world.

However, the programme hit the headlines in the UK in early 2003 when Army Major Charles Ingram cheated his way to the top prize of £1 million. He was accused of being helped by an accomplice in the crowd. Major Charles Ingram was later found guilty of conspiring to cheat the show and had to repay the programme.

Tarrant has a string of awards to his name. He was named Radio Personality of the Year in 1990 and in 1995 he won the coveted Sony Radio Academy Awards’ Breakfast Show Gold. In 2000, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by ITV’s National Television Awards. Another accolade came in April 2001, when a waxwork model to be displayed at Madame Tussaud’s, London, was delivered to Capital FM studios where Tarrant was still presenting the breakfast show. The wax model was sculpted by Jim Kempton and took six months to complete.

In December 2003, Tarrant was inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame shortly before his departure from Capital FM’s breakfast show. In March 2004, he was replaced as host by Johnny Vaughan of Channel 4 television’s ‘The Big Breakfast’ fame. Tarrant said of Vaughan that he was vibrant, lively, funny, exciting and the right person for the job. He said he hoped to wind down his own broadcasting commitments over the next few years.

Tarrant continues hosting ITV’s quiz show ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’, being committed to the show until 2007. Other credits have included providing voice for an episode of television series ‘Holby City’ (1999) and was the voice of the Radio Announcer in ‘Johnny English’ (2003) starring Rowan Atkinson. He was a foreign presenter in an episode of ‘The Impressionable Jon Culshaw’ (2004), presented a one-off show for BBC Radio 2 during Christmas 2004 and 2005, and a special to be broadcast at the end of 2006.

Tarrant has formed his own television production company, CT-TV, and it was commissioned to make a documentary on the Arctic white polar bears, broadcast on ITV on Christmas day 2005.

In 2004, he received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for his charity work, including being a patron of the Phoenix Centre for special needs children; an ambassador for Centrepoint for the homeless; a trustee and patron of The New School at West Heath for disadvantaged children; and patron of Milly’s Fund, in memory of murdered Surrey teen Milly Dowler. In 2005, he participated with his wife Ingrid, on a tandem, in a 160-mile charity bicycle ride that ended in Cardiff, to raise funds for the Rhys Daniels Trust. Tarrant was awarded an honorary doctorate degree for his services to the entertainment industry at Aston University in Birmingham on 10 July 2006.

In his 60th year, Tarrant’s personal life took a major turn. In early September 2006, after his wife had him followed by private detectives, Tarrant admitted to a seven year affair with primary school teacher Fiona McKechnie.

Tarrant moved out of the family home in Esher, Surrey, and went to stay with friends in London. The couple have filed for divorce, and a settlement is expected in early 2007, which will end their 15-year marriage.