This is an accepted version of this page Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22 December 1948) is an English television presenter, radio DJ, writer, producer, and businessman.
In October 1971, he was moved to a Sunday slot from 10 a.m. to noon before being promoted to host The Radio 1 Breakfast Show from Monday 4 June 1973 to Friday 28 April 1978, taking over from Tony Blackburn.
With fellow Swap Shop regulars Maggie Philbin and Keith Chegwin, Edmonds was a member of the trio Brown Sauce, which recorded the single "I Wanna Be a Winner" in 1981.
During Swap Shop's run Edmonds hosted Lucky Numbers, a Saturday evening phone-in quiz programme which required viewers to call in and answer questions based on clips of films shown, and a revival of the 1960s pop music series Juke Box Jury.
[12] Edmonds reappeared in one episode of Top Gear in the 1990s, to road test the classic 1960s Ford GT40 supercar, of which he owned two, because the host Jeremy Clarkson – at 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall – was unable to fit into the cockpit.
While rehearsing a bungee jump to be performed live on the show, Michael Lush plunged 120 feet (37 m) to his death when his rope came loose.
The programme was a slow-burning success and, following the third series in 1990, Edmonds's popularity and reputation were sufficiently re-established with the public for him to pitch his idea for Noel's House Party to the BBC.
The show introduced regular features such as the Gunge Tank, the Gotcha Oscars and Wait 'Til I Get You Home, which would all be carried across and subsequently developed in House Party.
Another item was Clown Court, in which a guest actor from a TV series would be on trial for all the bloopers made during the shooting of that show, for example Sylvester McCoy for the title role of Doctor Who, and Tony Robinson for his character of Baldrick in Blackadder the Third.
By 1991, the Saturday Roadshow morphed into Noel's House Party, which ran for eight years, from Edmonds' mansion in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom.
In one incident NTV's hidden cameras caught celebrity psychic Uri Geller apparently bending a spoon with his hands while demonstrating his "powers" to a member of the public.
When then-Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis was "Gotcha'd" live on Radio 1, he infamously yelled "Edmonds, you are a dead man!"
Mr Blobby, a pink and yellow spotted character, initially appeared in the "Gotcha" section, and became a regular feature of the programme.
Edmonds initially declined the approach, citing that he was concentrating on business interests, but eventually agreed to host a short run of 66 shows.
Sky1's autumn 2008 season saw Edmonds host Noel's HQ, a new live entertainment show with a philanthropic purpose, his fees going to a charitable trust.
[31] In 1997 Edmonds was involved in an episode of the Chris Morris spoof documentary series Brass Eye, in which he unwittingly pledged his allegiance on camera to a campaign to rid the country of a new killer drug, the entirely fictitious "cake", which apparently made 10 seconds appear as a few hours to a user by stimulating part of the brain called Shatner's Bassoon.
The action took place in 'Noel's Store' and according to the Radio Times, "contestants are presented with three similar items – be it laundry detergent, noodles, baked beans, coffins, live poultry or lottery tickets – and must identify the cheapest one of the three in order to win money."
[35] Stuart Heritage of The Guardian said that "It's like watching a weird piece of existential Lithuanian amateur community theatre [...] It's the worst idea in the world, stretched out for all eternity".
[37] The Curse of Noel Edmonds, a documentary tracing the rise and fall of his showbiz career, was transmitted by Five on 9 November 2004, with former Radio 1 DJ Mike Read being one of the contributors to the programme.
[46] In July 2019, Edmonds agreed to a compensation deal with Lloyds Banking Group as a victim of the HBOS Reading branch fraud.
I seek no sympathy and feel no shame in admitting that on the evening of January 18th 2005 I attempted to end the overwhelming mental pain which had consumed my whole being.
[73][74] Edmonds said in 2008 that he is constantly accompanied by two melon-sized "spiritual energy" balls, which appear over his shoulders and which he believes to be the spirits of his dead parents.
[76] In August 2015, Edmonds gave an interview to the Daily Mirror in which he stated that the greatest problem facing humanity was "electrosmog" due to Wi-Fi and other "systems", causing the destruction of "our natural electro-magnetic fields".
[77] On 7 June 2016, Edmonds said on Twitter that an electromagnetic pulse device costing £2,315 was "A simple box that slows ageing, reduces pain, lifts depression and stress and tackles cancer.
[78][79] Edmonds provoked further criticism after tweeting to a man with kidney cancer, lymph node metastases and psoriatic arthritis that "Scientific fact-disease is caused by negative energy.
"[79][78] The following day, Edmonds was interviewed by Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on ITV's This Morning television programme stating that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in November 2013.
Nor have organisations that scrutinise new treatments and devices (like the US Food and Drug Authority or the European Medicines Agency) approved any as a therapy for any type of disease".
[83] Prof. John Gribben, chair of medical oncology at Queen Mary University of London, said: "This is complete gibberish and undermines all the good work everyone does with evidence-based medicine and targeted approaches".
[84] Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor at the University of Exeter said: "The reason why most of us put 'negative energy' in inverted commas is simple: it is a pure figment of the imagination of fantasists.
[85] Edmonds complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about the "By Your Side" Lloyds marketing campaign, claiming it was hypocritical; the complaint was not upheld.