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James Whale Radio Show: Monday to Thursday 10pm to 1am

 

James Whale on Wiki

 

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Michael Whale (born 13 May 1951 in Ewell, Surrey, England) better known as James Whale, is a British radio and television broadcaster. He was brought up in and around Epsom, Surrey by his Welsh mother and English father, who was of at least partial Scottish descent and owned a pub. He has presented late night phone in programmes on UK radio for several decades, starting on Metro Radio in Newcastle where he was the original presenter of the Nightowls Late Evening Phone-In show from the station's launch date in 1974. He later moved to Radio Aire in Leeds (which was also simulcast with Red Rose Radio from Preston - both being part of the same group, Transworld, owned by Owen Oyston), and at one time his radio programme was televised simultaneously as The James Whale Radio Show on late night ITV. Whale has hosted a regular phone-in show on talkSPORT from Sunday to Thursday since 1995.

He has been married to Melinda Whale since 1970, and has two children, James and Peter[1].

Whale has won three Sony Radio Awards. He has also written a book Bald on Top, inspired by his own premature hair loss. His next book 'Hooray toupe' is due to be published in August 2007. Terry Wogan is said to be furious that Whale is set to blow open the world of the 'celebrity toupe'.

On 21 December 2006, he presented The Mike Dickin Tribute Show, a fellow talk sport presenter who died in a car accident in December 2006.

James is currently penning an autobiography. He has said the book should be out by September 2007. The book is going to be called Almost a Celebrity.

A little known fact about James is that in his youth he was a keen archer, and was at one point Surrey junior champion. He once joked on air that some good had come out of the successful bid by London for the 2012 Olympics despite his opposition to the project, as television commentators would be needed for the archery competition and he felt he would be able to do a better job than any current archery commentator due to his expertise in the subject.

Unlike the majority of talkSPORT presenters, Whale has little or no interest in football and becomes annoyed if callers, who may have mistaken his show for a football phone-in programme, wish to talk with him about the subject. He has though, in the past, described himself as a Crystal Palace supporter.

James is an honourary bishop in the Raelian religion. He enjoys mentioning this on the air and frequently alludes to it while discussing religious matters. However, Whale has frequently described all religion as a 'joke' and often attacks people over their religious beliefs. On air Whale often says 'oh, so you are one of these religious nutters too', this normally results in a neverending argument between them. Whale states that he does believe there is a 'force'.

Recently on air James has been refereeing a 'fight' between George Galloway and Jon Gaunt in which Gaunt called Galloway a "Coward" whilst presenting his 10:00 a.m. morning show.

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[edit] Kidney cancer and related charity work

In 2000, Whale was diagnosed with kidney cancer, and announced on air why he would be leaving. He survived, and says it has affected his outlook on life. Whale set up a charity in 2006, the "James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer", to fund research and raise awareness of the disease. As part of this he is developing the "James Whale Network" where sufferers or their carers can contact the Fund and ask to speak to other survivors of kidney cancer. Whale also loudly attacks the government for the 'postcode lottery' in which selective hospitals receive life saving drugs to treat cancer and other diseases while others do not.[2] Whale has often spoken of his dyslexia and is not ashamed to mention this on air.[3] James is a patron of the National Literacy Association.[4]

[edit] 2008 London Mayoral Election

After interviewing United Kingdom Independence Party leader Nigel Farage on his TalkSport show, James Whale announced that he hopes to run for election as UKIP candidate in the 2008 London Mayoral Election, although this is now in doubt as 'The Radio Authority' has said Mr Whale would not be able to continue his radio show while being Mayor of London. Nigel Farage said that Whale "not only has guts, but an understanding of what real people think". Whale has still not ruled this out and says he is still 'toying' with the idea.[5]

[edit] Green beliefs

Whale participated in a live Newsnight programme shown on 26 April 2007 on BBC 2, also broadcast simultaneously on talkSPORT, in which he referred to the controversial subject of two week refuse pickup throughout the UK and the 'scandal' of global warming. Whale should have had a live webcam link to the Newsnight studio, but due to a technical failure this was not possible. Whale announced he believed global warming was solely a natural phenomenon. He also described the notion of recycling as a 'joke', and that he believed instead of house owners, prisoners should be used to sort rubbish and recyclable waste. When asked while on the show if he thought Green councillors were a good idea, Whale replied 'I don't think Green anything's a good idea!'. Whale also often criticises politicians for jumping on the Green bandwagon, in particular frequently attacks Conservative Party leader David Cameron for his 'vote blue, go green' policy. As expected, Whale is also strongly against the introduction of a 'green tax' which is a possible government policy.

[edit] Dwarf tossing

Lately on the show James has been discussing the controversial topic of dwarf tossing. James describes the subject as 'a serious sport'. He has had a dwarf on the show who asked if James would toss him; however, it is widely believed that this was in fact just a reporter from The Daily Sport, who have covered the sport in the press. Ian Wright has also been discussing the topic of dwarf tossing: on a talkSPORT jingle, Wright says 'Maybe we should have a dwarf match... so we could have a laugh at the same time'. When Whale is back on air after hearing the jingle, he says that Wright is 'out of order' in a sarcastic manner.

[edit] James Whale Radio Show (talkSPORT)

James Whale has some jingles/catchphrases on talkSPORT; these include:

  • 'Treble eight, two, one' or 'Eight, eight, eight, two, one', in which James is referring to the talkSPORT "how low" auction.
  • A series of 'Urm...'s in which his producer Ash plays simultaneously.
  • 'Okidoki', James usually says this after returning from a commercial break.
  • James frequently mocks co-presenters such as Jon Gaunt, where he uses the squeak of Sweep from children's TV show Sooty and Sweep.
  • He also uses 'Guttersnipe' to mock George Galloway, and 'You have just defamed me on the radio station in which I myself work' -- he used this in the Gaunt-Galloway feud.
  • On the show normally after the 23:00 news James normally plays a 'talkSPORT moment' these are often of Jon Gaunt on his 10:00 weekday show.

[edit] Regular callers to The James Whale Show

  • Adam from Essex, a taxi driver who frequently brings James and Ash doughnuts during the show and is known to donate regularly to James's charity.
  • Ken from the Highlands, a Scottish Evangelical Christian who believes it is his duty to attempt to save James from hell. He formerly played professional football and has also lived in Ontario, Canada. Until recently, he called from Lincoln but has now evidently moved back to his native land. If James is feeling charitable, he will allow Ken to express his often extreme religious views. Ken frequently quotes from the Bible, The Koran and all manner of religious texts and will occasionally treat James to a song from his wide repertoire of rhetorically Christian songs and hymns, provided of course that he hasn't already been cut off.
  • Anne from the Isle of Skye, another Scottish Evangelical Christian, whom James appears to have less time for, though it has not been unheard of for James to allow both Anne and Ken on the air at the same time to allow them to discuss religion.
  • Jim from Bournemouth, one of James's most despised callers, he is very rarely allowed on the air. When he is given airtime, James often mocks the way Jim portrays his native Scotland as a great country, when in fact he himself lives on the South Coast of England.
  • Nigel from Temple Fortune, a celebrity photographer, Nigel and James tend to be in agreement on most subjects and often have long conversations on air.
  • Damien from Brighton, one of James's favourite callers, Damien's call often consist of scathing attacks on British and American political figures, especially Tony Blair, David Cameron and George W. Bush. Damien formerly called from Southampton but now lives in Brighton where he runs a record company.
  • Jim from Doncaster, a highly bitter lorry driver who constantly attempts to abuse James, Jim is seldom on air for more than thirty seconds at a time.
  • Dave from Bamber Bridge, yet another Christian who often clashes with James on religious issues, Dave tends to talk vast amounts of incomprehendable nonsense and is often cut off before being given a chance to speak. He has also been known to call from Preston.
  • Nigel from Maidstone, a self proclaimed musician who lives with his mother. He appears to have an infatuation with celebrities and once proposed to Jodie Marsh on air. Nigel will often play his latest compositions to James and Ash down the line in the hope that they will use it as a jingle for the show.
  • Vicky from Croydon, a retired pole dancer that is very popular with they Talksport listeners, especially the middle aged man. James reguarly tries to engage in dirty conversation with Vicky, even at the most serious of times.
  • David from Birmingham, an extremely homophobic caller, David is never allowed much time on air.

James often recieves many emails and text messages refering to him as ' Whale, you bald headed bastard!' and 'homosexual', this is mainly due to James' defence for homosexuals. Many callers also insult Whale when provoked.

[edit] Previous and recurring guests on The James Whale Show

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bio at the James Whale Fund site
  2. ^ Telegraph article
  3. ^ http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/downloads/goodpractice.pdf
  4. ^ http://www.nla.org.uk/patrons.php
  5. ^ "Radio host 'could challenge Ken'", BBC, 2006-10-24. Retrieved on 2006-10-24.