Who is Danny Baker? Meet the I’m A Celebrity 2016 contestant
HE’D BEEN denying his involvement, but Danny Baker joined the rest of the celebrities taking part in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here.
The veteran broadcaster, 59, had been teasing fans on his Twitter page about heading Down Under and joked that he refused to take part when bosses wouldn’t allow a case of white wine to be his luxury item.
Fans weren't buying it though and sure enough Mr Baker soon took his place by the famous campfire! However, Danny fell victim to the public vote, and became the first camp mate to be eliminated from this year's I'm A Celebrity.
His time on the show got off to a dramatic start when he discovered he and fellow latecomer Martin Roberts would be required to do a Bushtucker Trial straightaway.
Danny has already divided fans with his endless cringe jokes and one-liners, some praising his offbeat humour and others instantly declaring themselves sick of him.
However, he has a sure-fire ally in the form of Gogglebox star Scarlett Moffatt, who was unable to hold back her tears as she expressed her admiration for the broadcasting legend.
There has been controversy though after he butted heads constantly with Martin Roberts during their first few days in camp - with Martin being reduced to tears.
London lad
Danny was born in Deptford in south east London to dock worker father Fred who was also a Communist union leader, and mother Betty, who worked in a biscuit factory. Danny grew up in Bermondsey and went to school in Rotherhithe, turning down a grammar school place to attend the local comprehensive instead.
Early career
He left school at 14 and went to work in a record shop in the West End and then started writing for a punk fanzine called Sniffin’ Glue. This led to a job offer from the NME where he actually worked as the receptionist but then started contributing interviews, reviews and writing headlines.
Personal life
Danny is married to Wendy who he met while at the NME and they live in Blackheath, south London. They have three children, Bonnie, Sonny and his singer-songwriter daughter Mancie, who is an emerging new talent on the music scene and has being tipped to become the UK’s Taylor Swift.
Famous friends
Danny is also best friends with presenter Chris Evans who was his producer on his BBC GLR show in 1989. He and Chris both launched TFI Friday with Evans presenting and Baker writing the scripts. Evans is such a good friend that he gave his pal £30,000 to help with his mortgage when Danny was diagnosed with cancer.
Face for television
In the early 80s, Janet Street Porter gave him a job presenting Twentieth Century Box, a series of documentaries on youth culture, which she produced.
He then landed the roving reporter job on Michael Aspel’s The Six O’Clock Show and then went on to present shows including Win, Lose or Draw and Pets Win Prizes before hosting his own Saturday night TV show called Danny Baker After All.
Whiter than white
In the early Nineties, Baker became the face of the Daz Doorstep Challenge in which he would go around the UK surprising home owners by asking them to put Daz to the test against a rival detergent.
Radio star
Danny is best known for being a radio broadcaster and started his career on the airwaves presenting Weekend Breakfast at GLR which is where he met Chris Evans. He then began presenting on the newly launched Radio 5 hosting phone-in sports quiz Sportscall, then went on to host 6-0-6 and then Morning Edition.
He joined Radio 1 and took over the mid-morning show from Dave Lee Travis but he suffered poor ratings and despite resigning twice, he left in 1996 and returned to GLR.
Marching orders
In 1997 he was sacked from Five Live after his bosses alleged that he had incited threatening behaviour during an angry outburst about a referee.
He then quit BBC London in 2012 in a fury when he learned his show was lined up for the axe. In a parting on-air rant, he described his superiors as “pinhead weasels”.
Accused of killing Bob Marley
It has been claimed that Baker was responsible for Bob Marley's death after treading on his foot during a charity football match in London in 1977.
However although Marley injured his foot in the game and cancer developed in his feet afterwards - Baker never played in the game.
And he believes the rumour started from a joke on his radio show.
Cancer battle
In 2010, Danny was diagnosed with mouth and throat cancer but he fought it hard and remained positive about his chances.
He said: “When I got cancer, it didn’t occur to me for a second I was going to die. It didn’t.”
Last month he took to his Twitter page to announce he had beaten the cancer and wrote: “Six years ago I was diagnosed with no doubt, big time, proper full on cancer. Of the head & neck! But I'm all clear now. It's beatable.”
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