AllMovie

Factsheet

• Attended the Brentwood School with writer Douglas Adams.
• Was vice-president of the Footlights Club while at University of Cambridge.
• Met his wife Jo Jones on Not The Nine O'Clock News in 1979 when she had to throw a bucket of water over him.
• Along with 1,000 students, successfully helped stop the closure of Cambridge's 100-year old architecture department in 2004.
• Was awarded honorary degrees from Anglia Ruskin University in 2004 and the University of Essex in 2010, for his outstanding contributions to television and the cause of national heritage.
• In 2011, he became the President of Civic Voice, a charity which campaigns for better places and civic pride.