Des Kelly
Encyclopedia
Des Kelly is a British
journalist
and broadcaster
. The award-winning sports columnist for The Daily Mail appears In the paper every Saturday, having joined in 2004.
Des is also a presenter on talkSPORT
commercial national radio station, which broadcasts from London across the United Kingdom. He is the host of The Press Pass every Sunday evening, between 6pm to 8pm, a show introduced on the first weekend of the Premier League season in August 2011.
A regular television contributor to Sky News
and BBC Breakfast
, he is a popular member of the BBC Radio Five Live
Fighting Talk
panel show, and often appears on Sportsweek
and the BBC Radio 4
Today programme
.
Previously, Des was the Acting Editor and Deputy Editor of the Daily Mirror. Kelly replaced Piers Morgan
after he was sacked for publishing faked photos of Iraqi prisoners being 'tortured' by British troops and edited the paper in the wake of that controversy. But Kelly subsequently parted with The Mirror later in 2004.
He is a former Assistant Editor and Head of Sport of the Daily Express
, Football Editor of the Sunday Express, and the Chief Sports Reporter of the now defunct Today
newspaper. He was previously a columnist for The Sunday Times
, has written for GQ, appeared in the German
newspaper Bild and also L'Équipe
in France
.
alongside Gabby Logan
throughout its three-year run from 2007 to 2009. His contributions included interviews with Michael Schumacher
, Arsène Wenger
, Petr Cech
and a piece on GB Blind Football .
Des has made television appearances on the BBC's Match of the Day 2
- and remains the only journalist to appear as pundit on either Match of the Day
show. He has also guested on Channel 4
's Clive Anderson
's Sports Talk Show, Ant and Dec's Family Fortunes
on ITV
, Sky Sports
' Hold the Back Page show and one of his first assignments was to provide live reports for Sky News
from England's
3-0 win over Poland
in 1989.
He has been a contributor to a number of programmes, including BBC's The Noughties... Was That It? and Britain's Most Annoying People as well as GMTV
and others.
A BBC Fighting Talk favourite, Des is nicknamed 'The Fonz' and 'The Fruit Machine' on the show. He is known as 'The Fruit Machine' in honour of a popular fancy dress anecdote. His Fighting Talk theme tunes are Happy Days and a traditional Irish reel.
. He is also a member of the Jaguar Sports Academy and is on the judging panel for the Laureus World Sports Awards
.
Des has also been an Executive Consultant for the PR agency Hill & Knowlton
and director of the internet company Fast Web Media
. At Hill and Knowlton he was Master of Ceremonies at various corporate nights involving supermodels Jerry Hall
and Petra Nemcova
, football manager Arsène Wenger
, the BBC
Match of the Day
team, Cilla Black
, chef Antony Worrall Thompson
, the cricketers Nasser Hussein
and Jeff Thomson
and footballer Marcel Desailly
.
He has completed two London Marathon
s, the Network Q Rally of Great Britain twice , the Arctic Rally, the Belgium
Bianchi Rally and others. He took part in the world's first two-seater F1 race with Fernando Alonso
at Donington Park
. He completed in the 2007 Isle of Wight Round The Island race on board an Extreme 40
sailing boat, made a parachute jump for MENCAP, has run with the bulls in Pamplona. and climbed Kilimanjaro as part of a Football League team raising funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care in the summer of 2011 .
. Born in London
of an Irish family, he was educated at Wimbledon College
and has a University of Surrey BA (Hons) in English and History from Froebel College
in Roehampton
, London.
After meeting at a Christmas party in 1999, his partner was TV presenter Carol Vorderman
and they lived together in London from 2001, but separated in 2010.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
. The award-winning sports columnist for The Daily Mail appears In the paper every Saturday, having joined in 2004.
Des is also a presenter on talkSPORT
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
commercial national radio station, which broadcasts from London across the United Kingdom. He is the host of The Press Pass every Sunday evening, between 6pm to 8pm, a show introduced on the first weekend of the Premier League season in August 2011.
Journalism
A past winner of the SJA Sports Columnist of the Year award, Kelly has been nominated as UK Press Gazette Sports Writer of the Year and highly commended on three separate occasions by the Sports Journalists' Association for his articles.A regular television contributor to Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
and BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
, he is a popular member of the BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
Fighting Talk
Fighting Talk
Fighting Talk is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. Its first series aired in October 2003, and was presented by Johnny Vaughan. The second series featured Christian O'Connell. It is currently hosted by Colin Murray and is aired on Saturday...
panel show, and often appears on Sportsweek
Sportsweek
Sportsweek is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live. The show airs on Sunday mornings and is presented by Garry Richardson, who is also a presenter on the Today show on BBC Radio 4...
and the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
Today programme
Today programme
Today is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks...
.
Previously, Des was the Acting Editor and Deputy Editor of the Daily Mirror. Kelly replaced Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan
Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan , known professionally as Piers Morgan, is a British journalist and television presenter. He is editorial director of First News, a national newspaper for children....
after he was sacked for publishing faked photos of Iraqi prisoners being 'tortured' by British troops and edited the paper in the wake of that controversy. But Kelly subsequently parted with The Mirror later in 2004.
He is a former Assistant Editor and Head of Sport of the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
, Football Editor of the Sunday Express, and the Chief Sports Reporter of the now defunct Today
Today (UK newspaper)
Today was a national newspaper in the United Kingdom, which was published between 1986 and 1995.-History:Today, with the American newspaper USA Today as inspiration, launched on Tuesday, 4 March 1986, with the front page headline, "Second Spy Inside GCHQ". At 18 pence, it was a middle-market...
newspaper. He was previously a columnist for The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
, has written for GQ, appeared in the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
newspaper Bild and also L'Équipe
L'Équipe
L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Broadcasting
Kelly was on BBC1's Inside SportInside Sport (TV series)
Inside Sport is a weekly sports magazine programme produced by BBC Sport. The programme is transmitted twice a week, with an extended edition broadcast at Sunday lunch-time. It is presented by Gabby Logan. The programme combines mainstream sporting issues with topics that may not be widely known to...
alongside Gabby Logan
Gabby Logan
Gabby Logan is a television presenter and radio presenter, as well as a former Wales international gymnast. She currently hosts programmes for BBC Sport, mainly focusing on football.- Early life :...
throughout its three-year run from 2007 to 2009. His contributions included interviews with Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time...
, Arsène Wenger
Arsène Wenger
Arsène Wenger, OBE is a French association football manager and former player, who has managed English Premier League side Arsenal since 1996...
, Petr Cech
Petr Cech
Petr Čech is a Czech footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Czech Republic as a goalkeeper. Čech previously played for Viktoria Plzeň, Chmel Blšany, Sparta Prague, and Rennes. He was voted into the all-star team of Euro 2004 after helping his country reach the semi-finals...
and a piece on GB Blind Football .
Des has made television appearances on the BBC's Match of the Day 2
Match of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
- and remains the only journalist to appear as pundit on either Match of the Day
Match of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
show. He has also guested on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson is a British former barrister, best known for being a comedy writer as well as a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
's Sports Talk Show, Ant and Dec's Family Fortunes
Family Fortunes
Family Fortunes is a British game show, based on the American game show Family Feud. The programme ran on ITV from 6 January 1980 to 6 December 2002 before being revived by the same channel in 2006 under the title of All Star Family Fortunes...
on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
' Hold the Back Page show and one of his first assignments was to provide live reports for Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
from England's
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
3-0 win over Poland
Poland national football team
The Poland national football team represents Poland in association football and is controlled by the Polish Football Association, the governing body for football in Poland...
in 1989.
He has been a contributor to a number of programmes, including BBC's The Noughties... Was That It? and Britain's Most Annoying People as well as GMTV
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
and others.
A BBC Fighting Talk favourite, Des is nicknamed 'The Fonz' and 'The Fruit Machine' on the show. He is known as 'The Fruit Machine' in honour of a popular fancy dress anecdote. His Fighting Talk theme tunes are Happy Days and a traditional Irish reel.
Outside journalism
Kelly is patron of the Great Britain Blind Football team and opened the new Royal National College for the Blind Paralympic Centre in HerefordHereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
. He is also a member of the Jaguar Sports Academy and is on the judging panel for the Laureus World Sports Awards
Laureus World Sports Awards
The Laureus World Sports Awards are awarded annually to sportspeople who have been outstanding during the previous year. The Laureus World Sports Awards were established in 1999 by Founding Patrons Daimler and Richemont and is supported by its Global Partners Mercedes-Benz, IWC Schaffhausen and...
.
Des has also been an Executive Consultant for the PR agency Hill & Knowlton
Hill & Knowlton
Hill & Knowlton is a global public relations company, headquartered in New York City, United States, with 79 offices in 44 countries. Hill & Knowlton was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1927 by John W. Hill and is today led by Chairman & CEO, Paul Taaffe...
and director of the internet company Fast Web Media
Fast Web Media
Fast Web Media is a digital marketing agency based in Manchester and London in the United Kingdom, founded in 1994. The company also operates in the Netherlands and Greece. The company won the Revolution Award for Search Marketing in 2010...
. At Hill and Knowlton he was Master of Ceremonies at various corporate nights involving supermodels Jerry Hall
Jerry Hall
Jerry Faye Hall is an American model and actress, also known for her long-term relationship with Mick Jagger, with whom she had four children.-Early life:...
and Petra Nemcova
Petra Nemcová
Petra Němcová is a Czech model, television host, author, and philanthropist. She is the founder and chair of the Happy Hearts Fund. In December 2004, she was injured in Thailand by a tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake; her fiancé, photographer Simon Atlee, was killed in the...
, football manager Arsène Wenger
Arsène Wenger
Arsène Wenger, OBE is a French association football manager and former player, who has managed English Premier League side Arsenal since 1996...
, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Match of the Day
Match of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
team, Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
, chef Antony Worrall Thompson
Antony Worrall Thompson
Henry Antony Cardew Worrall Thompson is a British celebrity chef, television presenter and radio broadcaster.-Biography:...
, the cricketers Nasser Hussein
Nasser Hussein
Nasser Hussain or Hussein may refer to:* Nasser Hussain, the England cricketer* Nasser Hussain * Hussein ibn Nasser, Prime Minister of Jordan from 1963 to 1964* Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed Al-Nasser, the alleged Saudi terrorist...
and Jeff Thomson
Jeff Thomson
Jeffrey Robert Thomson is a former Australian cricketer. Known as "Thommo", he was one of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket and was the opening partner of fellow fast bowler Dennis Lillee; their combination was one of the most fearsome in Test cricket history...
and footballer Marcel Desailly
Marcel Desailly
Marcel Desailly is a retired Ghanaian born French footballer and star of the France national football team squad, with whom he won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000...
.
He has completed two London Marathon
London Marathon
The London Marathon is one of the biggest running events in the world, and one of the five top world marathons that make up the World Marathon Majors competition, which has a $1 million prize purse. It has been held each spring in London since 1981. The race is currently sponsored by Virgin Money,...
s, the Network Q Rally of Great Britain twice , the Arctic Rally, the Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
Bianchi Rally and others. He took part in the world's first two-seater F1 race with Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
at Donington Park
Donington Park
Donington Park is a motorsport circuit near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England.Originally part of the Donington Hall estate, it was created as a racing circuit during the pre-war period when the German Silver Arrows were battling for the European Championship...
. He completed in the 2007 Isle of Wight Round The Island race on board an Extreme 40
Extreme 40
The Extreme 40 is a class of sailing catamaran created by TornadoSport and designed by Yves Loday. 40 feet long and constructed of carbon fibre. They have a top speed of about 40 knots and can sail at about 35 knots in 20-25 knots of wind. The first extreme 40 was launched in 2005. They are...
sailing boat, made a parachute jump for MENCAP, has run with the bulls in Pamplona. and climbed Kilimanjaro as part of a Football League team raising funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care in the summer of 2011 .
Personal
Des lives in BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. Born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
of an Irish family, he was educated at Wimbledon College
Wimbledon College
Wimbledon College is a government-maintained voluntary-aided Jesuit Roman Catholic high school for boys aged 11 to 19. The school is based at Edge Hill, Wimbledon, London. It was founded in 1892 "for improvement in living and learning to the greater glory of God and the common good"...
and has a University of Surrey BA (Hons) in English and History from Froebel College
Froebel College
Froebel College is one of the four constituent colleges of Roehampton University. The college was founded in 1892 by followers of Friedrich Fröbel.-External links:* *...
in Roehampton
Roehampton
Roehampton is a district in south-west London, forming the western end of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies between the town of Barnes to the north, Putney to the east and Wimbledon Common to the south. The Richmond Park golf courses are west of the neighbourhood, and just south of these is...
, London.
After meeting at a Christmas party in 1999, his partner was TV presenter Carol Vorderman
Carol Vorderman
Carol Jean Vorderman MBE is a British media personality, best known for co-hosting the popular game show Countdown for 26 years from 1982 to 2008. In September 2011 she became a co-anchor of the ITV1 panel show Loose Women....
and they lived together in London from 2001, but separated in 2010.