Pat Sharp (born Patrick Sharpin, 25 October 1961 ) is a British radio and television presenter and
disc jockeyA disc jockey is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, dis
k referred to phonograph records, while dis
c referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling...
, currently presenting drive on
Heart 103Heart 103 is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Cambridge on 103.0 MHz and DAB Digital Radio. Heart also broadcasts in Newmarket and Haverhill on 97.4 MHz...
in
CambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen....
. In Britain he is known mainly for his work on 1990s children's television programme
Fun HouseFun House is a United States children's television game show that aired from September 5, 1988 to April 13, 1991. For its first two years, it aired in syndication, but for its last season it was picked up by Fox Broadcasting Company and renamed "Fox's Fun House."Fun House was produced by Stone...
, his
mulletThe mullet is a hairstyle that is short at the front and sides, and long in the back. Widely panned as a lowbrow and unappealing hairstyle, and facetiously referred to as "business up front, party out back," the mullet began making appearances in the popular media in the 1960s and 1970s but did...
and his radio shows, while throughout Europe he is known mainly as one of the
SkyBritish Sky Broadcasting is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It is the UK's largest pay TV provider...
Channel's VJs. Among the programmes he presented for Sky was Coca-Cola Eurochart Top 50 and Nescafe UK Top 50.
Pat Sharp (born Patrick Sharpin, 25 October 1961 ) is a British radio and television presenter and
disc jockeyA disc jockey is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, dis
k referred to phonograph records, while dis
c referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling...
, currently presenting drive on
Heart 103Heart 103 is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Cambridge on 103.0 MHz and DAB Digital Radio. Heart also broadcasts in Newmarket and Haverhill on 97.4 MHz...
in
CambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen....
. In Britain he is known mainly for his work on 1990s children's television programme
Fun HouseFun House is a United States children's television game show that aired from September 5, 1988 to April 13, 1991. For its first two years, it aired in syndication, but for its last season it was picked up by Fox Broadcasting Company and renamed "Fox's Fun House."Fun House was produced by Stone...
, his
mulletThe mullet is a hairstyle that is short at the front and sides, and long in the back. Widely panned as a lowbrow and unappealing hairstyle, and facetiously referred to as "business up front, party out back," the mullet began making appearances in the popular media in the 1960s and 1970s but did...
and his radio shows, while throughout Europe he is known mainly as one of the
SkyBritish Sky Broadcasting is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It is the UK's largest pay TV provider...
Channel's VJs. Among the programmes he presented for Sky was Coca-Cola Eurochart Top 50 and Nescafe UK Top 50. He was awarded the
Sony AwardThe Sony Radio Academy Awards , started in 1983, are some of the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. They are run by ZAFER Associates in association with the Radio Academy...
in
1992
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1992.-January-February:*January 11**Nirvana's Nevermind album goes to #1 in the US Billboard 200 chart, establishing the widespread popularity of the Grunge movement of the 1990s.**Paul Simon is the first major artist to...
for best DJ.
Early career in radio and music
Sharp worked as a presenter at
BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the BBC which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock or interviews. It is aimed...
, mixing holiday cover for other presenters with a regular slot early Saturday & Sunday mornings and a number of television appearances hosting BBC1
Top of the PopsTop of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC1, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC...
.
He deputised for
David JensenDavid "Kid" Jensen , is a Canadian-born British radio DJ.-Early career:Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began his career in his home country at the age of sixteen playing jazz and classical music. He then joined Radio Luxembourg at the age of eighteen in 1968...
on
The Network Chart ShowThe Network Chart Show was a radio programme launched across Independent Local Radio in the UK on 30 September 1984.-Background:The main presenter was David Jensen , however Pat Sharp would often provide holiday cover in its later years: in its earlier years Timmy Mallett and Alan Freeman also...
. In the mid-1980s he became a DJ for Radio Mercury and has also worked for the
British Forces Broadcasting ServiceThe British Forces Broadcasting Service was established by the British War Office in 1943. Today it provides radio and television programmes for HM Forces, and their dependents, in Afghanistan, Belize, Bosnia, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kosovo, the Middle...
.
For 10 years, starting in 1987, Sharp was a DJ on
Capital FM95.8 Capital FM is a popular London local radio station owned by the Global Radio group.-Early years:This local radio station for London, which was based on the first two floors of the Euston Tower, was originally named Capital Radio, and was launched by then-chairman Richard Attenborough at 5:00...
in London.
In the late 1980s, Sharp teamed up with Mick Brown as the duo
Pat And MickPat and Mick were a British vocal duo consisting of popular radio personalities Pat Sharp and Mick Brown. The royalties from their record sales were donated to Capital FM's 'Help A London Child' charity...
, to release the charity single "I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet". The song made the Top 10 of the UK singles chart. The duo released 7 hit singles, raising over a million pounds for charity.
In 1987, he was voted as having the worst haircut (winning this accolade more than once) at the
Smash HitsSmash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at children and young teenagers, and originally published in the United Kingdom by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time...
Poll Winners PartyThe Smash Hits Poll Winners Party was an awards ceremony which ran from 1988 to 2005. Each award winner was voted by readers of the Smash Hits magazine.It ended with the closure of the magazine in February 2006...
awards, where he was also in the top 3 DJ's.
Television
Sharp intermittently presented episodes of the music programme
Top of the Pops, including being one of the many presenters on the last programme made. In 1987-1988, he presented
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
show
The RoxyThe Roxy is a British television music programme that was broadcast on ITV in the late 1980s. It was produced by Tyne Tees Television following the demise a few months earlier of its more successful music show The Tube....
. However, Sharp is best known on television for several children's television programmes aired on
CITVCITV is the brand name used for the majority of children's television output on ITV's television stations, including the ITV Network, breakfast broadcaster GMTV and the ITV plc-owned CITV Channel as well as non ITV plc owned regions...
. Most notable of these is
Fun HouseFun House is a United States children's television game show that aired from September 5, 1988 to April 13, 1991. For its first two years, it aired in syndication, but for its last season it was picked up by Fox Broadcasting Company and renamed "Fox's Fun House."Fun House was produced by Stone...
, a popular children's television programme running from 1989 – 1999. Sharp was also one of the presenters of Saturday morning show
What's Up Doc?What's Up Doc? was a Saturday Morning children's variety series produced by Television South for the first half of season 1 and Scottish Television for the the rest of season 1 and up until season 3 and aired on ITV from 1992 to 1995 and hosted by Andy Crane, Yvette Fielding and Pat...
1992 – 1994, and presented phone-in quiz show
Hang On! in 1996. In a 2007 interview with
The SunThe Sun is a daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland with the second highest circulation of any daily English-language newspaper in the world and the biggest circulation within the UK, standing at an average of 2,986,000 copies a day between January and June 2008 and...
newspaper, Sharp says he would like to host a new version of Fun House sometime in the year, but with adults as contestants instead of kids.
Sharp appeared as a guest in many other television shows, including several episodes of
You Bet!You Bet! was a British game show based around the format of the German show Wetten, dass..? developed by Frank Elstner. You Bet! ran from 20 February, 1988 to 12 April 1997, initially hosted by Bruce Forsyth from 1988 to 1990, then by Matthew Kelly from 1991 to 1995 and finally by Darren Day from...
,
Surprise, SurpriseSurprise, Surprise was a British TV show hosted by Cilla Black, produced by London Weekend Television. It ran from 6 May 1984 to 26 December 2001. The production team overlapped with that of the earlier Game for a Laugh and the subsequent Blind Date...
,
Noel's House PartyNoel's House Party was a BBC television light entertainment show hosted by Noel Edmonds that was broadcast live on Saturday evenings throughout the 1990s. It was set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo. The show was broadcast during the...
,
Celebrity Squares and
The Weakest LinkThe Weakest Link is a television quiz show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment and used to air on BBC America...
. In the 2000s, Sharp has appeared in several retrospectives, including
I Love the '80sI Love the '80s was a BBC Television programme. It was broadcast following the success of I Love the 70s. It featured British celebrities such as Peter Kay, Clare Grogan, Dee Hepburn and Kate Thornton. The series was broadcast in ten episodes, one dedicated to each year.- I Love 1980 :Presented...
on the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
and
Pat Sharp's House of Fun 100 on
The HitsThe Hits was a music video channel in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland owned by Box Television.-Overview and availability:The channel showcased a range of pop centering on chart hits and current favourites...
.
Between 1997 and 2004 Sharp presented
Heart 106.2Heart 106.2 is an Independent Local Radio station based in London that specializes in "variety" and is owned by Global Radio as part of the Heart Network....
's weekday morning
Time Tunnel show. Following this, Sharp was a presenter on the
Century FMCentury Radio was the brand name of a two independent local radio stations in northern England owned by GMG Radio. They were rebranded as Real Radio in March 2009 to conform with the group's other similar stations....
group of stations. Currently Sharp fronts 'The Weekend Vibe', a weekly 3-hour show produced by
Blue Revolution, which is broadcast on numerous stations including
Energy FMEnergy FM is an Isle of Man based radio station which first started broadcasting in 2001 . The station plays music from the 80's right up to the current day with specialist shows that play music from as far back as the 1950s...
on the
Isle of ManThe Isle of Man , or Mann , is a self-governing British Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Britain and Ireland. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Crown is represented by a Lieutenant Governor...
. , Sharp currently hosts the "Big Drive Home" on Q103 a radio station in Cambridge that's part of
GCap MediaGCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. On 31 March 2008 the company agreed a takeover by...
& also presented "The Best 80s Show in the World.. Ever!" on
SGR FMHeart Ipswich is a radio station that evolved from Suffolk Group Radio, which was the parent company for two Independent Local Radio stations serving the county of Suffolk in England. The older of the radio stations was Radio Orwell, which began transmissions in Ipswich on 28 October 1975...
which is also owned by
GCap MediaGCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. On 31 March 2008 the company agreed a takeover by...
.
Sharp remains a popular figure in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, and is hired for university functions throughout the country, thriving on the
nostalgiaThe term nostalgia describes a longing for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , nóstos, "returning home", a Homeric word, and , álgos, "pain" or "ache"...
of those who attend. Most recently, Sharp DJ'd for two hours at the University of Sheffield End of Year Carnival on 14th June 2008. He is also a popular live DJ and makes regular appearances in
IbizaIbiza is an island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Iberian Peninsula Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses...
and Majorca every summer.
In 2004, he participated in
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
sports reality show
The GamesThe Games was a Channel 4 reality TV show that ran for four series, in which 10 celebrities competed against each other, by doing Olympic style events, such as weight lifting, gymnastics and diving. At the end of the series, the contestants with the most points from each round were awarded either a...
finishing fifth out of five contestants, but was proclaimed "The People's Hero". Further
reality TVReality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors...
involvement came on 3 June 2006 when he appeared for a sketch on
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
's
X FactorThe X Factor is a television music talent show franchise originating in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for Pop Idol. The competitions, now held in various countries, are contested by aspiring pop singers, and talent-filled aspiring performers drawn from public auditions...
spin-off show
X-Tra Factor: Battle Of The Stars. He appeared briefly on 23 June 2007 on
Big Brother's Big Mouth through a phone-in. However he did appear on the show in person as a guest on 12 July.
External links