Roderick "Rory" Keith Ogilvy Bremner, FKC (born 6 April 1961) is a Scottish
impressionistAn impressionist or a mimic is a performer whose act consists of imitating the voice and mannerisms of others. The word usually refers to a professional comedian/entertainer who specializes in such performances and has developed a wide repertoire of impressions, including adding to them, often to...
, playwright and
comedianA comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, noted for his work in
political satirePolitical satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...
. He was also a permanent panelist for two seasons on the British comedy show
Mock The WeekMock the Week is a British topical celebrity panel game hosted by Dara Ó Briain that launched in 2005. The game is influenced by improvised topical stand-up comedy, with several rounds requiring players to deliver answers on unexpected subjects on the spur of the moment.It is made by independent...
.
Early life
Born in
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Rory Bremner was the second son born to Major Donald Stuart Ogilvy Bremner (March 1908–1979) (who was 53 years old at Rory's birth) and his second wife Ann Simpson (1922–2001). Bremner was educated at
Clifton Hall SchoolClifton Hall School is an independent nursery, primary and secondary school for children aged 3 to 18 years old. It is a small co-educational day school with 270 pupils.- The school :...
and Wellington College and then studied Modern Languages at
King's College LondonKing's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
. He was awarded Honorary Life Membership of
King's College London Students' UnionKing's College London Students' Union is one of England's oldest students' union. KCLSU is an independent charitable organisation, being a registered Charity with the Charity Commission, and exists solely to further the interests of its members, the approximately 23,500 students who are at King's...
in the early 2000s. In 2005 he accepted an Honorary
FellowA fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
ship at King's. Additionally, he was awarded an honorary fellowship by
Queen Mary, University of LondonQueen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
in 2008.
Career
Rory first came into the limelight in 1985, when his single,
N-N-Nineteen Not Out (released under the name, "
The CommentatorsThe Commentators was a one-off name used for the song, "N-N-Nineteen Not Out", a 1985 UK hit single recorded by the impressionist Rory Bremner as a parody of Paul Hardcastle's number one hit, "19"...
") was a big hit in the British charts. It was a parody of
Paul HardcastlePaul Hardcastle is an English composer and musician, specialising in the synthesizer.-Discography:In the early 1980s, Hardcastle played the keyboards on several singles on the Oval record label by the dance music groups Direct Drive and First Light, before going solo.He achieved some acclaim for...
's number one hit,
19"19" is a song by British musician Paul Hardcastle released as the first single from his self-titled third studio album Paul Hardcastle ....
, with Bremner impersonating cricket
commentatorsIn sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
, including
Richie BenaudRichard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
and
Brian JohnstonBrian Alexander Johnston CBE, MC was a cricket commentator and presenter for the BBC from 1946 until his death.-Early life and education:...
, and replacing references to the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
with references to the England cricket team's disastrous 1984 home series against the West Indies in which the England captain
David GowerDavid Ivon Gower OBE is a former English cricketer who became a commentator for Sky Sports. Although he eventually rose to the captaincy of the England cricket team during the 1980s, he is best known for being one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of the modern era. Gower played 117 Test...
had averaged 19.
Bremner contributed to
Spitting ImageSpitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....
and
Week EndingWeek Ending... was a satirical radio current affairs sketch show, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, usually on Friday evenings. It was devised by writer/producers Simon Brett and David Hatch, and was originally hosted by Nationwide presenter Michael Barratt.The show's title was always announced as...
and by 1987 he had his own
BBC TwoBBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
show:
Now - Something Else. He later moved to
Channel 4Channel 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...
with
Rory Bremner, Who Else? where his output became more satirical and the sporting commentators gradually came to represent a smaller proportion of his repertoire. Having teamed up with veterans,
John BirdJohn Bird is an English satirist, actor and comedian.-Early life:Born in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, and educated at High Pavement Grammar School, Nottingham, Bird briefly joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain, while still at school...
and
John FortuneJohn Fortune is a British satirist, comedian writer and actor, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the TV series Bremner, Bird and Fortune. He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School and King's College, Cambridge, where he was to meet and form a lasting friendship with John...
, he now hosts
Bremner, Bird and FortuneBremner, Bird and Fortune is an award-winning satirical British television programme produced by Vera Productions for Channel Four, uniting the longstanding satirical team of John Bird and John Fortune with the satirical impressionist Rory Bremner.The show started in 1999. The fourteenth series...
, which (along with its predecessor
Rory Bremner, Who Else?) has won numerous awards. Occasional one-off specials are also shown, with Bremner impersonating
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
,
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
and various other government figures. In the 1990s he became a semi-regular
cameoA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
turn on the Channel 4 improvisation show
Whose Line Is It Anyway?Whose Line Is It Anyway? is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. Originally a British radio programme, it moved to television in 1988 as a series made for the UK's Channel 4, for a 10 series run...
and in 2005 he was a team captain on the
BBC2BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
improvisational satire show
Mock The WeekMock the Week is a British topical celebrity panel game hosted by Dara Ó Briain that launched in 2005. The game is influenced by improvised topical stand-up comedy, with several rounds requiring players to deliver answers on unexpected subjects on the spur of the moment.It is made by independent...
. Bremner now regularly performs on
Sunday AMThe Andrew Marr Show is an hour-long British television programme broadcast on BBC One on Sunday mornings from 9am. It is presented by Andrew Marr, previously the BBC's Political Editor. In it, the host interviews political figures and others involved in the current events of the week...
, impersonating politicians, with a review of recent political events. He has also presented a
BBC Radio 4BBC 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...
series, Rory Bremner's International Satirists, in which Bremner talks to comedians and impressionists from various European countries. In September 2009, he presented a
BBC FourBBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
documentary,
Rory Bremner and the Fighting Scots, about the history of Scots serving in the British Army. In the run-up to the 2010 UK General Election he undertook a 20-date
Election Battlebus Tour, his first stand-up comedy tour in five years.
Bremner has translated two operas into English:
Der SilberseeDer Silbersee: ein Wintermärchen is a 'play with music' in three acts by Kurt Weill to a German text by Georg Kaiser -Premiere performances:...
by
Kurt WeillKurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
and
CarmenCarmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
by
Georges BizetGeorges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
. He has also translated a
Bertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
play into English.
Strictly Come Dancing
Bremner took part in the 2011 series of
Strictly Come DancingThe ninth series of Strictly Come Dancing began on 10 September 2011 with a Launch Show, and the live shows started on 30 September and 1 October 2011. The show was broadcast from Wembley Arena on 19 November with all proceeds going to the BBC charity, Children in Need...
.. His dance partner in the series was
Erin BoagErin Boag is a professional ballroom dancer. She has danced from the age of three, originally starting ballet and later moving into ballroom, Latin and jazz...
.
Personal life
Bremner's first marriage was to Susan Shackleton, a teacher, in 1987, the couple divorcing in 1995. On 11 September 1999 Rory married Tessa Campbell Fraser and has two daughters with her. They live in the Oxfordshire hamlet of
Eaton HastingsEaton Hastings is a village and civil parish beside the River Thames about northwest of Faringdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. Eaton Hastings was formerly considerably larger than it is today, and is regarded as a deserted medieval...
.
Rory Bremner supported
Reg KeysReginald Thomas Keys, better known as Reg Keys , is the father of a British serviceman killed in the Iraq War. He stood in the 2005 General Election as an anti-war independent candidate for MP of Sedgefield, a constituency held by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair.- Biography :Keys is a founder...
in the 2005 election when he stood against
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
as an anti-war candidate.
He was placed at 49 on
ITVITV 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...
's list of
TV's 50 Greatest StarsTV's 50 Greatest Stars was a British awards show, broadcast as part of ITV's 50th birthday celebrations on 9 September 2006. The two 2 hour show was presented by Bradley Walsh.-Results:As voted for by ITV viewers.1. David Jason2. Morecambe and Wise...
, and in 2008 received the
James Joyce AwardThe James Joyce Award is an award given by the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin for those who have achieved outstanding success in their given field...
of the Literary and Historical Society.
Bremner speaks French, German and Spanish. He is also studying Russian in order to read Russian poetry better in the original . He is also a big fan of
Formula OneFormula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
.
Bremner has appeared on television (on
The One ShowThe One Show is a topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD, hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker. Chris Evans joins Jones to present the programme on Friday...
) talking about his diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In the interview, he said this could actually be quite a useful disorder for a comedian to have. He has also talked about his diagnosis on Radio Four.
Prank call to Margaret Beckett
In February 2007 he entered the news after it emerged that he had managed to get through to
Margaret BeckettMargaret Mary Beckett is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Derby South since 1983, rising to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith, from 18 July 1992 to 12 May 1994, and briefly serving as Leader of the Party following Smith's death...
whilst impersonating
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, with her revealing "embarrassing indiscretions".
On 3 May 2005, Bremner dressed up as
Michael HowardMichael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
and walked along the campaign trail in the marginal seat of Wellingborough. He eventually caught up with Howard himself.
The Big Brecht Fest
In April 2007, he was also involved in
The Big Brecht Fest at the Young Vic Theatre in London celebrating the work of German dramatist
Bertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
, where a series of newly-translated versions of some of his short plays were performed. One of the plays that was staged, the short comedy of manners
A Respectable Wedding, was retranslated by Bremner, who also penned the title to the series. His translation had a positive reception from critics, although it did draw the ire of some for the removal of any class-conflict edge to the play, directed by
Joe Hill-GibbinsJoe Hill-Gibbins is a British theatre director. He is Deputy Artistic Director of the Young Vic Theatre in London.- Background :...
as a squirming farce that relies heavily on the comic value of embarrassment.
External links
- Profile at the 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...
- Profile at Who Do You Think You Are