Frank Skinner

Frank Skinner
Skinner at Wembley Stadium in 2008
Birth name Christopher Graham Collins
Born (1957-01-28) 28 January 1957
West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England
Medium Stand-up, television, radio
Years active 1990–present
Genres Observational comedy, blue comedy, musical comedy

Frank Skinner (born Christopher Graham Collins; 28 January 1957) is an English writer, comedian, TV and radio presenter, and actor. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was awarded the Best Comedy Entertainment Personality.[1]

He presented Fantasy Football League, from 1994–2004, The Frank Skinner Show from 1995–2005, Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned from 2000–2005 and Room 101 from 2012–2018. Since 2009 he has hosted The Frank Skinner Show on Absolute Radio, which is broadcast live on Saturdays and later released as a podcast.

Along with David Baddiel, he provided vocals and wrote the lyrics for Three Lions, the official song in collaboration with Liverpudlian indie band The Lightning Seeds, to mark the England football team's participation in the 1996 European Championships (which was hosted in England); he also reprised his role to release two subsequent versions of the song for the England team's involvement in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2010 FIFA World Cup. The 1996 version is the only song in history to have four non-consecutive stints at number one in the UK Singles Chart with the same artists, the most recent coming in July 2018 following England reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[2]

Early life

Skinner was born in West Bromwich, England,[3] and grew up in a council house in neighbouring Oldbury. He was the youngest of four children born to former semi-professional footballer John Collins (1918–1990) and his wife Doris (1919–1989). He has two older brothers, Keith and Terrence, and an older sister, Nora. His father, who was born in West Cornforth, County Durham, played for Spennymoor United before the Second World War, and met his mother in a local pub after Spennymoor had played West Bromwich Albion in an FA Cup game in 1937.

Skinner attended Moat Farm Infant School from 1961 to 1964, St. Hubert's Roman Catholic Junior School from 1964 to 1968, and then Oldbury Technical Secondary School from 1968 to 1973. He passed two O-levels in summer 1973 and took A-levels in English Language and Art, along with several O-level resits, at Oldbury Technical School Sixth Form. He subsequently took 4 A-levels (including English Language and Literature) at Warley College of Technology and graduated from Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham City University) in 1981 with a degree in English. This was followed by a Masters degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick in Coventry the following year.[4]

Despite his given first name of Christopher, his parents called him by his middle name Graham;[5] all his friends referred to him, and some still do, as Chris.[6] Skinner once explained that whenever someone called at his house to ask if "Chris" was there, his mother would say yes, only to then turn around and shout for "Graham".[5] He adopted the stage name Frank Skinner when the actors' union Equity told him there was already a singer from Burnley on their books called Chris Collins.[5][7] He took the name from a member of his late father's dominoes team.[8]

Career

After graduating, he spent three and a half years on unemployment benefit before finding work as a lecturer in English at Halesowen College. In 1987, he decided to give stand-up comedy a try on the side. Skinner performed his first stand-up gig in 1987 and made his television debut a year later. In 1990, he co-wrote and starred in the comedy variety show Packet Of Three on Channel 4 but continued to see his reputation as a stand-up grow. Before becoming a full-time performer in 1989, he suffered a bout of influenza in September 1986 that made him give up drinking, and he remains a high-profile recovering alcoholic.[9]

Skinner won the 1991 Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe, beating Jack Dee and Eddie Izzard. He has worked with David Baddiel, notably on the popular late night entertainment show Fantasy Football League, from 1994 to 2004, and on Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned from 2000 to 2005. The duo also co-wrote and performed the football song "Three Lions" with the Lightning Seeds and the England national football team for Euro 96, and re-recorded it for the 1998 World Cup. The song reached #1 in the UK charts both times. In 2001, he released his autobiography Frank Skinner by Frank Skinner, which became a bestseller. The accompanying TV show, Frank Skinner on Frank Skinner, in which Skinner showed where he lived as a child and interviews with Skinner, his friends and family members, was recorded and shown on ITV in 2001.

In 1998, he took part in a documentary titled A Little Bit Of Elvis. He paid over £11,000 at auction for a shirt which he believed was worn by Elvis Presley at his famous 1956 Tupelo concert. Skinner visited the US to find out if the shirt was the genuine article. After a slightly awkward conversation with Dave Hebler, Presley's bodyguard, it appeared the shirt did once belong to Presley, but it was not worn at the concert. Skinner had been a fan of Elvis as a child and used to buy Elvis Monthly.[10]

Skinner in 2017.

From 1995 to 1998, Skinner had his own chat show on BBC One, which ended when the BBC refused to meet pay demands of a reported £20 million.[11] After a short break, the show found a new home at ITV in 1999, where it ran until late 2005. He has appeared in a number of self-written sitcoms, including Blue Heaven (1994) and Shane (2004).[12]

In 2000, he starred as Buttons in the ITV Panto adaptation of Cinderella. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.[13] In 2005, Skinner announced he was going to leave behind his television work in favour of returning to the stand-up comedy circuit. A second series of Shane had been made, but never shown.

In February 2006, he received an honorary degree from the University of Central England, (now Birmingham City University).[14] Skinner and David Baddiel covered the 2006 FIFA World Cup by podcast for The Times. The podcasts received a nomination for the 2007 Sony Radio Academy Awards.

In 2007, he performed a new live stand-up tour, his first for 10 years, starting at a warm-up gig at the Swindon Arts Centre, continuing through to the Edinburgh Festival for 2 weeks at The Pleasance, the venue where he won the Perrier Award, and a 69 date national tour including three sold out homecoming performances at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham in the autumn.

In November 2008 and in the light of senior broadcasting figures such as ITV boss Michael Grade and Sir Terry Wogan calling for TV to reduce its use of vulgar language, Skinner decided to experiment with removing swear words altogether from his stand up live act although stated that it would be a shame if 'clever swearing' was lost.[15] He also stood in for an ill Paul Merton as a team captain on 21 November edition of Have I Got News for You.[16]

From March 2009, Skinner started to present the Saturday Morning Breakfast Show on Absolute Radio with his co-hosts Emily Dean and Gareth Richards (who was replaced by Alun Cochrane in June 2011). The show is produced by Avalon Television. After an initial 12-week stint proved very popular with the listeners, Skinner's contract was extended until summer 2010.[17] The show is still running with both Emily Dean and Alun Cochrane.[18][19]

Skinner plays the banjo ukulele and in 2010, he contributed ukulele parts to a song by Fairport Convention called "Ukulele Central" which featured on their album Festival Bell. A great admirer of George Formby, he hosted a BBC Four TV documentary, Frank Skinner on George Formby, which aired on 27 October 2011.

In 2011, he wrote and performed a Radio 4 comedy series, Don't Start with Katherine Parkinson. Each episode was based around an argument between Skinner's character Neil and his girlfriend Kim. Skinner said that each episode was only 15 minutes long as it was 'too intense' to be any longer. Don't Start returned for a second series in 2012.

Since January 2012 Skinner has been host of BBC show Room 101.[20] In August 2013, he was a team captain on the BBC comedy show I Love My Country.

In November 2013, Skinner appeared in the one-off Doctor Who 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.[21] He then got a part starring in the episode "Mummy on the Orient Express", alongside Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi.[22]

In 2015 he appeared as a regular in the TV show Taskmaster, a comedy game show hosted by Greg Davies commissioned and broadcast on the TV channel Dave. In 2016, he presented a series exclusive to BBC's online service, BBC iPlayer called Frank Skinner on Demand with....

In April 2017, Skinner became a team captain along with Jonathan Ross on the live ITV panel show, Don't Ask Me Ask Britain hosted by Alexander Armstrong.

On the Official UK Charts on 13 July 2018, the song Three Lions by Skinner, David Baddiel and The Lightning Seeds also re-entered the charts at Number 1. Celebrating the progress of England national football team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[23] with the phrase "it's coming home" featuring heavily on social media and television.[24][25]

Personal life

Skinner and his longtime girlfriend, Cath Mason, have a son, Buzz Cody.[26][27] Raised Roman Catholic, he reconnected with the faith in his 20s, and remains a practising Catholic. He is also a lifelong supporter of West Bromwich Albion, and regularly attends games.[28]

He was a victim of the credit crunch in the late 2000s after investing in AIG, losing millions of pounds as a result.[29]

Skinner stopped drinking alcohol at age 29, having become concerned when he changed from having sherry for breakfast to Pernod.[30] He started performing stand-up comedy shortly afterwards.[31] He has said that he has never been able to replace the “white heat of joy” he got from alcohol and that his social life has never recovered from stopping drinking.[32]

Publications

Books

In October 2001, Skinner's autobiography, Frank Skinner by Frank Skinner, was published.[33] In August 2009, he released a book centred on his comedy career - Frank Skinner on the Road: Love, Stand-up Comedy and the Queen of the Night.[34] In September 2011, The Collected Wisdom of Frank Skinner; Dispatches from the Sofa was published.[35] It consists of his weekly columns for The Times, written from 2009-11.

Stand-up VHS and DVDs

TitleReleasedNotes
Live5 October 1992Live at London's Bloomsbury Theatre
Live at the Apollo1994Live at London's Hammersmith Apollo
Live at the Palladium14 October 1996Live at London's Palladium Theatre
Live in Birmingham16 November 1998Live at Birmingham's Hippodrome Theatre
Stand-Up! Live from Birmingham's National Indoor Arena10 November 2008Live at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena
Live - Man in a Suit1 December 2014Live at London's Leicester Square Theatre

References

  1. ↑ "Past Winners". British Comedy Awards. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Three Lions comes home to Number 1, sets new chart record". officialcharts.com. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  3. ↑ "Frank Skinner". IMDb.
  4. ↑
  5. 1 2 3 Gordon, Bryony (2 January 2013). "Frank Skinner: 'I'd like to go through a dark night of the soul'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 June 2018. To wit: his name isn't even Frank Skinner. It is Christopher Graham Collins. His parents still call him Graham, but when he was getting into stand-up comedy there was already a Chris Collins registered with Equity, a man who happened to be a singer from Burnley, so the comedian from the West Midlands had to change his name.
  6. ↑ Roberts, Jo (5 November 2014). "Frank Skinner's Man In A Suit tour comes to Tunbridge Wells and Margate, November 2014". Kent Online. Retrieved 6 June 2018. There's a few friends who still call me Chris, but even some of those have started calling me Frank. I became Frank in about 1988 and now, if anybody asks me my name, I'd say 'Frank'. That is how I think of myself, 99% of the people I know call me that.
  7. ↑ "He's so puerile and so proud of it". The Herald. 13 January 2001. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  8. ↑ Clayton, Emma (24 October 2014). "Life on tour still appeals as Frank Skinner returns to stand-up". Telegraph & Argus. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  9. ↑ "Frank Skinner tells 5 live about his alcohol addiction". BBC News. London. 15 September 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Elvis Presley: The Sun Years by Frank Skinner - Uncut". 2 March 2012.
  11. ↑ Jane Robins and Paul McCann (2 September 1999). "Skinner makes a sky-high demand so BBC walks out". The Independent. London.
  12. ↑ Guide, British Comedy (20 December 2006). "Shane gets an American re-make - British Comedy Guide".
  13. ↑ "The A-Z of laughter (part two)". The Observer. 7 December 2003. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  14. ↑ "Honour for comic Skinner". Birmingham Mail. 2006-02-22.
  15. ↑ "Frank Skinner defends 'eloquent' swearing". BBC News. 17 November 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  16. ↑ Fletcher, Alex (21 November 2008). "Merton misses 'Have I Got News' with illness". Digital Spy. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  17. ↑ Plunkett, John (16 June 2009). "Frank Skinner extends contract at Absolute Radio". London: Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  18. ↑ Sturges, fiona (14 May 2014). "The Week in Radio: Why waking up with Frank Skinner is an absolute joy". London: Independent.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  19. ↑ "Frank Skinner show". Absolute radio. 18 May 2016.
  20. ↑ "Frank Skinner to host Room 101 on BBC One". BBC Media Centre. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  21. ↑ "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot", BBC programmes, retrieved 26 November 2013
  22. ↑ "Mummy on the Orient Express: Fact File". BBC. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  23. ↑ "Three Lions breaks chart record". BBC News. July 10, 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  24. ↑ Keh, Andrew (July 7, 2018). "England Takes Another Step Toward Bringing 'It' Home". The New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  25. ↑ Ley, Tom (9 July 2018). "Gather Your Mates And Have A Laugh At England's "It's Coming Home" World Cup Meme". Deadspin. Archived from the original on July 9, 2018.
  26. ↑ "Frank Skinner to be a dad". chortle.co.uk. 28 January 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
  27. ↑ "Frank Skinner is a dad at 55... and his son is named Buzz Cody". Daily Mirror. 27 May 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  28. ↑ Frank Skinner profile, atfourfourtwo.com; accessed 26 December 2014.
  29. ↑ "Skinner reveals 'lost millions'". BBC News. 13 June 2010.
  30. ↑ "My body & soul: Frank Skinner, comedian, 51". the Guardian. 23 November 2008.
  31. ↑ Smith, Julia Llewellyn (25 September 2018). "Frank Skinner interview: 'Turning 60 was great. It was turning 30 that I found traumatic'" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  32. ↑ Whitworth, Damian (21 August 2018). "What's wrong with 100 units a week? Adrian Chiles on life as a middle‑class drinker" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  33. ↑ ASIN 0099426870
  34. ↑ ASIN 0099458039
  35. ↑ ASIN B005NAD5X6

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