Andy Hamilton

Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He was educated at Westminster City School which was then a voluntary aided grammar school[1] and later read English at Downing College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society (CULES).

Hamilton first came to notice while performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the 1970s. In the mid-1970s he sustained himself by taking jobs at Harrods and the Post Office before joining the BBC in 1976.[2]

His early radio work, mostly on BBC Radio 4 included Week Ending, The News Huddlines and The Million Pound Radio Show (with Nick Revell). He has since appeared regularly in Chelmsford 123, Have I Got News for You, The News Quiz, QI, and If I Ruled the World. Hamilton is frequently invited as a panellist on The News Quiz and as a guest panellist on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

He is the voice of Dr Elephant, the dentist in the children's show Peppa Pig. He was also the original voice of Bob Fish, who is also a dentist, in the cartoon Bob and Margaret. Hamilton is also the voice of Captain Squid, the pirate in the children's show Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom.

On 16 March 2007, he co-presented BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour programme alongside usual presenter Martha Kearney as part of that day's Comic Relief fundraising activities, after defeating Richard Hammond and Kelvin MacKenzie in a poll.

Since 1995, Hamilton has written and played the lead role of Satan in the Radio 4 sitcom Old Harry's Game. He toured with his UK stand-up show Hat of Doom in 2008.

In 2009, Hamilton presented the BBC Four series It's Only a Theory with Reginald D. Hunter.

BBC Radio 4 broadcast the first of a four-part series, Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers, in October 2017; the series comprised the topics of childhood, politics, the human body, and animals, based on his own personal experiences of them.[3]

Hamilton is 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) tall.[4] He has no thumb on his right hand. He joked that it was amputated when he was five "by a surgeon who felt that symmetry was over-rated" to the audience of Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers on Radio 4 in October 2017.[5][6]

He married Libby Asher in 1988, and they have three children together; as of 2005, they were living in Wimbledon, south London.[6]

He is a supporter of Chelsea.

He enjoys playing 5 a side football: he said this on Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers "Sport".

Hamilton has written for:

• Andy Hamilton at the British Film Institute
• Andy Hamilton on IMDb
• Andy Hamilton at British Comedy Guide
• Andy Hamilton Biography at bbc.co.uk