Nick Knowles
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Simon Augustine Knowles (born 21 September 1962) is an English
television presenter. He is best known for presenting DIY SOS
on the BBC
. He has also presented Mission Africa, UK's Worst, City Hospital, Coast to Coast, Five's Company, Departure Lounge
and Real Rescues
.
, London
on 21 September 1962. He has one brother, John, and three sisters, Karen, Angela and Sheila.
Aged 11, Knowles moved to Mildenhall
in Suffolk
, attending St Louis Middle School. After his family moved again, he attended The Skinners' School
in Tunbridge Wells
, Kent
.
After leaving school, Knowles started work as a labourer before starting his own business. He still holds controlling shares of his company.
, a home renovation series which has been broadcast on BBC One
since 1999. He has also presented the BBC
factual show Real Rescues
since 2007.
Knowles has also hosted several entertainment programmes, including Who Dares Wins
, Last Choir Standing
, Guesstimation
, Secret Fortune
and Perfection
. He also presented New Year Live with Kate Silverton
on New Year's Eve aboard HMS Belfast in London.
In 2005, he was one of the celebrities who took part in Comic Relief does Fame Academy
.
Knowles has also presented programmes with a wildlife theme. In 2007 he fronted Mission Africa
, in which a team of volunteers constructed a game reserve in Kenya
. During this project, Knowles fell from a Land Rover, dislocating his shoulder. He flew back to the UK to receive emergency treatment. In the same year, he also reported on the plight of orphaned orang-utans for an edition of Saving Planet Earth
. In 2009, he co-presented the BBC reality TV series Wildest Dreams with James Honeyborne
, in which novice candidates had to complete a set of challenging tasks filming wild animals in Africa
. The winner joined the BBC Natural History Unit
on a one-year placement.
In April 2007 he was diagnosed as suffering from Tuberculosis
he believes that he contracted the illness whilst covering the TB epidemic in Zambia
for Comic Relief in 2003
into second place.
.
He sang "Addicted to Love
" for Children in Need 2008
.
.
He is also a collector of top hat
s.
To prove a point by a local enthusiast, he was photographed along with several other "rough" looking celebs and shown to a group of teenagers. They were told to vote for who looked like the tramp (although it was a trick question) and he came second to Chris Moyles.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
television presenter. He is best known for presenting DIY SOS
DIY SOS
DIY SOS is a British DIY television series made for the BBC, presented by Nick Knowles. The first episode was broadcast on 7 October 1999 and the show is still aired today...
on 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...
. He has also presented Mission Africa, UK's Worst, City Hospital, Coast to Coast, Five's Company, Departure Lounge
Departure Lounge (television series)
Departure Lounge was a BBC One holiday magazine-style television series based at Stansted Airport.It was hosted by Nick Knowles and CBBC presenter, Angellica Bell along with travel expert Simon Calder....
and Real Rescues
Real Rescues
Real Rescues is a British documentary exploring the daily work of the emergency services aired since 15 October 2007. The show is narrated by Nick Knowles and is broadcast on BBC One. Real Rescues is at the heart of the action with the emergency services of Hampshire including the police, fire,...
.
Early years
Knowles was born in SouthallSouthall
Southall is a large suburban district of west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Yeading, Hayes, Hanwell, Heston, Hounslow, Greenford and Northolt...
, 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...
on 21 September 1962. He has one brother, John, and three sisters, Karen, Angela and Sheila.
Aged 11, Knowles moved to Mildenhall
Mildenhall, Suffolk
Mildenhall is a small market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is run by Forest Heath District Council and has a population of 9,906 people. The town is near the A11 and is located north-west of county town, Ipswich. The large Royal Air Force base, RAF Mildenhall as well as RAF...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, attending St Louis Middle School. After his family moved again, he attended The Skinners' School
The Skinners' School
The Skinners' School , is a British grammar school for boys located in the town of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent...
in Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
.
After leaving school, Knowles started work as a labourer before starting his own business. He still holds controlling shares of his company.
Television career
He is principally known as the main host of DIY SOSDIY SOS
DIY SOS is a British DIY television series made for the BBC, presented by Nick Knowles. The first episode was broadcast on 7 October 1999 and the show is still aired today...
, a home renovation series which has been broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
since 1999. He has also presented 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...
factual show Real Rescues
Real Rescues
Real Rescues is a British documentary exploring the daily work of the emergency services aired since 15 October 2007. The show is narrated by Nick Knowles and is broadcast on BBC One. Real Rescues is at the heart of the action with the emergency services of Hampshire including the police, fire,...
since 2007.
Knowles has also hosted several entertainment programmes, including Who Dares Wins
Who Dares Wins (UK game show)
Who Dares Wins is a BBC National Lottery game show broadcast on BBC One since 17 November 2007. The programme is hosted by Nick Knowles.-Format:...
, Last Choir Standing
Last Choir Standing
Last Choir Standing was a 2008 talent show-themed television series produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom. Broadcast on BBC One in July and August 2008, the series saw amateur choirs competing each week to be the 'last choir standing'....
, Guesstimation
Guesstimation (game show)
Guesstimation is a BBC National Lottery game show that was broadcast on BBC One from 11 July 2009 to 29 August 2009. The programme was hosted by Nick Knowles and was based on the Dutch show Wat Schat je?.-Format:...
, Secret Fortune
Secret Fortune
Secret Fortune is a BBC National Lottery game show that is broadcast on BBC One. It began on the 12 February 2011 and is hosted by Nick Knowles.-Format:...
and Perfection
Perfection (game show)
Perfection is a game show shown on BBC Two, hosted by Nick Knowles. It was first broadcast on 17 January 2011.-Main game:Four players, referred to by the host as the "Usual Suspects", compete. One contestant is chosen at random from the four to compete in the main game on stage, while the other...
. He also presented New Year Live with Kate Silverton
Kate Silverton
Kate Silverton is an English journalist, currently employed by the BBC.- Early life and education :Silverton was born in Essex, England, the daughter of English parents; Terry Silverton, a black-cab driver turned registered hypnotherapist and Patricia Silverton, who now heads her daughter's...
on New Year's Eve aboard HMS Belfast in London.
In 2005, he was one of the celebrities who took part in Comic Relief does Fame Academy
Comic Relief Does Fame Academy
Comic Relief Does Fame Academy is a spin-off of the original Fame Academy show where celebrities sing as students of the Academy. The programme was launched in 2003 to help raise money for the charities supported by Comic Relief, with the final of the show occurring on Red Nose Day...
.
Knowles has also presented programmes with a wildlife theme. In 2007 he fronted Mission Africa
Mission Africa (TV series)
Mission Africa is a 12-part prime time television series produced by Diverse Bristol for BBC One and BBC Worldwide which follows fifteen trainees from the building trade, selected from hundreds of applicants across the UK, as they undertake various building and conservation projects.Traveling deep...
, in which a team of volunteers constructed a game reserve in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. During this project, Knowles fell from a Land Rover, dislocating his shoulder. He flew back to the UK to receive emergency treatment. In the same year, he also reported on the plight of orphaned orang-utans for an edition of Saving Planet Earth
Saving Planet Earth
Saving Planet Earth is a season of nature documentaries with a conservation theme, screened on BBC Television in 2007 to mark the 50th anniversary of its specialist factual department, the BBC Natural History Unit....
. In 2009, he co-presented the BBC reality TV series Wildest Dreams with James Honeyborne
James Honeyborne
James Honeyborne is the director of The Meerkats feature film and the producer and director of many award-winning BBC wildlife documentaries.Honeyborne attended Ampleforth College and studied biology at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne...
, in which novice candidates had to complete a set of challenging tasks filming wild animals in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. The winner joined the BBC Natural History Unit
BBC Natural History Unit
The BBC Natural History Unit is a department of the BBC dedicated to making television and radio programmes with a natural history or wildlife theme, especially nature documentaries...
on a one-year placement.
In April 2007 he was diagnosed as suffering from Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
he believes that he contracted the illness whilst covering the TB epidemic in Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
for Comic Relief in 2003
Awards
In October 2007, he was named by the Halifax as Britain's 'Home Idol' in a survey to find the most popular TV home improvement show presenter, beating Sarah BeenySarah Beeny
Sarah Lucinda Beeny is an English property developer and television presenter, best known for presenting the Channel 4 property shows Property Ladder, Streets Ahead, Britain’s Best Homes and Help! My House Is Falling Down....
into second place.
Charity work
Knowles has done much work for charity and has been a regular supporter of the children's anti-bullying charity Act Against BullyingAct Against Bullying
Act Against Bullying is a national charity in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2003 by Louise Burfitt-Dons. The charity's purpose is to help children who are bullied at school - by providing them with confidential advice - and to campaign to raise public awareness of the suffering of victims...
.
He sang "Addicted to Love
Addicted to Love (song)
Tina Turner has made "Addicted to Love" a regular feature of her live shows since 1986, although her version did not make it onto the market until two years later....
" for Children in Need 2008
Children in Need 2008
Children in Need 2008 was a campaign held in the United Kingdom to raise money for Children in Need. It culminated in a live broadcast on BBC One on the evening of Friday 14 November, through to the morning of Saturday 15 November...
.
Trivia
Knowles is mentioned in the song Upon Westminster Bridge by the band Half Man Half BiscuitHalf Man Half Biscuit
Half Man Half Biscuit, often "HMHB", are an English rock band from Birkenhead, Merseyside, active since the mid-1980s, known for satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group comprises Nigel Blackwell , Neil Crossley , Ken Hancock , and Carl Henry...
.
He is also a collector of top hat
Top hat
A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
s.
To prove a point by a local enthusiast, he was photographed along with several other "rough" looking celebs and shown to a group of teenagers. They were told to vote for who looked like the tramp (although it was a trick question) and he came second to Chris Moyles.