1. He was shortlisted for a job as a Blue Peter presenter, made it to the last three, fronted a film about recycling polystyrene, and….they gave the job to Anthea Turner. Why would they do that?
2. When GLR Breakfast with Jeremy Nicholas and Clare McDonnell only won bronze at the Sony Awards, the table let out a gasp of disappointment, causing a Chinese lantern to catch fire and float into the air. Other tables thought it was a protest at the judge’s verdict.
3. Jeremy was once punched in the face by maverick football manager Brian Clough, he fell over backwards and landed on Brian’s labrador, Del Boy. Later that year Cloughie gave Jeremy an exclusive interview in the changing rooms at Wembley to make up. Des Walker and Stuart Pearce were naked and drinking beer out of the League Cup during the interview.
4. He’s been the voice of the stadium announcer for every Fifa video game on EA Sports since Fifa06 -The Road to the World Cup. He recorded Fifa10 back in April. Each year he adds ten personal announcements of his own, which play randomly during the game. Every car he’s ever owned has left its lights on and his nieces and nephews are all lost children.
5. His first game as the West Ham United announcer was in 1998. It was David Beckham’s first away game after being sent off at the World Cup. The only thing that helped conquer Jeremy’s nerves as he announced ‘number seven David Beckham’ and a wall of boos cascaded down onto the pitch, was knowing that if he wasn’t the announcer he’d be back in his seat in the stands booing along with the rest.
6. Jeremy was once ambushed by a bearded man in robes who claimed he was Jesus and was carrying a machine gun. The man wanted a statement reading out live on air and demanded to have his fingerprints compared to the Shroud of Turin. The man turned out not to be Jesus.
7. His toughest gig was in 2007 when he was the after dinner speaker at the black tie gala dinner at the Professional Speaker Association International Convention. 120 speakers sat back and folded their arms and waited to be entertained. Jeremy was very nervous and wished he’d worn his brown corduroys. Fortunately the speech went down a storm and they asked him back the following year as compere. He is now a member of the PSA and on course to become a fellow in the future.
8. For seven months in 2003 Jeremy presented a country music breakfast show from studios in Wembley. He doesn’t like to talk about it, but the pay was very good.
9. He met his wife Jeanette Kruger on the internet dating site Match.com. They were married at West Ham United Football Club on November 11th 2006. It’s an easy anniversary to remember as it’s Remembrance Day. Each year when he sees people wearing poppies, he knows it’s time to book a table at a local restaurant.
10. Once when he was very tired from presenting GLR Breakfast, he was called to say Jeremy Nicholas was in reception to see him. He was so jetlagged as he walked along the corridor he wondered if he would get to reception and find himself. It wasn’t him. It was an actor who’d used the name Jeremy Nicholas professionally since 1968. The other Jeremy demanded that our Jeremy change his name, but our Jeremy refused on the grounds that he’d been born with it in 1962.
To book Jeremy as a professional speaker at your event please email jem@jeremynicholas.co.uk
Testimonials and all that malarkey can be found at www.jeremynicholas.co.uk