72 Facts About Jonathan Ross

1.

Jonathan Ross presented the BBC One chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross during the 2000s and early 2010s, hosted his own radio show on BBC Radio 2 from 1999 to 2010, and served as film critic and presenter of the Film programme.

2.

In 2005, Jonathan Ross was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to broadcasting.

3.

Jonathan Ross has been involved in controversies throughout his broadcasting career.

4.

Jonathan Ross has written his own comic books, Turf and America's Got Powers.

5.

Jonathan Stephen Ross was born on 17 November 1960 in St Pancras, North London and raised in Leytonstone, East London.

6.

The son of John and actress Martha Jonathan Ross, he has four brothers and one sister.

7.

Jonathan Ross is the younger brother of journalist, television editor, and media personality Paul Ross.

8.

Jonathan Ross first appeared in a television advertisement for the breakfast cereal Kellogg's Rice Krispies in 1970, when he was 10 years old.

9.

Jonathan Ross appeared in an ad for the laundry detergent Persil.

10.

Jonathan Ross was educated at the comprehensive schools Norlington School for Boys and Leyton County High School for Boys.

11.

Jonathan Ross then studied at the Southampton College of Art and took a degree in Modern European History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London, which today forms part of University College London.

12.

Jonathan Ross began his adult career as a researcher on the Channel 4 show Loose Talk.

13.

Jonathan Ross had not planned to be the show's host, but he presented the show from its debut in January 1987.

14.

In December 1989, Jonathan Ross appeared on Cilla's Goodbye to the 80s and presented all four members of Queen with the "Top Band of the Eighties" prize in a broadcast for ITV which would turn out to be Freddie Mercury's penultimate public appearance before his death from AIDS in 1991.

15.

Jonathan Ross presented the annual British Comedy Awards each year from 1991 to 2014 with the exception of 2008 following his suspension from the BBC.

16.

Jonathan Ross has appeared in numerous television entertainment programmes on several channels throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

17.

Jonathan Ross was a regular panellist on the sports quiz They Think It's All Over, and hosted the panel game It's Only TV.

18.

Jonathan Ross was quoted in a 1998 article as stating:.

19.

Jonathan Ross took over presenting of the Film programme, the BBC's long-running cinema review series, in 1999 after Barry Norman left the show.

20.

Jonathan Ross himself has made a number of cameo appearances in films, playing himself in the Spice Girls' film Spice World and voicing the character of Doris in the UK version of Shrek 2.

21.

Jonathan Ross appeared on the first pilot show for Shooting Stars, acting as a team captain.

22.

Jonathan Ross was the subject of This Is Your Life in March 2001 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at the BBC Television Centre.

23.

Jonathan Ross began presenting a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2 in July 1999.

24.

Jonathan Ross has presented radio shows for Virgin Radio, as well as the now-defunct commercial radio network service The Superstation, where his producer was Chris Evans.

25.

Jonathan Ross' show on Radio 2 last aired on 17 July 2010 when his contract at the BBC ended.

26.

In March 2015 Jonathan Ross sat in for Steve Wright again from 16 to 27 March 2015.

27.

In February 2016 Jonathan Ross returned to Radio 2 on a regular basis to present the weekly arts show.

28.

In 2004, Jonathan Ross presented a documentary on one of his favourite subjects, punk rock, for the BBC.

29.

In 2005, Jonathan Ross anchored the BBC television coverage of the Live 8 concerts.

30.

On 21 June 2006, Jonathan Ross was made a Fellow of University College London, where he studied.

31.

Jonathan Ross produced the latter programme through his own television production company Hot Sauce.

32.

ITV, who bid for Jonathan Ross, poached chat host Michael Parkinson around the same time.

33.

On 16 March 2007, Jonathan Ross hosted Comic Relief 2007 alongside Fearne Cotton and Lenny Henry.

34.

On 7 July 2007, Jonathan Ross co-presented BBC television coverage of the Live Earth climate change awareness concerts, which became the subject of controversy due to the foul language used by performers including Phil Collins, Madonna and Johnny Borrell, resulting in one of Ofcom's toughest sanctions to date on the BBC.

35.

Jonathan Ross had been required to apologise on the day for the language used by Collins and Borrell.

36.

Jonathan Ross is greatly interested in Japan, presenting a BBC-TV series on many different aspects of Japanese culture, Japanorama, for three series between 2002 and 2007.

37.

In May 2008, Jonathan Ross won the Sony Gold Award "Music Radio Personality of the Year".

38.

In 2010, Jonathan Ross took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London on 30 March.

39.

In 2011, Jonathan Ross wrote an introduction for The Steve Ditko Omnibus Vol.

40.

On 7 January 2010, Jonathan Ross confirmed that he would leave the BBC in July 2010.

41.

In 2012, Jonathan Ross's voice appeared as a Headteacher in "Back to School" at the Edinburgh Festival.

42.

In October 2013, Jonathan Ross was hired by Xbox to help promote the brand.

43.

Ross's new chat show The Jonathan Ross Show began on 3 September 2011 on ITV1, drawing an audience of 4.3m viewers, compared to the 4.6m for his finale on the BBC show.

44.

On 20 October 2014, it was announced by ITV that Jonathan Ross had signed a new contract with ITV.

45.

Jonathan Ross continues to attract the biggest names in showbiz onto his sofa and I am delighted that he will remain on the channel until at least the end of 2015.

46.

In 2017, Jonathan Ross was a team captain along with Frank Skinner on the ITV panel show, Don't Ask Me Ask Britain.

47.

In December 2017, Jonathan Ross presented Guess the Star, a one-off special for ITV.

48.

On 9 September 2019, Jonathan Ross was announced as a judge for The Masked Singer UK, the UK version of the international music game show Masked Singer, which aired on ITV from January 2020.

49.

On 4 March 2021, it was announced by ITV that Jonathan Ross would be on the 'star panel' of a brand new spin off show of The Masked Singer UK, The Masked Dancer, which aired in spring 2021.

50.

Jonathan Ross made his debut appearance on Celebrity Gogglebox on 2 July 2021, and was joined by his son Harvey, daughter Honey and her boyfriend.

51.

In March 2023, Jonathan Ross replaced Andrew Collins as presenter of the weekly radio show Saturday Night at the Movies on Classic FM.

52.

In 2005, Jonathan Ross was made an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.

53.

Jonathan Ross owns a second home in Swanage in Dorset and owns property in Florida in the United States.

54.

Jonathan Ross is a big pop and rock music fan and maintains a particular interest in British punk rock, which captivated him when he was young.

55.

Jonathan Ross paid tribute to lead singer Poly Styrene following her death.

56.

Jonathan Ross has described himself as "about as big a fan of David Bowie as you will find on the planet".

57.

Jonathan Ross is a fan of science fiction, including Doctor Who.

58.

Jonathan Ross contributed his early memories of the series, which included the 1968 serial The Invasion, to a book which raised funds for Alzheimer's Research UK.

59.

Jonathan Ross is a fan of comic books and co-owned a comic shop in London with Paul Gambaccini.

60.

Jonathan Ross released Turf, his first comic book, in 2010, with American artist Tommy Lee Edwards.

61.

Jonathan Ross has attended a fundraiser for the James Randi Educational Foundation called The Amazing Meeting in London in 2009 and 2010.

62.

Jonathan Ross has been supportive of Simon Singh's efforts to defend an accusation of libel by the British Chiropractic Association and Jonathan Ross has posed for the Geek Calendar 2011, a fund raiser for The Libel Reform Campaign.

63.

In 2023, Jonathan Ross was integral to the preservation of the arcade version of Um Jammer Lammy, originally thought of to be lost media, by allowing video game archivists access to his arcade cabinet, thought of as one of the world's last examples.

64.

On 5 December 2007, Jonathan Ross joked at the British Comedy Awards that his salary meant that he was "apparently worth 1,000 BBC journalists".

65.

Jonathan Ross has denied this and in a 2011 article is quoted as saying that he was commenting on a piece that was written in a newspaper about his salary being that of 1,000 journalists:.

66.

Brand resigned from the BBC, while Jonathan Ross was suspended without pay.

67.

BBC director general Mark Thompson stated that Jonathan Ross should take the disciplinary action as a "final warning".

68.

Jonathan Ross returned to work in January 2009 with a new series of Friday Night.

69.

On 13 May 2009, Jonathan Ross was accused of homophobia after a comment he made on his radio show, in which he said,.

70.

An incorrect version of this quote was circulated, in which Jonathan Ross was accused of saying:.

71.

On 7 July 2009, Ofcom ruled that Jonathan Ross did not breach the broadcasting code.

72.

On 1 March 2014 Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, announced that Jonathan Ross would be the Master of Ceremonies for the 2014 Hugo Awards ceremony, to be held in August at ExCeL London.