24 Facts About Martin Kelner

Martin Barry Kelner is a British journalist, author, comedian, singer, actor and TV presenter, whose primary career is in radio presenting.

Martin Kelner has spent over 40 years hosting radio shows, mostly for the BBC, in particular Radio Leeds.

Martin Kelner has been regularly accompanied throughout his career by comedy sidekick Edouard Lapaglie.

Martin Kelner was employed as a reporter on the Western Daily Press in Bristol and for the Oxford Mail.

Martin Kelner then joined the Central Office of Information, for whom he worked in Bristol, Lambeth, South London and in Birmingham.

Martin Kelner moved to Radio Hallam in Sheffield to begin his career in radio.

Martin Kelner started reading the breakfast show news before moving on to his own late night show.

Martin Kelner spent a brief spell at London's LBC and Manchester's Piccadilly Radio, before moving to Leeds in 1981 and the fledgling Radio Aire.

Martin Kelner left Radio Aire in late 1982, and worked for Yorkshire TV for a time on a programme called Calendar It's The Weekend.

Martin Kelner initially presented the weekday early show on BBC Radio 2 in September and October 1984, and then presented his own Saturday night show on the same station from 6 July 1985 until 24 March 1990, returning to the early show for two stints during 1985.

Martin Kelner fronted his own Saturday afternoon show on Radio 2 from 1 October 1994 to 23 March 1996.

Martin Kelner did many stand-ins for regular presenters on the network, peaking in the mid-1990s when he regularly deputised for Sarah Kennedy on the weekday early show and sat in for Ken Bruce and John Dunn.

Martin Kelner presented editions of the Radio 2 Arts Programme from the north of England, and a programme called Let It Be.

Martin Kelner then fell out of favour at the national station, presenting his last Radio 2 show sitting in for Sarah Kennedy on 29 November 1996.

Martin Kelner portrayed the Mrs Merton character on his radio show ad-libbing conversations with Kelner for around eight years.

Martin Kelner introduced Aherne into network broadcasting on Radio 2 and the original BBC Radio 5, where he presented the programme Five Aside for the station's opening months in 1990.

Martin Kelner returned to Manchester to present the breakfast show on 100.4 Jazz FM, where he introduced another great comic talent to the public in the shape of Jake Yapp's Dora Dale, with whom Martin produced the hit BBC Radio 7 comedy show, Pleased To Meet You.

Until October 2006, Martin Kelner presented the Friday and Saturday late show at the weekends on BBC Radio Humberside, BBC Radio York, BBC Radio Leeds and BBC Radio Sheffield.

Martin Kelner appears on BBC Radio 5 Live as a regular panellist on Fighting Talk, and has contributed to Chart The Week on Richard Bacon's programme.

On 2 February 2018, Martin Kelner joined the DAB station TalkRadio, hosting weekend mornings from 1am to 5am.

Martin Kelner's journalism includes a weekly column for The Guardian, "Screen Break", which took a lighthearted look at the world of sport on TV, and a fortnightly column about radio.

Martin Kelner writes occasional travel pieces for The Mail on Sunday, and has written for The Independent, of which his brother Simon Kelner was executive editor.

Martin Kelner began writing for the Racing Post at the beginning of 2013.

Martin Kelner was later treated at the hospital's intensive treatment unit for a week, and returned to his home in Wakefield for further recovery.