1. Neville John "Noddy" Holder was born on 15 June 1946 and is an English musician, songwriter and actor.
40 Facts About Noddy Holder
1. 2.
Noddy Holder was the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the English rock band Slade, one of the UK's most successful acts of the 1970s.
3.
Neville John Noddy Holder was born on 15 June 1946 in the Caldmore area, near the centre of Walsall, Staffordshire, England.
4.
The son of a window cleaner, in 1957 Noddy Holder passed the eleven plus exam and attended a grammar school for a year until it closed.
5.
Noddy Holder then attended the new T P Riley Comprehensive School and passed six GCE O-level exams.
6.
Noddy Holder acquired his nickname at infants' school for his habit of nodding to teachers instead of saying "yes".
7.
Noddy Holder formed a group called the Rockin' Phantoms with school friends at the age of 13, and with money earned from a part-time job, he bought a guitar and an amplifier.
8.
Noddy Holder used his father's window-cleaning van to drive Robert Plant to gigs with Plant's band at the time, the Tennessee Teens.
9.
Lea and Noddy Holder turned out to be the group's most successful song-writing partnership, composing almost all of the band's songs.
10.
Noddy Holder recorded the single with Slade in 1973, and the song became the band's sixth number one and the third Slade single to go straight in at number one in the UK Singles Chart.
11.
In 1985, Noddy Holder co-wrote, and sang backing vocals on, the single "Citizen Kane" which Lea released under his own name.
12.
In 1988, Noddy Holder recorded "Tear into the Weekend" for a Pepsi commercial in Canada.
13.
In 1989, Noddy Holder provided vocals to help out Dave Hill and his newly formed group Blessings in Disguise which featured ex-Wizzard keyboard player Bill Hunt, Craig Fenney and Bob Lamb.
14.
Noddy Holder appeared on the television panel game Pop Quiz, hosted by Mike Read.
15.
Noddy Holder had his own radio shows on Piccadilly 1152 and Key 103 in Manchester, which were syndicated around the country throughout the 1990s, then on Century and Capital Radio syndication from 2000 to 2004.
16.
In 1996, Noddy Holder was the subject of the This Is Your Life TV show.
17.
Noddy Holder presented 31 episodes of Noddy's Electric Ladyland, a surreal television quiz show.
18.
Noddy Holder was a team captain in BBC1's music series A Question of Pop and was immortalised as a puppet character Banger on the TV show Bob the Builder.
19.
Noddy Holder was awarded the MBE in the 2000 honours list for his services to showbusiness.
20.
On 8 December 2000, Noddy Holder made a cameo appearance on a live episode of Granada Television's Coronation Street, marking the soap's 40th anniversary.
21.
Noddy Holder played a character called Stan, who was saving the street's cobbles from being replaced.
22.
Noddy Holder voiced the lift announcements at the Walsall New Art Gallery.
23.
Also for the past 25 years Noddy Holder has voiced, sung and appeared in many adverts for TV, film and radio worldwide.
24.
In 2006, Noddy Holder made a guest appearance in a music video for the Misty's Big Adventure single, "Fashion Parade".
25.
Noddy Holder was a regular TV critic and contributor to The Radcliffe and Maconie Show on BBC Radio 2 for eight years, and the three often talked about rock star gossip from all eras.
26.
Noddy Holder was the third celebrity to be inducted onto the Birmingham Walk of Stars.
27.
Since Christmas 2007, Noddy Holder has annually recorded a TV show countdown of hit Christmas tunes.
28.
Noddy Holder is the Nobby's Nuts mascot following on from a TV campaign.
29.
Noddy Holder made an appearance on the 2008 Xmas edition of BBC's humorous news quiz show, Have I Got News for You as a member of Paul Merton's team.
30.
Noddy Holder featured as "Geoff's Dad" in the BBC Radio 4 comedy Hobby Bobbies.
31.
On 24 June 2014, Noddy Holder was awarded the freedom of his home town of Walsall, making him an honorary freeman of the borough.
32.
On 25 September 2014, Holder released his second book via Constable, titled The World According to Noddy.
33.
On Christmas Day 2015 Noddy Holder appeared in a cameo role in BBC television's Mrs Brown's Boys.
34.
In November 2022, Noddy Holder was featured shouting the slogan "It's Christmas" from Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" song, in high street retailer Iceland's Christmas television advertising for their range of party foods, with a voice-over by actor Brian Blessed.
35.
Noddy Holder completed a series of sold out shows with the Tom Seals Band, a young ten-piece boogie jazz ensemble.
36.
In 2004, Noddy Holder married television producer Suzan Price, with whom he has a son, Django.
37.
In 2018, Noddy Holder was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and was expected to live another six months.
38.
Noddy Holder underwent experimental chemotherapy treatment at the Christie Hospital in Manchester to which he "responded well".
39.
Noddy Holder told The Big Issue that he kept his condition private, except to family and close friends, as he did not want people to "think of me as a cancer victim".
40.
In December 2021, Noddy Holder criticised the high-speed railway line High Speed 2 and claimed that more trains should be added to the West Coast Main Line and update the West to East coast lines instead.