Angus Deayton's Biography

Angus Deayton was born on 6 January 1956, to an ex-naval father and a teacher mother.

A keen footballer, at 12 years old he had a trial with Crystal Palace.

He went to Caterham School in Surrey and then studied French and German at New College, Oxford University.

At Oxford, Richard Curtis asked Deayton to be a stand in for an Edinburgh festival revue, and this would lead to his following a career in entertainment.

Angus Deayton toured Australia with a spoof Bee Gees band, and in the 1980s wrote scripts, performed voiceovers and appeared in comedy series.

The 1990s were very successful for Deayton, who played Patrick Trench in One Foot In The Grave and even more significantly became the chairperson of Have I Got News For You (HIGNFY).

Angus Deayton had been a popular host of HIGNFY for 12 years, when he was dropped by the BBC in 2002, due to revelations about his private life.

Nevertheless, Deayton soon earned other presenting and acting credits including playing Alan Derbyshire in Pramface and George Windsor in Waterloo Road.

In 2015, Angus Deayton separated from his long-term girlfriend, scriptwriter Lise Mayer.

In 2016, he became one of the celebrities on ITV's entertainment motoring series Drive.