Nicholas Peter Grimshaw is an English television and radio presenter.
As well as hosting various shows for BBC Radio 1, he is notable for his work on Channel 4,
E4, BBC One, BBC Two and Channel 4 youth strand T4.
In September 2012, Grimshaw became the new host of The Radio 1 Breakfast Show, replacing
Chris Moyles.
Since April 2013, he has hosted the BBC Three comedy panel show Sweat the Small Stuff.
Radio Grimshaw joined BBC Radio 1 in September 2007,
presenting the BBC's youth strand Switch with friend and fellow DJ Annie Mac.
He hosted the show for 9 months solo while Mac hosted a weekend lunchtime slot.
From August 2008 to May 2009 Grimshaw hosted Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show.
Grimshaw then went on to present the 10pm-midnight slot on BBC Radio 1 on 1 June 2009, following
the departure of Colin Murray.
Although being a renowned and popular radio host, Grimshaw regularly joked over how long
his position at BBC Radio 1 would last him and whether he would actually be able to complete
his long list of "1000 Albums Everyone Says You Should Listen To But We Only Have Time
To Play One Track So Here It Is" which was a nightly feature on his show.
He managed to reach number 369 before he left for the breakfast show.
Other features on his show included "Peaceful Ponderings", an interactive minor problem-solving
initiative broadcast on the Sunday night show he took part in with Annie Mac; "This Week's
Musical Showoff", an interactive new music sharing initiative; "Fresh Off Stage", an
interview with an important figure from the world of performing arts; and Rob da Bank's
"Monday Night Pop Quiz", between a listener and a musician which culminated in an offensive
word being broadcast live on air as the final answer.
From 2010–12, Grimshaw was the main stand-in presenter for Scott Mills on BBC Radio 1.
On 11 July 2012 it was announced that Grimshaw would be replacing the long-standing Chris
Moyles as host of The Radio 1 Breakfast Show.
The last live show was broadcast on 12 September 2012, though the last show ever broadcast
under the show's name was a pre-recorded episode entitled "The 1000 Albums Show".
His first programme was on 24 September 2012.
In November 2012 Grimshaw attracted criticism from Magic Radio breakfast presenter Neil
Fox for comments he made about Radio 1's decision to omit Robbie Williams's "Candy" from its
A-List playlist – reportedly due to being "too old" for the station's target demographic.
Some days later Grimshaw was in the headlines again after it was claimed he refused to promote
Rihanna's latest album because she cancelled an interview with him – a claim which Grimshaw
denied, noting that his snub was intended to be "tongue in cheek".
On 24 October 2013, it was reported that Grimshaw's breakfast show has one million fewer listeners
than Moyles', and that its audience figures were the worst for the station in over a decade,
with BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 beating it in the ratings.
At the time, Grimshaw's show was close to the record low of 5.5 million listeners, set
by Sara Cox in 2003, toward the end of her three-year tenure hosting the show.
In February 2014, the breakfast show recorded an enhancement of more than 700,000 listeners,
which set the average number of listeners per week to 6.3 million.
However, on 15 March 2014, it was reported that Grimshaw had lost another 510,000 listeners,
for a weekly total of 5.78 million.
The BBC claimed that this was part of the goal to attract younger listeners, while shedding
the over-25s.
In March 2014, Grimshaw completed a twelve-hour bicycle ride for Sport Relief.
The event raised more than £115,000. 2014 He also took part in the Clash of the Titans
event as part of John Bishop's team Team Bishop.
Television His career started on UK entertainment channel
E4, hosting daily shows.
He crossed over to Channel 4 in September 2007, hosting the daily breakfast show Freshly
Squeezed alongside Alexa Chung and more recently Jameela Jamil, airing 7am on weekdays.
The pair went on to host various award shows for TV and coverage from music events and
festivals for Channel 4.
As well as hosting the radio show Switch for BBC Radio 1, he and Annie Mac teamed up to
host music show Sound for BBC Two.
He presented the first ever BBC Switch Awards show with Kimberley Walsh of Girls Aloud on
BBC One.
In Summer 2011, he hosted a live 6-part series for Channel 4 on a Saturday morning entitled
New Look Style the Nation, in which hopeful fashion designers competed for a job at New
Look.
As well as hosting the show, Grimshaw was the sole person to decide upon six people
who turned up at the open auditions, two of which were then selected to compete further
by two fashion experts.
He appeared as a panellist on The Xtra Factor, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
On 15 October 2012 he guest-hosted an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
On 7 February 2013, it was announced Grimshaw will be hosting a panel show, Sweat the Small
Stuff, on BBC Three.
It premiered on 30 April 2013.
He hosted a pilot panel show on Channel 4 called That Music Show, which first aired
on 2 August 2013.
In late 2013, he appeared in as many soap operas he could, filming cameo roles in EastEnders,
Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Home and Away.
In 2013, he narrated Hotel of Mum and Dad for BBC Three.
Films In 2012, he had a cameo appearance in the
UK release of the Disney film Wreck-It Ralph as Calhoun's deceased fiancé Brad Scott who
was killed by Cy-Bugs.
Personal life On 17 August 2012, Grimshaw came out as gay.
He appeared at number 8 on the The Independent's list of the 101 most influential LGBT people
in Britain 2012.
Grimshaw launched and judged Column Idol 2014, an annual competition set up by charity Media
Trust with The Sun newspaper to find new writing talent.
References
External links The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw
at BBC Programmes Nick Grimshaw at the Internet Movie Database
Nick Grimshaw on Twitter