Simeon Courtie

Simeon Courtie is an English broadcaster and writer. He is known as a TV presenter on Children's BBC, as a radio presenter on BFBS,^[1] and BBC local radio, ^[2] a TV and radio comedy writer contributing to programmes including Have I Got News For You?,^[3] and is the author of the humorous travel book The Long and Whining Road.^[4]

Career

Courtie left school in 1986, aged 16, and became a City & Guilds qualified mechanical and electrical engineer, completing a 4-year apprenticeship at Timsons, a printing press manufacturer in Kettering.^[5] During this time he joined the local hospital radio station KHBA, and started volunteering at BBC Radio Northampton. In 1990 he began a full-time broadcasting career as a radio-car reporter, then as a presenter at BBC Radio Northampton. After an unsuccessful audition at Children's BBC in 1993 he was offered a job on BBC Two pop show The O-Zone, made by the same department.^[6] His first film, and TV debut, was an interview with Judy Cheeks directed by Andi Peters. Other pop stars he interviewed included Tom Jones, Blur and boy band World's Apart.^[7] At the beginning of 1995 Courtie became a full-time presenter for Children's BBC hosting their new sequence on BBC Prime, before moving to BBC One where he hosted the live afternoon continuity links with the comedic puppet, Otis the Aardvark.^[8] Courtie's sense of humour combined with that of puppeteer Dave Chapman led to them gaining a cult following with older viewers, and alongside pictures drawn by children they would often show fanzines featuring them both, created by students.^[6]

Between 1996 and 2000 Courtie hosted several television shows on ITV including the live Saturday morning show Wow! and You'll Never Believe It, both produced by The Media Merchants,^[7] and Get Wet produced by Scottish Television.^[9] He presented several BBC Education series, including Working in... which gave advice to school leavers pursuing careers in various industries including engineering, construction and IT, and the Revise Wise series on Key Stage 2 English.^[10]

Between 2000 and 2005 he wrote television quiz and game show formats, which were distributed by Ludus Entertainment. He created the Channel Five show ESP and the S4C game show Risg, produced by Mentorn and presented by Siân Lloyd.^[11]

He was a regular presenter for the TV and radio station BFBS from 1997 to 2013, broadcasting to British Forces and their families around the world.^[1] Between 2008 and 2010 he contributed as a team writer to the satirical TV comedy Have I Got News For You? where he wrote with Mark Burton, Colin Swash and Ged Parsons.^[12]

In 2010 he spent a year driving around the world with his family in a VW T25 camper van. They busked Beatles songs in every country from Strawberry Field in Liverpool to Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park, all the money from which was donated to UNICEF.^[13] He wrote a humorous account of this journey called The Long and Whining Road which was published in July 2012 by Simantics Ltd. The book was the grand prize winner of the London Book Festival 2012, an international literary competition.^[14]

In June 2013 he won a New York Festival Radio Award, with his BFBS producer Hal Stewart, for Best Radio Personality (Network/Syndicated).^[7][15]

In November 2013 Simeon became a regular presenter on BBC Wiltshire, presenting the daily 9-12 morning show until December 2015. His final show for the station was a live outside broadcast from the Science Museum in London at the BBC Stargazing event to watch the launch of British ESA astronaut Tim Peake to the International Space Station.^[2][16]

Personal life

Courtie is married to former BBC journalist Jillian Moody. They have three children and live in Oxfordshire.^[7]

References