Brought up in Northumberland, Ian lived in Durham, Cambridge, Oxford, Austria and London before moving to the country town of Hertford, just north of the capital. He has travelled widely, presenting programmes from Nepal, Egypt, Thailand, Athens, LA and New York.
Grand Tour
After receiving a First in English Literature, Ian embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe, worked as a holiday rep in the Alps and trained as a drama teacher, but saw sense and became a presenter at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire instead. He has worked in the media now for 20 years and interviewed many famous people such as Bob Hope, Spike Milligan, Robbie Williams, Tony Blair, Oliver Reed, Richard E Grant, PD James, Ken Livingstone, Barbara Windsor, Richard Dawkins and John Humphrys.
Ian's professional experiences have included: taking afternoon tea at Dame Barbara Cartland's house, trying nude modelling in Selfridges, being chased by a two ton rhinoceros, watching paint dry, travelling in the popemobile, experiencing paralysis during rebirthing therapy, meeting a talking starling, deliberately telling terrible jokes on stage at The Comedy Store, trying to find his guardian angel through an angel therapist, successfully selling a fictitious currency, having his studio seemingly haunted by a poltergeist, and wandering round London performing 'acts of random kindness and senseless beauty' on unsuspecting members of the public.
Trombones and Olives
His interests are ridiculously diverse. Over the years, he's tried club DJ-ing, bell-ringing, water divination, water polo, riding, mountain-biking, animation, trombone-playing and keeping Persian cats. Until recently, he had pet rabbits and he's a big guinea pig fan too. Ian likes to be at the cutting edge in his artistic tastes and loves music, from opera to hardcore dance. His current hobbies include spending quality time with his eccentric cat Bolly, growing olives, developing a herb garden, and overdoing it in the weights room at the gym.