Our Man Friday
Friday, 4 February 2005
TV personality Eamonn Holmes joins the girls today to co-present the show and to tell us about his latest show "Dirty Work" where he lifts the dustbin lid on littering, dumping and illegal waste disposal in Northern Ireland in a new hard hitting six-part series.
Who is Eamonn Holmes?
Eamonn was born in Belfast and studied journalism there before beginning his broadcasting career at Ulster Television. Initially a farming reporter, before moving on the sport and news, he became the youngest ever anchorman in the ITV regions hosting Ulster TV's hour-long evening show 'Good Evening Ulster', at the age of just 21 when he took over from Gloria Hunniford.
In 1986 he was one of the faces who launched daytime TV on BBC1, with the daily phone-in programme 'Open Air'. During the late 80s and early 90s he hosted various shows for the BBC, including BBC1's daily series 'Garden Party' (1988-89), and 'Holiday', which he co-presented for four years. He also covered numerous national sports events for the station, and hosted Tyne Tees Television's issue-based sports discussion programme, 'A Seat in the Stand'.
From 1986 to 1990 Eamonn was anchorman of BBC1's 'Open Air' programme, before moving on to present sport on BBC's Breakfast News. As one of TV's busiest presenters, he has presented numerous other programmes, ranging from 'The National Lottery', 'How Do They do That?' 'TV Weekly' to 'Songs of Praise.'
He is often in demand for his sports knowledge, hosting Champions League Football for digital viewers and The Sports Show for Carlton TV. Britain's longest serving breakfast host, Eamonn is a father of four. A passionate Manchester United fan, he divides his time between London, Belfast and Old Trafford.
Eamonn splits his time between Belfast and London and lives for his 4 kids, Manchester United, John Wayne and Belfast. He likes cars, gadgets, going to the Cinema, Irish artwork (particularly Trevor Bradley), and SHOPPING! He hates Cats!
Eamonn is not a typical Ulsterman as he doesn't really drink, or doesn't party that much. He grew up in west Belfast in a working class home - he has four brothers. His dad died when Eamonn was fairly young - he was a carpet fitter. One of Eamonn's brothers is still in the carpet fitting business. His mum lives in Belfast and Eamonn dotes on her.
His first break in TV was as a farming reporter on UTV's 'Farming Ulster'. Since then he's come a long way having worked as a News Reporter, Sports Reporter, News Anchor, Travel Reporter, and currently is GMTV's Anchor. Eamonn presenter of the National Lotteries Jet Set (Saturday nights), plus he has his own weekend radio show on BBC 5 Live. Eamonn's claim to fame is that Catherine Zeta Jones kissed him (a full snog!) on live TV! He went purple with embarrassment afterwards!