Griff Rhys Jones

Griff Rhys Jones is a TV Actor, and he was born on 16 November - 1953(70 years old) in Wales. Griff Rhys Jones zodiac sign is Scorpio. More detailed information about Griff Rhys Jones given below.

Griff Rhys Jones Timeline

• 1953
  

  Griffith Rhys Jones was born on 16 November 1953 in Cardiff, the son of Gwynneth Margaret (nu00e9e Jones) and Elwyn Rhys Jones, a medical doctor. His family moved due to his fatheru0027s occupation to West Sussex when Rhys Jones was six months old. Rhys Jones attended Conifers Primary School in Midhurst, West Sussex, junior school in Epping, Essex, and Brentwood School, also in Essex.

• 1981
  

  In 1981, Rhys Jones along with Mel Smith founded Talkback, a production company which produced many of the most popular British comedy series of the past two decades, including Smack the Pony, Da Ali G Show, Iu0027m Alan Partridge, They Think Itu0027s All Over, QI and Big Train. They eventually sold the company to Pearson for u00a362 million.

• 1984
  

  Rhys Jones was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1984 (1983 season) for Best Comedy Performance in Charleyu0027s Aunt and in 1994 (1993 season) for Best Comedy Performance for his performance in An Absolute Turkey. He also played Toad in The Wind in the Willows at the National Theatre in 1990, as well as a number of other theatre roles. He provided the voices on the series of short cartoons Funnybones, for which he also sang the theme tune.

• 1989
  

  After Not the Nine Ou0027Clock News, Mel Smith and Rhys Jones decided to create and write more material together, and to start a management company. From 1984, Smith and Rhys Jones appeared in the comedy sketch series Alas Smith and Jones (the showu0027s title being a pun on the American television series Alias Smith and Jones). After the first series, the pair appeared on the big screen in Mike Hodgesu0027 sci fi comedy movie Morons from Outer Space and then in 1989, the LWT production Wilt.

• 1990
  

  Rhys Jones won Olivier awards for best comedy performance in Charleyu0027s Aunt (1984) and An Absolute Turkey (1994), and appeared at the National Theatre as Toad in The Wind in the Willows in 1990. He starred as Fagin in Cameron Mackintoshu0027s acclaimed production of Oliver! in Londonu0027s West End from 14 December 2009 until 8 January 2011.

• 1999
  

  During 1999 to 2001, Rhys Jones featured in television adverts for the Vauxhall range of cars, as a "boffin". In April 2001, he was dismissed by Vauxhall, after an embarrassing advert for the Vauxhall VX220. He officially signed the deal in May 1999.

• 2002
  

  In 2002, Rhys Jones starred in a series of adaptations of comedic stories by Nikolai Gogol broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (subsequently re-broadcast on BBC Radio 7 and BBC Radio 4 Extra) under the umbrella title of Three Ivans, Two Aunts and an Overcoat.Rhys Jones has written or co-written many of the programmes he has appeared in, and a number of spin-off books. In 2002, he started writing a book called To the Baltic with Bob, describing his adventures on the high seas with his sailing friend Bob, as they make their way to Saint Petersburg, port by port.A resident of East Anglia, Rhys Jones was awarded an honorary degree by the University of East Anglia in 2002.

• 2003
  

  Rhys Jones released the book in 2003, saying of the experience: "As a child you go out and play and you lose all track of time and space. Itu0027s harder and harder to attain that blissful state of absorption as you get older. I did a six-month sailing trip to St Petersburg with some mates just to get it back."

• 2004
  

  Rhys Jones has developed a career as a television presenter, beginning as the co-host on several Comic Relief programmes. He presented Bookworm from 1994 to 2000, was the presenter of the BBCu0027s Restoration programme and has done a considerable amount of fundraising work for the Hackney Empire theatre conservation project. In 2004, he led a demonstration at the Senate House in Cambridge University for the purpose of saving architecture as a degree in Cambridge.

• 2005
  

  Smith and Rhys Jones were reunited in March 2005, for a Comic Relief sketch, which led to a revival of their previous television series in The Smith and Jones Sketchbook, recorded that same year but aired over twelve months later. Their final television appearance together was a Head To Head routine for the special of 2012 The One Griff Rhys-Jones.In 2005, Rhys Jones created his own production company u0027Modern Televisionu0027, which has since made a number of productions with Rhys Jones as presenter and executive producer.

• 2006
  

  Since 2006, Rhys Jones has starred in the BBCu0027s Three Men in a Boat series, alongside Dara u00d3 Briain and Rory McGrath. The series has included the trio rowing the River Thames, as in the 1889 novel, sailing from London to the Isle of Wight for a sailing boat race, borrowing numerous vessels to make their way from Plymouth to the Isles of Scilly.His early life has been captured in his autobiography, Semi-Detached, published in 2006 by Penguin Books. His book to accompany the BBC One series Mountain was published in July 2007.

• 2007
  

  He presented a documentary series with 5 episodes A Pembrokeshire Farm which was broadcast on BBC4 in July/August 2007. Two years later he presented another 5 episode documentary series Return to a Pembrokeshire Farm which was broadcast on BBC4 in September/ October 2009. They were both about the renovation of a farm in Pembrokeshire which he had purchased with a view to restoring them and giving them a new purpose.He presented a seasonal documentary, Charles Dickens and the Invention of Christmas, which was broadcast on 23 December 2007 on BBC One.Rhys Jones returned to his motheru0027s roots in Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taff for the purposes of an episode of the BBC One series Who Do You Think You Are?, broadcast on 20 September 2007. In the episode, he detailed early memories and stories of his grandparentsu0027 fruit and vegetable shop on the high street and his motheru0027s childhood concert performances at Trerhondda Chapel.

• 2008
  

  Rhys Jones has continued his acting career, having roles in Casualty and Agatha Christieu0027s Marple as well as starring in Russell T Daviesu0027 drama series Mine All Mine on ITV. Itu0027ll be Alright on the Night returned with Rhys Jones as the new presenter, taking over from Denis Norden. The first programme starring Rhys Jones aired in 2008.Rhys Jones fronted Greatest Cities of the World, which saw him visiting a different city each week. The first series, featuring London, New York City and Paris, aired on primetime ITV in October 2008. A second series featuring Rome, Sydney and Hong Kong was broadcast in April and May 2010.In June 2008, it was announced that Rhys Jones was to become the President of Civic Voice, the nationwide charity that campaigns for better places in the built and green environment.A former heavy drinker, Rhys Jones is a teetotaller: "I donu0027t drink so going to a party can become very tedious. By about 11 ou0027clock, everybody goes to another planet and youu0027re not there with them, so I tend to avoid that sort of thing." He started running as a leisure pursuit in his early forties. In 2008, he presented two programmes called Losing It which were shown on BBC Two, in which he discussed his own problems with anger management.

• 2009
  

  He was awarded honorary degrees by the University of Glamorgan, the University of Essex and an honorary D.Litt from Anglia Ruskin University. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the Royal Society of Arts, and an Honorary Fellow of his alma mater, Emmanuel College, Cambridge. In 2009 he was honoured by his fatheru0027s former university, the University of Wales College of Medicine (now part of Cardiff University).

• 2010
  

  In 2010, Rhys Jones presented a programme called The Princeu0027s Welsh Village that featured Prince Charles.

• 2011
  

  In 2011, he presented the series Hidden Treasures of Art, which examined the art of Australia, India and Africa over the course of three episodes.Around 2011, he bought a 1948 57-foot (17 m) wooden yacht, Argyll, which he races at various regattas, including the Fastnet Race. He and Jo are keen gardeners, and he discussed their extensive garden in an October 2015 episode of BBC Gardenersu0027 World, part of which was filmed there.

• 2012
  

  In January 2012, Rhys Jones returned to sketch comedy at the BBC alongside "some of the biggest names in TV", including Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander and Larry Lamb, for one of a three episode series in which comedy legends take to the stage for a mix of stand-up and sketches. It also featured a special guest appearance by former comedy partner Mel Smith in a new Head to Head sketch, referring many times to it having been 16 years since their last.Rhys Jones presented Britainu0027s Lost Routes with Griff Rhys Jones on BBC One from 30 May to 20 June 2012. The show looked at lesser known routes around Great Britain. On 29 April 2012, Rhys Jones guest presented an episode of Perspectives on ITV, his chosen subject being Wind in the Willows.

• 2013
  

  In 2013, Rhys Jones presented a documentary about his fatheru0027s service as a medical officer with the Gold Coast Regiment and the war in Burma, Burma, My Father and the Forgotten Army, was broadcast on BBC Two on 7 July.Rhys Jones met his wife, Jo, a graphic designer, while working at the BBC. He has described their first meeting by saying "The day we met, I was semi naked and she was throwing water over me." The couple have two children, and live between homes in London (previously in Islington, now in a Grade I listed house in Londonu0027s Fitzrovia in the West End) and Holbrook in Suffolk. Rhys Jones owned Undina, the 45-foot (14 m), fifty year old wooden sailing yacht which was used in Three Men in Another Boat; he spent u00a3500,000 on her restoration and in 2013 stated she was for sale for u00a3195,000, "probably less".

• 2014
  

  In 2014, Rhys Jones fronted an eight-part ITV documentary series entitled A Great Welsh Adventure with Griff Rhys Jones.In May 2014, Rhys Jones was executive producer on his production companyu0027s debut BBC drama A Poet in New York starring Tom Hollander as Dylan Thomas.In August 2014, Rhys Jones was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in Septemberu0027s referendum on that issue.

• 2015
  

  In December 2015, it was announced that Rhys Jones would present Griffu0027s Great Britain, a new eight-part series for ITV. The show began airing in January 2016.

• 2019
  

  Rhys Jones was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to the National Civic Society Movement, charity and entertainment.