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Iain Lee
Lee hosting The Rabbit Hole Show in 2017
Born	Iain Lee Rougvie (1973-06-09) 9 June 1973 (age 51) Slough, Buckinghamshire, England
Alma mater	Middlesex University
Occupation(s)	Presenter and Streamer
Children	2
Career
Show	The Late Night Alternative with Iain Lee and Katherine Boyle
Network	Twitch
Time slot	9pm - 12am
Previous shows	The 11 O'Clock Show RI:SE I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
Twitch information
Channel	IainLee
Years active	2018–
Followers	9.9k (27 Aug 2020)
Website	iainlee.com

Iain Felix Diamond Lee (born 9 June 1973) is an English broadcaster, streamer, presenter, narrator and writer. His career began when he performed stand-up comedy gigs across venues in London. He subsequently became co-presenter of the comedy current affairs show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 and RI:SE. After three years at London speech station LBC 97.3, Lee resigned and, after two years presenting a Sunday night slot, hosted Iain Lee's 2 Hour Long Late Night Radio Show on Absolute Radio until leaving the company on 17 October 2011.

On 8 February 2016, it was announced that Lee would be part of the launch team on Talkradio and would present a weeknight show, The Late Night Alternative, from 10 pm to 1 am. The station and Lee's show started on Monday 21 March 2016. On 10 July 2020, Lee announced that The Late Night Alternative would move to streaming service Twitch from 20 July.

Early and personal life

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2011)

Lee was born in Slough, Buckinghamshire, England, and attended Herschel Grammar School. He came out as bisexual in July 2019 live on air.

On 17 April 2020, Iain announced on his talkRadio show that his sons had decided on two middle names for him, choosing "Felix" and "Diamond".

Television career

Lee was the lead presenter on satirical comedy show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4, alongside Mackenzie Crook and Daisy Donovan. The show also featured comedians Ali G and Ricky Gervais. He then went on to present the early morning show on Channel 4, RI:SE, with Kate Lawler from Big Brother 2002. Lee has also presented Channel 4's Thumb Bandits, appeared on Sky News, The Wright Stuff and ITV's This Morning, and hosted the Big Brother companion series Bit on the Psych for Channel 5.

I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

In November 2017, Lee took part in the seventeenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Lee entered the show on Day 5. During the show, Lee was elected Prime Minister of 10 Downing Creek. Lee made it to the final and finished in third place. He spoke openly about mental health whilst participating in the show.

Good Morning Britain

From the start of 2018, Lee was on the breakfast TV show Good Morning Britain, filling in for Richard Arnold who was taking a 3-week break.

Credits

Radio career

Lee began his radio career as a presenter on Xfm London from 1999 to 2001.

2005–2007: LBC 97.3

Lee was a presenter on London talk radio station LBC 97.3 from January 2005 to November 2007. Lee filled in for Clive Bull for two weeks in late 2004, until he presented on Friday-Sunday 10 pm to 1 am.

In October 2005, Lee moved from weekends to the drivetime slot from 4 pm to 7 pm. Lee titled the show The 3 Hour 4 'Till 7 Iain Lee Afternoon Wireless Show.. In January 2006, Lee moved again to 3 pm to 6:30 pm, with the show being renamed to The 3 and a Half Hour 3 'Till 6.30 Iain Lee Afternoon Wireless Show.

For just over two years (9 September 2005 to 16 September 2007) Lee hosted "Triple M", a feature where calls go straight to air, live and unscreened. Other talk radio presenters have also hosted similar features, including Nick Abbot, Tommy Boyd and Clive Bull. Initially, Lee would host the feature every Friday evening during the last half-hour of the show. Originally called "Mental Mayhem", it was renamed to "Mick's Mental Mayhem" (after a caller named Mick), then simply "Triple M". The rising popularity of the format, along with a change in show times in May 2006 led to Lee presenting a whole three-hour show on Sunday evenings from 10 pm to 1 am to Triple M, being called "Sunday Night Triple M", from 7 May 2006 to 16 September 2007. At the time, management favoured the unique format as they hoped that it would introduce exclusive listeners to the radio station.

From January 2007 to his resignation in November, Lee presented the evening slot from 7 pm to 10 pm preceding Bull in the newly titled show, "Iain Lee's Good Evening". Lee chose the name after seeking advice from his friend and comedian Mackenzie Crook. The afternoon show was taken over by then weekend breakfast show host Paul Ross.

A change of radio station management (when Global Radio purchased LBC) in mid-2007 led to the demise of the Sunday Night Triple M show altogether, with the last show on 16 September 2007. Lee's style of presenting fell out of favour with the new management, with returning topical and news-led conversation. Without notice, Iain Lee's Good Evening came to an end on 2 November 2007, with the last ten minutes being given to Triple M.

2008–2011: Absolute Radio

Lee was rehired by his old LBC boss David Lloyd at Absolute Radio where he presented The Sunday Night Show from 10:00 pm – 1:00 am, with a mixture of music and phone-ins. From 12 October 2009, Lee's show was broadcast Monday to Thursday from 11:00 pm – 1:00 am, taking over the slot from Ben Jones. In April 2009 he became the first radio DJ in the UK to wrestle a listener (Matt "The Pain" Early). The match was broadcast on Absolute Radio on 17 May 2009. Absolute Radio announced on 17 October 2011 that Lee's contract would be terminated with immediate effect by mutual agreement.

2012: The Iain Lee Pocket Radio Show

In February 2012, Lee launched 'The Iain Lee Pocket Radio Show' which was a podcast available free through various outlets, that was similar in style to Lee's previous radio shows but utilised the various social media platforms. The bulk of the podcast is made up of a phone-in section, whereby Lee would invite people to call him either by telephone or though Skype at a specific time to discuss one of three topics that Lee would post on Twitter. Listeners were also invited to interact with the show by sending AudioBoos, to be included in the recording.

The podcast also included Lee interviewing guests and celebrity news with the Daily Express's Elisa Roche.

2012–2015: BBC Three Counties Radio and BBC WM

Between 2012 and 2015, Lee presented the breakfast radio show on BBC Three Counties Radio, broadcast across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire from Luton and Dunstable. In 2014, Lee was awarded a Radio Academy Award in the 'Breakfast Show of the Year (under 10 million)' category. Commencing December 2013, Lee also presented a Saturday morning show on BBC WM, adding a Friday afternoon show from September 2014 onwards. Lee departed the station in August 2015, citing a "mix up".

Complaints were received about an interview with a lawyer from Christian Concern that was conducted on 3 November 2015 in which he accused her of being 'bigoted' and 'homophobic' after she defended a minister quoting verses from the Bible condemning homosexuality as sinful. On 14 November it was reported Lee had been sacked by BBC Three Counties Radio.

2016–2020: The Late Night Alternative

On 8 February 2016, Lee announced he would join Talkradio. The station launched on 21 March 2016 with Iain hosting The Late Night Alternative from 10 pm to 1 am, Monday to Friday. The programme was produced by Katherine Boyle, whom Lee worked with at Three Counties Radio.

Lee and Boyle won several Audio and Radio Industry Awards awards, including Gold in the 'Best Speech Presenter – Non-Breakfast' category in 2017 and 'Moment of the Year' in 2020 for directing emergency services to a caller who had taken an overdose.

On 2 June 2020, Lee announced that his contract at Talkradio was not renewed. On 10 July, the pair issued a press release confirming they had been signed by internet streaming service Twitch, and would re-launch the program on 20 July.

Controversies

In January 2000, Lee and co-show frontrunner Daisy Donovan of The 11 O'Clock Show were critized by the Broading Standard Commission for making 'death jokes' on the recently murdered Jill Dando.

On 12 August 2014, Lee was accused of saying a racist comment to BBC's Three Counties Radio breakfast show producer. The comment was said after an argument with the producer, in which Lee stated: "Go on, go and do the black and Asian show. Bye Bye.".. The argument was described as banter, however, the BBC later apologized for the aired comments.

On 18 June 2019, Lee was accused of stealing material from Brian Limond, a Scottish comedian. The audio clip, originally posted by Limmy on Tumblr in 2002, was supposedly recycled on 17 June 2019 in the 736th show of The Late Night Alternative.

Filmography

• Beyond Borders (directed by Martin Campbell)
• Radio Mania (directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard)

Other work

Lee runs 7A Records as a hobby with his friend Glenn Gretlund. The company specialises in releasing rare and obscure recordings by The Monkees. In November 2017, the label released Micky Dolenz's Out of Nowhere, which featured the 30 piece American Metropole Orchestra. Lee also had a cameo role in the British IBM's music video for their self-titled single, which was released in 2012.

Lee formerly wrote a gaming column for MSN.co.uk, as well as recording monthly podcasts. He has also appeared on "XLeague.tv" discussing video games alongside former LBC producer 'Agent Chris'.

Lee has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends, and presented the official Big Brother radio show with co-host Gemma Cairney. The programme was called Big Brother's Big Ears and aired twice a week on the Big Brother website. Lee has also been heard as a continuity announcer on the TV channel Dave.

Lee has performed an experimental work by artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard in Sheffield called "Performer. Audience. Fuck Off" - an interpretation of the seminal piece "Performer/Audience/Mirror" originally presented in 1975 by American artist Dan Graham. Previously, Lee presented a free podcast called "Shindiggery", consisting of music, sound bites and audio recordings.

References

1. ^ "talkRADIO announces presenter line-up and launch date". talkSPORT.
2. ^ Lee, Iain (10 July 2020). "Here's the exciting press release for #TLNA with me AND @FlippinKath launches July 20th at 9pm" (Tweet). Retrieved 10 July 2020 – via Twitter.
3. "Radio star Iain winning people's hearts". Slough Observer.
4. Besanvalle, James (4 July 2019). "Comedian Iain Lee comes out as bisexual". Gay Star News. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
5. Fitzpatrick, Katie (28 November 2017). "I'm A Celebrity stars open up about depression and suicidal thoughts". men.
6. Agius, Nicola (22 December 2017). "Richard Arnold taking a break from Good Morning Britain: "I'm disappearing for a while"". DigitalSpy. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
7. Moir, Sophia (22 December 2017). "I'm A Celebrity's Iain Lee lands a job as showbiz reporter on GMB". Metro. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
8. Plunkett, John (6 November 2007). "Lee leaves LBC evening slot". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
9. "mediauk.com/radio/news/125/lbc-97.3". Archived from the original on 6 May 2009.
10. The Malloys (19 April 2009). "Iain "GENERAL" Lee v Matt "THE PAIN" Early - 28th April 2009" – via YouTube.
11. Plunkett, John (18 October 2011). "Absolute Radio's Iain Lee leaves station" – via www.theguardian.com.
12. Rabbit Hole TV (14 May 2014). Iain Lee 3 Counties Radio Breakfast Show wins Gold at the Radio Academy Awards 2014 (Television production). Retrieved 11 December 2017.
13. "Iain Lee departs BBC WM 95.6 after mix-up". RadioToday.co.uk. August 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
14. "Iain Lee departs BBC Three Counties Radio". RadioToday.co.uk. 14 November 2015.
15. "Audio Radio Industry Awards 2017 – winners". RadioToday.co.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
16. "Iain Lee intervenes to help Plymouth overdose man". BBC News. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
17. "Greg James and Dotty win big at 'radio Oscars'". BBC News. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
18. "Iain Lee announces departure from talkRADIO after 4 years". RadioToday. 2 June 2020.
19. "Channel 4 rapped over Dando". BBC. 27 January 2000. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
20. "BBC apologises for Iain Lee's 'go and do the black and Asian show' comment". The Guardian. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
21. "BBC apologises for Iain Lee's 'go and do the black and Asian show' comment". The Guardian. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
22. Iain Lee's Pattertheft from Limmy (Youtube video). 25 June 2019.
23. "It's me: Limmy!". Tumblr. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
24. Joe Marchese. "I'm A Believer: Micky Dolenz's Rare MGM Singles Arriving On Deluxe Reissue - The Second Disc". The Second Disc.
25. "I'm a Believer: 7a Brings Micky Dolenz Concert with Orchestra to CD and Vinyl". theseconddisc.com.
26. the British IBM (17 July 2012). the British IBM - the British IBM (Music video). Retrieved 24 February 2018.
27. Lee, Iain. "Console Wars: Iain Lee takes sides". MSN Tech and Gadgets UK. Archived from the original on 27 March 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
28. Stuart, Keith (18 March 2008). "Games don't make good TV, says ex-videogame TV show presenter". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
29. Butler, Robert (27 October 2009). Behind the scenes at Dave with Iain Lee (Documentary). Retrieved 24 February 2018.
30. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
31. "Iain Lee Presents...Shindiggery". Archived from the original on 20 December 2008.

External links

• Iain Lee Presents...Shindiggery
• Iain Lee on Twitch
• Iain Lee at IMDb
• The Lost Initiative podcast
• Ian Lee's Official Twitter
• Iain Lee discusses 7a Records with Comedian Tim Powers

• Use dmy dates from August 2012
• 1973 births
• Alumni of Middlesex University
• Bisexual men
• English male comedians
• English radio presenters
• English television presenters
• LGBT broadcasters from the United Kingdom
• LGBT DJs
• LGBT people from England
• Living people
• Participants in British reality television series
• People from Muswell Hill
• People educated at Herschel Grammar School
• Twitch (service) streamers
• I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British TV series) participants