Gyles Brandreth

On radio, he has appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Just a Minute. In 1992, Brandreth was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the City of Chester constituency. Representing Chester in the House of Commons until his defeat at the 1997 general election, Brandreth then resumed his career in the media. He has written fiction and non-fiction books.

Gyles Brandreth studied at New College, Bedales School and Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle. The recorded working language is English. Places of work recorded in the authority are London. Positions recorded include member of the 51st Parliament of the United Kingdom and Assistant Whip.

• Name — Gyles Brandreth • Office — Chancellor of the University of Chester • Term Start — 17 March 2017 • Term End — 6 November 2025 • 1blankname — Vice-Chancellor • 1namedata — Timothy Wheeler Eunice Simmons • Predecessor — The Duke of Westminster • Successor — Dame Jenny Harries • Office1 — Lord Commissioner of the Treasury • Term Start1 — 12 December 1996 • Term End1 — 2 May 1997 • Prime Minister1 — John Major • Predecessor1 — Michael Bates • Successor1 — Graham Allen • Office2 — Assistant Whip • Term Start2 — 25 November 1995 • Term End2 — 12 December 1996 • Prime Minister2 — John Major • Predecessor2 — Liam Fox • Successor2 — Matthew Carrington • Office3 — Member of Parliament for City of Chester • Term Start3 — 9 April 1992 • Term End3 — 8 April 1997 • Predecessor3 — Peter Morrison • Successor3 — Christine Russell • Birth Name — Gyles Daubeney Brandreth • Born — 8 March 1948 • Birthplace — Wuppertal, Germany • Party — Conservative • Children — 3 (including Aphra) • Relatives — * Benjamin Brandreth (ancestor) • Education — New College, Oxford (BA) • Occupation — * Broadcaster • writer • politician • television presenter • theatre producer • publisher

Born in 1948 at Wuppertal, Germany, where his father, Charles Brandreth (1910–1982), was serving as a legal officer with the Allied Control Commission, his mother, Alice, née Addison, (1914–2010), became a pioneer in remedial teaching for dyslexic children. His great-great-great-grandfather was Benjamin Brandreth, descended from Thomas Brandreth of Ormskirk (1723–1791) via a cadet branch and a cousin of Admiral Sir Thomas Brandreth. He is also a descendant of Jeremiah Brandreth. When Brandreth was three, his parents returned to London, where he was educated at the Lycée Français de Londres, then Bedales School in Hampshire, becoming friends with Simon Cadell. Brandreth read Modern History and Modern Languages at New College, Oxford. While there, he directed the Oxford University Dramatic Society and was elected President of the Oxford Union in Michaelmas term 1969, and was a regular contributor to the undergraduate magazine Isis. He was described in a contemporaneous publication as "Oxford's Lord High Everything Else". Christopher Hitchens suggested that Brandreth "set out to make himself into a Ken Tynan. Wore a cloak".

• Illustration — Brandreth with Judi Dench at the London Palladium in 2023 Brandreth has appeared in the "Dictionary Corner" on the game show Countdown more than 300 times, including Carol Vorderman's final edition in 2008, making more appearances than any other guest. He appeared on TV-am's Good Morning Britain. He has appeared regularly in recent years on ITV's This Morning. In 1989, he presented, with his wife, Michèle, Discovering Gardens, a documentary television series that explored public gardens across South West England while speaking to the people that created and maintained them. Brandreth hosted the short-lived game show Public Opinion in 2004. In 2006, he appeared on the television series That Mitchell and Webb Look, on the fictional game show "Numberwang", satirising his appearances in Countdowns "Dictionary Corner". In 2007, he guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio play I.D. From July to August 2009, he hosted the game show Knowitalls on BBC Two. In April 2010, he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Vote Now Show. He made a cameo appearance as himself in Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd, in the episode "The Final Countdown", again as a guest in Countdown's "Dictionary Corner". A frequent guest on BBC television panel shows, he has appeared on ten episodes of QI and nine episodes of Have I Got News for You. He has appeared in episodes of Channel 5's The Gadget Show, and is a contributor to the BBC's early evening programme The One Show. He appeared on Room 101 in 2005, while Paul Merton was host, successfully banishing the Royal Variety Performance and the British honours system into Room 101, declaring that he would never accept an honour himself. In 2013, Brandreth clarified his position, stating that he had "no fundamental objection to the honours system", and that he selected the honours system for Room 101 because he could "tell funny stories about it". In October 2019, Brandreth appeared in series 3 of Richard Osman's House of Games, winning two of the five episodes. Also in 2019, he appeared on series 1 of Celebrity Gogglebox alongside Sheila Hancock. In 2020 and 2021, Brandreth returned for series 2 and 3, alongside Maureen Lipman. In 2022, he appeared in series 4 with Joanna Lumley and Carol Vorderman. In 2023, he returned with Lumley for series 5, as well as Susie Dent. In 2020, Brandreth and actor Sheila Hancock replaced Timothy West and Prunella Scales in a two-episode series of Great Canal Journeys, travelling down the River Thames. In the first episode West gave the two novice canal boaters a crash course in barging. They navigated the Staffordshire Waterways in 2021 for another two-episode series. On 16 October 2021, Brandreth appeared alongside Anne Hegerty as a celebrity contestant on the ITV show Beat the Chasers—described as Gogglebox in celebrity guise—in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital to support Claire Windsor, Countess of Ulster and her fellow clinicians' work. On 24 October 2022, Brandreth appeared on Bargain Hunt: BBC 100th Birthday Special to commemorate the BBC's 100th Anniversary. His team mate was Tony Blackburn.

Brandreth has presented programmes on London's LBC radio at various times since its launch in 1973. He has frequently appeared on BBC Radio 4's comedy panel game Just a Minute. On several episodes of Radio 4's political programme The Westminster Hour, Brandreth has shared his thoughts on how to make the most of being a government minister. From 2003 to 2005, Brandreth hosted the Radio 4 comedy panel game Whispers. In 2006, Brandreth appeared in the Radio 4 comedy programme Living with the Enemy, which he co-wrote with comedian Nick Revell and in which they appear as a former Conservative government minister and a former comedian. In 2010, he broadcast a Radio 4 documentary about his great-great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Brandreth, the inventor of a medicine called "Brandreth's Pills". For a period, he was the host of the Radio 4 comedy panel show Wordaholics; the programme first aired on 20 February 2012. He appeared on the Radio 4 programme The Museum of Curiosity in August 2017, to which he donated a button that was once owned by a famous actor.

In April 2019, Brandreth began co-hosting a podcast, Something Rhymes with Purple, alongside lexicographer Susie Dent. The podcast discussed aspects of the English language such as historic or unusual words and their origins, as well as the origins of popular phrases and sayings. The podcast ended in July 2024. In September 2023, Brandreth began hosting another podcast, Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth, in which he interviews famous people about "their first memories and first experiences". Interviewees include Judi Dench, Björn Ulvaeus, Miriam Margolyes and Keir Starmer.

• Illustration — Brandreth at the Chiswick Book Festival Since the 1970s, Brandreth has written books for adults and children about Scrabble, words, puzzles and jokes; he was also a regular contributor to Games & Puzzles magazine. He wrote an authorised biography of actor John Gielgud, and lipogrammic reworks of Shakespeare. In the 1980s, Brandreth wrote scripts for Dear Ladies, a television programme featuring Hinge & Bracket. Brandreth created the stage show Zipp!, which enjoyed success at the Edinburgh Festival and had a short run in the West End. In 1999, he published diaries chronicling his days as a politician between 1990 and 1997, called Breaking the Code. In September 2004, Brandreth's book on the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage, was published. In July 2005, he published a second book on the royal family, Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair, which concerns the three-decade love affair between the then-Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. In 2021, following the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Brandreth wrote: "The Duke showed me great friendliness over 40 years but royalty offer you friendliness, not friendship, and you have to remember the difference". Brandreth has written a series of seven works of historical fiction called The Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries, casting Oscar Wilde as working with both Robert Sherard and Arthur Conan Doyle. Brandreth has written and toured in a number of comedic one-man shows, including The One-to-One Show in 2010–2011, Looking for Happiness in 2013–2014 and Word Power in 2015–2016. Brandreth has written a book entitled Have You Eaten Grandma?, about the English language and correct grammar.

Brandreth served as a Conservative MP, representing the City of Chester, from 1992 to 1997. In 1992, he introduced a Plain Language Bill, to simplify language used in contracts, under the Ten Minute Rule. However, it was objected to at Second Reading and was dropped. He then proposed a Private Member's Bill, which became law as the Marriage Act 1994, allowing civil marriages to be solemnized in certain "approved premises". In 1995, he was appointed to junior ministerial office as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, with his role being essentially that of a whip. Brandreth broadcast reminiscences of his parliamentary career on BBC radio as Brandreth on Office and The Brandreth Rules in 2001, 2003 and 2005. In August 2014, Brandreth was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence from the UK in the run-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. In May 2016, Brandreth told The Spectator that he was likely to vote Remain in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. In 2019, Brandreth confirmed that, while he had voted Remain, he accepted the referendum result to leave, saying that the government now had to "get Brexit done".

Brandreth is known for the colourful, humorous, novelty jumpers he has designed and has worn throughout his career. He has stated on the BBC that "it's all I'm really known for". Collaborating with artist and knitwear designer George Hostler (1939–2018), Brandreth created hundreds of jumper designs that appear in books he and Hostler authored and produced under their knitwear label, Gyles & George. Brandreth devotes a room in his London home to jumpers, and claims to have one for almost every occasion. To name just a few examples: he has a knitted jumper emblazoned with a green frog that he has worn for appointments with Princes (Philip and Charles); on other royal occasions, he has worn sweaters featuring corgis and crowns. He has appeared on TV to talk about rail strikes with a jumper displaying a steam locomotive, and wore a sweater with the words "The End" on the day Boris Johnson resigned. He also has a Scrabble-themed jumper, which he sports as President of the Association of British Scrabble Players. To strike a more serious note, he wore lounge suits rather than novelty jumpers when serving in Parliament, though he has stated: "The first time I spoke in the [House of] Commons, I heard John Prescott on the bench opposite me muttering 'woolly jumpers ha ha ha'. He could see I was thrown and he carried on. Eventually, I had to pause and point out to Mr Prescott (the Honourable Member for Kingston upon Hull East) that the joy of a woolly jumper is that you can take it off at will. Whereas the blight of a woolly mind is that you're lumbered with it for life". In 2020, Brandreth partnered with American designer Jack Carlson to revive the label for the 21st century, with Gyles & George joining Carlson's collective of brands, Blazer Group. They have collaborated to re-release many of Brandreth's original designs, including a jumper with the words "I'm a Luxury" across the front, famously worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, and another featuring the words "What the **** is going on?" (the back reads: "Don't ask me"). They have also released a popular collection of sweaters themed around the signs of the Zodiac. Aside from Brandreth himself, the brand's models and prominent customers have included Joanna Lumley, Floella Benjamin, Hugh Bonneville, Jane Asher, Elton John, Pete Davidson, Ziwe Fumudoh, Blanca Miro, Dwyane Wade, Keith Richards and Diana, Princess of Wales. In 2023, the Petersfield Museum opened an exhibition dedicated to Gyles & George and Brandreth's personal collection of jumpers.

Brandreth met Michèle Brown at Oxford. They married at Marylebone Register Office on 8 June 1973, witnessed by actor Simon Cadell, his best friend from school. They have a son and two daughters, and have lived in Barnes, London, since 1986. Brandreth is a vegetarian, and stopped drinking alcohol in 1997 to lose weight.

• Created in Captivity (1972), a study of prison reform • The Funniest Man on Earth (1974), a biography of Dan Leno • Pears Book of Words, foreword by Robert Burchfield (1979) • The Joy of Lex: How to Have Fun with 860,341,500 Words (1980), • The Complete Home Entertainer (1981) • Everyman's Indoor Games (1981), • The World's Best Indoor Games (1981), • 871 Famous Last Words, and Put-downs, Insults, Squelches, Compliments, Rejoinders, Epigrams, and Epitaphs of Famous People (1982) • The Book of Mistaikes (1982), • Wordplay (1982), • John Gielgud: A Celebration (1984) • The Scrabble Brand Puzzle Book (1984), • The Book of Solo Games (1984), • A Guide to Playing the Scrabble Brand Crossword Game (1985), • Wit Knits: Lively and Original Hand-Knitting Designs (1985), (with George Hostler) • The Great Book of Optical Illusions (1985), • Everyman's Classic Puzzles (1986), • The Scrabble Companion (1988), (with Darryl Francis) • Knitability: Fun Knits for all the Family (1988), (with Linda O'Brien) • World Championship Scrabble (1992), (with Darryl Francis) • Under the Jumper: Autobiographical Excursions (1993). • Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries, May 1990 – May 1997 (1999), • Brief Encounters: Meetings with Remarkable People (2001), • John Gielgud: An Actor's Life (2001), • The Biggest Kids' Joke Book Ever! (2002), • The Joy of Lex: An Amazing and Amusing Z to A and A to Z of Words (2002), • The Word Book (2002), • Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage (2004), • Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair (2005), • Something Sensational to Read in the Train (2010), • The 7 Secrets of Happiness (2013) • Word Play (2015) • Messing About in Quotes (2018) • Novelty Knits: 35 Fun & Fabulous Jumpers (2019), (with Saethryd Brandreth) • The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes (2020) • Philip: The Final Portrait (2021) • Odd Boy Out (2021) • Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait (2022) • Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear: A. A. Milne and the Creation of 'Winnie-the-Pooh (2025)

• Here Comes Golly (1979). • Who is Nick Saint? (1996). • Venice Midnight (1999). • Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders (2007), (American title: Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance). • Oscar Wilde and the Ring of Death (2008), (American title: Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder). • Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man's Smile (2009). • Oscar Wilde and the Nest of Vipers (2010), (American title: Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders). • Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders (2011). • Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol (2012). • Jack the Ripper – Case Closed (2017)., (American title: Oscar Wilde and the Return of Jack the Ripper (2019).)