Gavin Charles Alexander Campbell (born 17 March 1946) is a businessman and a former actor and television presenter, mostly known for his stint on ''

That's Life! ''That's Life!'' was a satirical TV consumer affairs programme on the BBC, at its height regularly reaching audiences of fifteen to twenty million, and receiving 10–15,000 letters a week. The series broadcast on BBC1 for twenty-one years, ...

'' from 1982 until the show ended in 1994.

Early life

Campbell was born in

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, where he grew up. His father was a welder, and his mother later became involved in the women's peace movement. He was educated at

St Christopher School St Christopher School is a boarding and day co-educational independent school in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. Established in 1915, shortly after Ebenezer Howard founded Letchworth Garden City, the school is a long-time pr ...

, a boarding

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

in the town of

Letchworth Garden City Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

, followed by the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

in London.

Career

Actor

Campbell began his career as an actor from 1970–71. He was an actor for 15 years. He played the part of Spencer Bodily in a 1968 episode of ''Department S''.

Presenter

Campbell was a presenter on the BBC consumer television show

. Around 1983 ''That's Life'' was attracting 19 million viewers. In the 1997 general election Campbell presented a video presentation for the

Referendum Party The Referendum Party was a Eurosceptic, single-issue political party that was active in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 1997. The party's sole objective was for a referendum to be held on the nature of the UK's membership of the European Union ...

, seeking the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. Five million copies of a VHS cassette with the video were sent to households in target constituencies. Campbell ran a company called One Hand Clapping Ltd from 1998–2002 with his wife. Until 2001, he worked for the Money Channel, which later went bankrupt. In 2001 he wrote a personal finance column for ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the '' Daily Mail'', was first pu ...

''. Since 2003, Campbell has been part of company called First Growth Direct, based in

Lew Trenchard Lewtrenchard is a village and civil parish in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. Most of the larger village of Lewdown is in the parish. In the Domesday Book of 1086, a manor of Lew is recorded in this area and two rivers h ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, which imports wine. Before becoming an actor he had worked as a

plongeur Plongeur, the French word for '' diver'' may refer to the following *The French submarine ''Plongeur'' *An employee charged with washing dishes Dishwashing, washing the dishes, doing the dishes, or washing up in Great Britain, is the proces ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He has a house in France at

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

. He had been a wine director at

Berry Brothers and Rudd Berry Bros. & Rudd (BBR) is a family-run British wine and Alcoholic spirit, spirits merchant founded in London, England, in 1698. Since then, the company has grown from a small coffee shop into an international business with six offices worldwid ...

of London.

Personal life

Campbell lives in Bedford Park, London, near the start of the M4.Bedford Park
/ref> He married Elizabeth (Liz) in 1985 in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

and they have four daughters and his wife worked in television. He ran his first

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...

in 1988, taking 3 hours and 49 minutes. He later ran in aid of the

deafblindness Deafblindness is the condition of little or no useful hearing and little or no useful sight. Different degrees of vision loss and auditory loss occur within each individual. Because of this inherent diversity, each deafblind individual's needs re ...

charity

Sense A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the cen ...

. He plays the

euphonium The euphonium is a medium-sized, 3 or 4-valve, often compensating, conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument that derives its name from the Ancient Greek word ''euphōnos'', meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced" ( ''eu'' means "well" ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Gavin 1946 births Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama BBC television presenters Daily Mail journalists English male television actors English television people English television personalities English television presenters Living people People educated at St Christopher School, Letchworth People from Letchworth Wine merchants Male actors from Hertfordshire