Angus Purden (born 1973) is a Scottish television presenter. A former Mr. Scotland and model, he wrote for a Scottish newspaper and is now best known for presenting

do-it-yourself "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi- ...

and Scottish lottery shows. One of the regular presenters for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

series '' Cash in the Attic'' since 2002, he also appeared in programmes such as

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''Room For Improvement'' (2004-2010) and ''

Ghost Towns A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

'' (2005–2006) for

Living TV Sky Witness is a British pay television tv channel, channel owned and operated by Sky Limited, Sky, a division of Comcast. The channel primarily broadcasts procedural dramas from the United States aimed at the 18–45 age demographic. Sky Ital ...

, and he was a street prize presenter and public face of ''

People's Postcode Lottery A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...

''. In April 2010, Angus became the main host of STV gameshow '' Postcode Challenge''.

Early life

The youngest in his family with two

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

s and a brother. Purden was born in 1973 and named Gary. He was raised in the small town of

Shotts Shotts is a small town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow () and Edinburgh (). The town has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertra ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

. As a teenager, he won the title of Mr. Scotland in a '' Daily Record'' competition in 1992. The win opened the door to working as a catwalk model in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, including a three-year modelling stint for

Giorgio Armani Giorgio Armani (; born 11 July 1934) is an Italian fashion designer and a billionaire. He first gained renown working for Cerruti 1881. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, which eventually expanded into music, sport, and luxury hotels. By 200 ...

in Milan. . According to Purden, "I was surrounded by beautiful people so I remember laughing my head off that they thought I looked exotic. I was just a wee boy from a housing estate in Lanarkshire but I had thick, long curly hair and they liked me. The designer

Romeo Gigli Romeo Gigli (born 1949) is an Italian fashion designer who was described in the late 1980s as singlehandedly changing the course of fashion by the ''Los Angeles Times''. Early life Gigli was born in Castel Bolognese. Orphaned at the age of 18, he ...

used me as his muse, and designed an entire collection on me. It was an amazing time."

Career

Purden wrote a column for the

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Evening Times The ''Glasgow Times'' is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Called ''The Evening Times'' from 1876, it was rebranded as the ''Glasgow Times'' on 4 December 2019.STV as a prize presenter for the quiz show '' Wheel of Fortune'' presented by John Leslie. Subsequently, he was a reporter for ''

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

'' and '' Five News''.. Purden was a presenter on

's '' Cash in the Attic'', visiting family homes to find out what they need to raise money for. They then explore the home to find items that may be taken to auction, which are valued by experts. Before this, he presented Series 1 to 3 of

's ''Room For Improvement'', a home renovation show. Purden appeared with TV personality and self-described

psychic medium Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or ...

Derek Acorah Derek Francis Johnson (27 January 1950 – 4 January 2020), known professionally as Derek Acorah, was a British spiritual medium. He was best known for his television work on ''Most Haunted'', broadcast on Living TV (2002–2010). His career a ...

. In 2005 he presented ''Quest for Guy Fawkes'', which attempted to discover what happened during the

Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against James VI and I, King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of English ...

of 1605 by contacting

Guy Fawkes Guy Fawkes (; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educate ...

's spirit. In the first season of ''

Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns ''Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns'' is a paranormal reality television series which features noted Medium Derek Acorah as he visits towns in the UK to investigate hauntings. The team would travel in the "Ghost Town Van" and would allow townsfolk to te ...

'' (2005–2006), Purden and co-presenter

Danniella Westbrook Danniella Westbrook (born 5 November 1973) is an English actress and television personality. She is best known for playing Sam Mitchell in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Westbrook has also presented various television shows and was a conte ...

accompanied Acorah to towns and cities throughout Great Britain said to be haunted. These programmes were produced for

. Purden did media work for

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

TV, RBS,

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

(now STV) and the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

, and also fronted ''TV We Love To Hate'' for

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

. Radio appearances include

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

and LBC 97.3, and he writes occasional travel pieces for the Scottish tabloid the '' Sunday Mail''. In 2010, Purden appeared in a cinema advertising campaign against the arms trade for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

. Purden, alongside

Lorraine Kelly Lorraine Kelly (born 30 November 1959) is a Scottish television presenter. She has presented various television shows for ITV and STV, including '' Good Morning Britain'' (1988–1992), ''GMTV'' (1993–2010), ''This Morning'' (2003–2005, ...

presented the six-part psychology series, ''Make Me Happier'' for STV, which was broadcast in November/December 2009, then appeared as a guest presenter on STV's daily lifestyle show ''

The Hour An hour is a unit of measurement of time. (The) Hour(s) may also refer to: Measurement * Hour angle, the measurement of angle in units of hours ** Right ascension, the astronomical unit of measure of angle * light hour or hour, distance equival ...

'' on occasion – his first show being in February 2010, alongside main anchor

Michelle McManus Michelle McManus (born 8 May 1980) is a Scottish singer, columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter who won the second and final series of the UK talent show ''Pop Idol'' in 2003. She currently presents the ''Afternoon'' radio show ...

. In April 2010, he presented STV gameshow '' Postcode Challenge'', replacing

Carol Smillie Carol Patricia Smillie (born 23 December 1961) is a Scottish former television presenter, actress and model. Smillie became famous as a presenter on British TV during the 1990s and early 2000s. She was best known for assisting Nicky Campbell on ...

until the show was cancelled. Purden read

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

via the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

and in Edinburgh where he gained an honours degree. He subsequently retrained, worked at Hinchley Wood School for 2 years and is now head of psychology at an all boys private school in London.

Selected work

Some information in this table was obtained from .

Personal life

Purden is interested in interiors and architecture. In January 2004 it was reported that he and his partner owned a 1722 five-storey Georgian

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of Terraced house, terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type o ...

in the East End of London which had taken seven years to renovate and furnish from its original near-derelict state. He later moved to

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a wikt:cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan and multiculturalism, multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting ...

.. By April 2006 Purden had returned to Glasgow's West End after having spent 12 years in London. He said that being back in Scotland was a "breath of fresh air" and added: "Life seemed too hard in London. I needed to be there initially because of my career but now that I'm more established I feel it's going to be easier to commute. I'm elated to be back." In Glasgow, he acquired and renovated two B-listed properties. He later renovated a property in Edinburgh. Purden lists his other main interests as including food, travel (he speaks fluent Italian) and consumer issues. However, in February 2008 he was branded a 'kitchen calamity' after recording the lowest-ever score on the BBC programme ''

Ready Steady Cook ''Ready Steady Cook'' is a BBC daytime TV cooking game show. It debuted on 24 October 1994 and the last original edition was broadcast on 2 February 2010. The programme was hosted by Fern Britton from 1994 until 2000 when celebrity chef Ainsley ...

''.; .

References

Sources

External links

*
Angus Purden at Channel 4
{{DEFAULTSORT:Purden, Angus Scottish television presenters Scottish male models People from Shotts 1974 births Living people Alumni of the University of Edinburgh BBC television presenters Scottish expatriates in Italy Scottish LGBTQ broadcasters 21st-century Scottish LGBTQ people