Christian Liam O'Connell (born 7 April 1973 in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

) is an Australian based British radio disc jockey (DJ), television host, writer and comedian. He is currently the host of '' The Christian O'Connell Show'', airing on weekday mornings on the Gold 104.3 radio station in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and replayed on weekday evenings on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne, Gold 101.7 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, KIIS 97.3 in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Mix 102.3 in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, and 96FM in Perth.

History

O'Connell started '' The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show'' in 1998, on weekday mornings at a local station in

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

, England; he moved to local stations in larger cities (

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in 2000,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 2001) until it became a national show on Virgin Radio in March 2006, which became

Absolute Radio Absolute Radio is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via digital audio broadcasting. The station focuses on alternative ...

in September 2008. In May 2018, O'Connell and the show moved to a broadcast settlement located in Australia, to broadcast in Australia. He has performed three sold-out tours of the International Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Festival in 2013, 2014, and 2015. He hosted the MacMillan Cancer comedy show at the London Palladium in 2016 and the Stand Up to Cancer show at the

London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1910. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many wit ...

in November 2017. He hosted the

Q Awards The Q Awards were the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine '' Q''. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards became one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards. Locations for the awards ceremony included Abbey Road Studios ...

between 2013 and 2017. In February 2018, O'Connell announced that he would leave Absolute Radio and emigrate to Australia to host the Gold 104.3 breakfast programme in

. He did his last broadcast of the UK's ''The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show'' on 18 May 2018, before starting the new breakfast show on Gold 104.3 on 4 June 2018, featuring his long-running quiz "Yay or Neigh". In April 2020, ARN announced that ''The Christian O'Connell Show'' would be syndicated across the country from 27 April, airing for one hour from 7–8 p.m. on weeknights on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne, Gold 101.7 in Sydney, KIIS97.3 in Brisbane, Mix 102.3 in Adelaide and 96FM in Perth. In November 2023, ARN announced that it had renewed O'Connell's contract until 2029.

Personal life

O'Connell was born in

, England, where he was raised on a council estate. His father, of Irish origin, was a foreman for Ford at

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, and his mother was an

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

nurse. His maternal grandmother was Indian, having met her husband, who fought with the

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with the endonym Gorkhali ( Nepali: गोर्खाली ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of North India. The Gurkha units consist of Nepali and ...

s in

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

and India. O'Connell and his wife have two daughters. O'Connell attended the Henry Beaufort School and Peter Symonds College before studying at

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university located in Nottingham, England. Its origins date back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham School of Design, Nottingham Government School of Design, which still opera ...

. He supports the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

football team Southampton F.C. and

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

team

Melbourne Demons The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

Career

O'Connell's first job was as a dustman in Winchester at the age of 16 in the Christmas holidays. O'Connell started on 2CR Radio in

in 1998. He later moved to Juice FM in Liverpool in 2000. He formerly hosted

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

's weekend sports game show '' Fighting Talk'' from 2004 to 2006 and the 2013–14 season, the other presenters being BBC Football Commentator Jonathan Pearce and '' This Morning'' presenter Matt Johnson. O'Connell hosted the Breakfast Show on indie music station XFM London from January 2001 to October 2005. While at XFM, O'Connell ran a song writing competition amongst listeners to pen an England team anthem for

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

. The result was ''Born In England'', which was recorded with the assistance of acts including

Supergrass Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey (drums, ...

The Libertines The Libertines are an English Rock music, rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât (vocals/guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar). The band, centred on the songwriting partnership of Barât and Doherty, included John Hassall ...

and Delays, as well as Bernard Butler and Northern Irish actor James Nesbitt. Released under the band name "Twisted X", the song reached Number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. O'Connell joined the Virgin Radio team making his first broadcast on 23 January 2006. He celebrated his 10th year at Virgin (changed in September 2008 to

Absolute Absolute may refer to: Companies * Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher * Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK * Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk ma ...

) by giving his listeners free tins of food.

Shows

* ''The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show'',

2CR FM CR or Cr may refer to: In business * Conversion rate, in marketing * Credit Record, in accounting * Crown Royal, a brand of Canadian whisky Organizations Religious organizations * Celtic Reconstructionism, a form of Polytheism * Congregation ...

, Bournemouth (1998 – January 2000) * ''The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show'', Juice FM, Liverpool (January 2000 – January 2001) * ''The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show'', XFM London, (January 2001 – October 2005) * ''The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show'', Virgin Radio, United Kingdom (January 2006 – September 2008) * ''The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show'',

, United Kingdom (September 2008 – May 2018) * ''The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show'', Gold 104.3,

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

(June 2018 – present) * ''The Christian O'Connell Show'', Gold 104.3 Melbourne, Gold 101.7 Sydney, KIIS 97.3 Brisbane, Mix 102.3 Adelaide, 96FM Perth (April 2020 – present)

Notable radio guests

James Nesbitt, another friend of O'Connell's, has appeared before he moved to Virgin Radio, with a guest appearance on O'Connell's XFM show in 2004. In 2006, after ''The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show'' had switched to a national broadcast, he was able to interview

Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal ( ; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-Dan (rank), dan Black belt (martial arts), black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instru ...

; O'Connell described the interview, remarking: "It was the single worst thing I've ever done on radio."

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

appeared on O'Connell's Absolute Radio show twice in 2009. His second appearance caused controversy when the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

leader used the expletives "pissed off" (referring to the public reaction to the expenses scandal) and (in reference to

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

) said "too many twits might make a twat" while on air. In November 2009, Tennant co-hosted the ''Absolute Breakfast Show'' with O'Connell for three consecutive days. In October 2010, Tennant co-hosted with O'Connell and acted out Copacabana. In September 2011, Tennant experienced a fish-facing with a trout as well as a tennis ball challenge. Australian comedy duo Hamish and Andy co-hosted a world first

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

with O'Connell on 18 May 2012. In 2016, O'Connell and the show joined up again for a 2-day competition with a race by each of their chosen listeners to win a holiday in the UK or Australia. O'Connell's listener lost.

Television career

O'Connell has appeared as a guest on a

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

sports show with Dickie Davies as one of the fellow guests. In 2003, O'Connell replaced

Chris Moyles Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of '' The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X. Previously he presented '' The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2012 ...

on Channel 5's ''Live With...'' show and went on to present the trivia show "Pub Ammo" in 2004 on the same channel. On 7 August 2004, O'Connell became the second person to host the BBC Radio 5 Live show '' Fighting Talk'', following the departure of Johnny Vaughan. He also appeared on BBC2's '' Eggheads'' quiz show in 2005. In May 2006, O'Connell fronted ''Sunday Service''; a Sunday evening show on Sky One. In June 2006, O'Connell started ''World Cuppa'' on ITV4. In November 2006, he appeared on the BBC TV gameshow ''The Weakest Link''. O'Connell went out in the 3rd round after being voted off by his contestants. O'Connell appeared as a guest in a September 2008 episode of '' Loose Women'' and ''

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 ...

'' to promote his book. He later appeared a second time on a Radio DJ special in mid-2009, being voted off in Round 7. In February 2010, O'Connell appeared as a presenter, commentator and interviewer for the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts (BAMMA). O'Connell returned to Radio 5 Live on Sunday mornings from September 2009, presenting ''The Christian O'Connell Solution''. From 10 January 2010, it was replaced by ''

7 Day Sunday ''7 Day Sunday'' (''7 Day Saturday'' in 2013) is a British radio comedy, comedy radio talk radio, talk show hosted by Al Murray on BBC Radio 5 Live. Broadcast weekly on Sunday mornings, the show takes an irreverent look at the topical news storie ...

''. From January 2011, he presented the Saturday morning 9:00–11:00 on Radio 5 Live, standing in for Danny Baker. On 18 January 2015, O'Connell hosted '' An Evening with Top Gear'' live on the official Top Gear

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel, where he interviewed

James May James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter, alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, of the motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' fr ...

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, and author. He co-hosted the BBC Two motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and James Ma ...

, and

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English television presenter, journalist, farmer, and author who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for hosting the television programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), T ...

about their then-upcoming 22nd series of the show. On 17 October 2017, O'Connell took part in ''The Chase''. In May 2019, he made a brief cameo in the Australian sitcom ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...

''. In 2020, O'Connell reached the third round of the BBC series ''Masterchef'' with his dish ''Cheval En Croute.''

Awards and accolades

* 2003 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for Best UK Breakfast Show of The Year * 2004 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for UK DJ of The Year * 2005 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for Entertainment Award * 2005 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for National Breakfast Show of the Year * 2005 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award For Best Competition * 2006 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for Sports Programme (''Fighting Talk'') * 2007 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for a Competition (''Who's Calling Christian?'') * 2010 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for Best Competition (''Who's Calling Christian?'') * 2011 The Arqiva/Triple A Media Commercial Radio National Breakfast Show of the Year * 2013 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award Music Radio Personality of The Year * 2013 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award Best Use of Branded Content * 2014 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards National Presenter of The Year * 2014 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards Gold Winner Best UK National Breakfast show of The Year * 2014 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards Gold Winner Best Feature Award the 40 List * 2014 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards Gold Special Achievement Award * 2016 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards Gold Winner Best UK National Breakfast Show * 2018 TRIC Winner Best Radio Programme UK * 2018 Radio Academy Gold Award

References

External links

*
Official ''The Christian O'Connell Show''
page on Gold 104.3

From London's Evening Standard (May 2003)
Press Gazette interview
(January 2006)
Interview with 'The Independent'
(May 2006) {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnell, Christian 1973 births Living people British radio personalities British radio DJs British people of Irish descent Absolute Radio British emigrants to Australia Mass media people from Winchester Alumni of Nottingham Trent University