Eva Ulrika Jonsson (born 16 August 1967)
[1] is a
Swedish television presenter in Britain, who became famous as a
TV-am weather girl and moved on to being the presenter of
Gladiators and a team captain of the show
Shooting Stars.
After working as a secretary, Jonsson began her TV career on
TV-am in 1989 where she worked as a weather presenter. From 12 September 1989, she was also the weather presenter for Swedish
TV3, broadcasting from London. In 1991, she co-presented the short-lived daytime quiz show
Who's Bluffing Who?, and starred in the critically acclaimed French film,
The Annunciation of Marie. In 1992 she moved into mainstream presenting and played host to numerous shows including
Gladiators',
The National Lottery – plus two major international broadcasts in 1998 and 1999, the
Eurovision Song Contest and
Miss World respectively. She also modelled for Playtex Lingerie during this period and was a team captain on the BBC TV quiz show
Shooting Stars.
From & more info on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrika_Jonsson
 |
| In 1998, with Terry Wogan. |
Sir Michael Terence "Terry" Wogan KBE DL (born 3 August 1938) is a veteran
Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and
British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the
BBC in the
United Kingdom for most of his career. Before he retired from the weekday breakfast programme
Wake Up to Wogan on
BBC Radio 2 on 18 December 2009, Sir Terry had a regular 8 million listeners, making him the most listened-to radio broadcaster of any European nation.
[1] He began his career at
Raidió Teilifís Éireann where he presented shows such as
Jackpot in the 1960s.
Wogan has been a leading media personality in the UK since the late 1960s and is often referred to as a
national treasure.
[1] He is perhaps best known in the United Kingdom for his
BBC1 chat show
Wogan, for his work presenting
Children in Need, as the host of
Wake Up to Wogan, the original host of the BBC game show
Blankety Blank (before being replaced by
Les Dawson), a presenter of
Come Dancing in the 1970s, and as the BBC's commentator for the
Eurovision Song Contest on radio and television from 1971 to 2008. Wogan started a primetime weekend show on Radio 2 from 14 February 2010.
[
Eurovision Song Contest
In 1971 and from 1974 until 1977, and again in 1979, Wogan provided the BBC's radio commentary for the
Eurovision Song Contest. He became better known for his television commentary, which he handled first in 1973 and then again in 1978. From 1980 until 2008, he provided the BBC's television commentary every year and became famous for his sardonic and highly cynical comments. He also co-hosted the contest, in 1998 with
Ulrika Jonsson, live from
Birmingham. From 1977 until 1996 Wogan hosted the UK selection heat each year, returning to the job in 1998 and again from 2003 until 2008. In 1973, 1975 and every year from 1977 until 1984 and once more in 1994, Wogan also presented the UK
Eurovision Song Contest Previews on
BBC1. He remained until recently an advocate of the contest. He earned a reported £150,000 annually for his work with the contest.
[22] His commentating style, which often involved humour at the expense of others, has caused some minor controversy, for example when he referred to the hosts of the
2001 contest in Denmark,
Søren Pilmark and
Natasja Crone Back, as "Doctor Death and the Tooth Fairy".
[23] Although many British viewers find his comments amusing, they are far from being universally liked outside Britain. The Danes were less than appreciative and Wogan now jokes that he is banned from visiting Denmark.
[citation needed]
During the presentation of the Dutch
televote in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2006, Wogan called the Dutch televote presenter,
Paul de Leeuw, an "
eejit", as de Leeuw started to make ad lib comments, gave his mobile phone number and lengthened the Dutch results.
Chris Tarrant later remarked that "Terry Wogan's commentary is why any sane person would choose to watch the Eurovision," referring to his now-infamous acerbity.
[citation needed].
During the 2007 BBC show
Making Your Mind Up, in which the British public voted to decide their Eurovision entry, Terry Wogan announced, wrongly, that the runner-up Cyndi was the winner. The actual winner was the group
Scooch and, according to the BBC, Terry Wogan had been provided with the correct result during the live show. His response to this on his radio show was quite simple, "It's not like anybody died or anything." He also stated that if they'd gone with Cyndi, we'd not have come last.
[24]
The Contest in recent years, however, has become notorious for a perceived increase in political voting (an aspect noted for many years). In
2008 the UK's entry,
Andy Abraham, came last, much to Wogan's disappointment. Wogan argued that Abraham "..gave, I think, the performance of his life with a song that certainly deserved far more points than it got when you look at the points that Spain got, that Bosnia-Herzegovina got – some really ridiculous songs."
Unknown to the majority of television viewers across Europe, however, Wogan is well-known to many veteran broadcasters across the continent, being seen as a Eurovision Song Contest institution. Indeed, at the
2008 contest he was acknowledged by both hosts, and welcomed personally by name to the show (alongside only two other individuals from the 43 participating broadcasting nations: France's
Jean-Paul Gaultier and Finland's 2007 Contest host
Jaana Pelkonen).
[25]
On 11 August 2008, Wogan said in an interview with national magazine
RadioTimes that he was 'very doubtful' about presenting the
Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom again, claiming it was "predictable" and "... no longer a music contest".
[26] On 5 December 2008 Wogan officially stepped down from the role after 35 years.
Graham Norton succeeded Wogan as BBC commentator for the 2009 contest. Norton said during the opening comments "I know, I miss Terry too."
[27]
In 2008 Sir Terry and Aled Jones released a single "little drummer boy/peace on earth" which got to number three in the UK music charts. This single was part of an album called Bandaged which included songs by various artists and the money raised went to BBC Children in Need. In 2009 Sir Terry and Aled recorded a second Christmas single "Silver Bells" which was also part of the second Bandaged album in aid of BBC Children in Need and can still be found on
http://www.charitygoods.com/.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Wogan
