James Whale

Michael James Whale (born 13 May 1951) is a British radio personality, television presenter, podcast host and author.

Whale was born on 13 May 1951 in Ewell, Surrey into "an ordinary middle class family".

His English father David worked in the family business S&R Whale, which made dresses, aprons and overalls in a factory in Brixton, London.

His Welsh mother Anne (née Price) was a professional ballet dancer.

His parents later owned The Green Man pub in Ewell.

Whale has a younger brother, Keith.

Whale did not enjoy his school life.

After failing his eleven-plus exam, he attended Linton's Lane Secondary Modern School and Longmead County Secondary Boys School, both in Epsom.

From fourteen to sixteen, Whale took up archery and became a Surrey junior champion.

He relocated to the King's Cross area of London where his parents ran a pub.

He wanted to become an actor, but his mother advised him to "get a proper job".

Among Whale's first jobs was as a trainee buyer for Harrods.

In this job he came into contact with a DJ who influenced him to become one soon after, citing Tony Blackburn, Johnnie Walker and Kid Jensen as among his favourites.

After learning that Watneys was to open a chain of discos, Whale took their DJ training course and landed his first gig at The Bird's Nest in Muswell Hill, north London.

He found the experience "dull", but realised he had an ability to introduce records and worked at a Watney's venue in Sweden for several months.

Upon returning home Whale resumed DJ work, took acting lessons and worked as a rep, but earned little money.

Whale began his broadcasting career in 1970 following a visit to a Topshop store on Regent Street, London.

He spoke to manager Ralph Halpern who initially declined to hire a DJ for the store, after which he worked as an assistant stage manager at a theatre in Oxford.

Whale was soon invited back to Topshop and accepted work as one of the launch DJs of Radio Topshop, the in-house radio station.

In 1974, he became the host of an evening talk radio show at Metro Radio, serving northeast England from studios in Swalwell, Gateshead.

He was the first presenter of the very successful and much talked about Nightowls program, which he continued hosting into the early '80's. During this time, Whale took up additional work as an actor, playing roles in Z-Cars.

He later moved to BBC Radio Derby to host a morning phone-in, working with Terry Christian who later became a colleague at talkSPORT.

He gained initial prominence in the 1980s as the host of The James Whale Radio Show on Radio Aire in Leeds, which was simulcast on national television.

In the late 1980s, Whale became influenced by American radio hosts, including "shock jock" Howard Stern, and changed his style, having become tired of the "lovely phone-ins" that he had been accustomed to.

In 1982, Whale joined Radio Aire in Leeds to host the late night talk show; by 1986 he moved to the Breakfast Show, before returning to the late show in early 1987.

He released two singles in 1987: "The Whaley Rap" / "I Hear James (On the Radio)" and "Wrap it Up for Xmas".

Commencing on the "Friday night" of 24 September 1988 - the 1am start time making it technically a Saturday morning - Whale's radio show at Radio Aire was simulcast with Yorkshire Television and was titled The James Whale Radio Show, featuring live studio guests, music and listener phone calls.

The show became a ratings success, and in less than seven months it started to air nationally on ITV.

Conservative MP Jerry Hayes had a regular slot on the show and Steve Coogan would also make a regular appearance.

By September 1989, the show attracted over one million viewers.

It cost the television station £15,000 to run each hour.

In January 1993, Whale began a new ITV series, Whale On and in 1994 he presented a weekend afternoon show on LBC in London.

He also presented The Blue Whale on Men and Motors.

From 1995 to 2008, Whale hosted a night time radio show on talkSPORT (Talk Radio 1995–2000), followed by stints on LBC 97.3 and various BBC radio stations.

Whale is the current host of his podcast The James Whale Show and a night time radio show on talkRADIO and TalkTV.

In May 2008, Whale was sacked because he twice called on listeners to vote for Boris Johnson before the London mayoral election in 2008.

On 7 May 2008 Whale said he would join Bid TV.

He continued to broadcast on JamesWhaleRadio.co.uk.

On 20 May 2008, Whale began a four-hour weekly evening phone-in on Internet radio station Play Radio UK, however, on 2 September 2008 he said on air he was leaving Play Radio for book promotion and TV work.

He said he would continue his blog.