Ted Robbins
Ted Robbins is recognised as one of the top TV warm-up act in Britain but if you if you’ve never seen him before a live studio audience, you may recognise Ted from his on-screen appearances in shows such as Brookside, Doctors, Holby City, Merseybeat, Lead Balloon, Little Britain, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and most famously of all, the role of ‘Den Perry’ – the man who burned down the Phoenix club in Peter Kay’s hit show, Phoenix Nights.
Born in Liverpool, Robbins is one of five children and also second cousin of Beatle’s legend, Paul McCartney.
A career in theatre and television has seen him take up a variety of roles from acting through to presenting quiz game shows, including Chain Letters, Quiz Night and Bratpack in addition to being the voice of hit show, Catchphrase, from 1994 – 1999.
Also in the 90s, Ted narrated audio book adaptations of The Railway Stories written by Christopher Awdry, which feature titles such as Thomas the Tank Engine.
Ted lives in the village of Crawshawbooth, Rossendale, Lancashire, with his two children. Currently, Ted presents a weekday morning show on BBC Radio Lancashire from 9am – 11am, if you’re not local to the area you can catch up with him by listening online via the BBC Lancashire site.
Ted is a fantastic act at any occasion and his experience and talent makes for an excellent guest with great stories and laughs assured. To enquire about Ted’s availability please get in touch with us using the form below.
Jeff Probyn
Jeff Probyn is one of the best Rugby after dinner speaker’s currently on the circuit. His playing record is second to none and his involvement in the Rugby world since his retirement is considerable and makes him the perfect guest at a wide range of events and functions. As well as being a member of the main R.F.U. committee, Jeff has very definite views on the present state of Rugby Football which makes for a great insight in to the sport. His speaking style is very entertaining with stories about many of the characters he has played alongside as well as his ideas for the future of the game. He is very capable of speaking at Rugby Dinners— from club dos to stag parties as well as corporate events.
Jeff’s Domestic Playing Record:
Clubs: Old Albanians 1971-76 Streatham & Croydon 1976-80
Richmond 1980-84
Wasps 1984-95 (Over 300 appearances)
Bedford 1995-97
Barking 1997-99
Blackheath 1999-00
International Career:
England, 37 Caps 1988-93
2 Five Nations Grand Slams
2 World Cup appearances (inc 1991 Final)
Also capped by Spain in 1994 and Kuwait 1990-00
Played for many Representative sides all round the world.
Coaching Experience
Coached Wasps, Barking, Blackheath, London Welsh, Rugby, Leicester as well as being a Specialist Forward coach for both the full England side and the Under 21’s on the Australian tour.
Administrative Experience
Chairman of Wasps playing Committee and Director of Rugby @ Barking
Manager of England Under 21 Team 1995-97
Former Member of Sports Council
Former Member of Rugby Football Union Council
Media Work
Broadcaster on Radio and Television and Regular columnist in the Rugby Press, weekly column in The Rugby Paper.
John Conteh
John Conteh was born in Kirkby, Liverpool, on May 27th 1951, and took up boxing aged just 10. Just 9 years later he won the Amateur Boxing Association belt, and by 1970, he was competing at the Commonwealth Games where took the Middleweight Gold. It was 4 years later aged 23 when he won the WBC Light Heavyweight Crown,beating the Argentinian Jorge Ahumada. In doing so, he became the first British Boxer for more than 25 years to hold the Championship belt. After being stripped of his title for not taking a mandated defence, he then attempted to regain his crown, but this ended in points decision defeat after 15 rounds against the Croatian, Mate Parlov. After two further attempts to regain his World Title failed, both fights with American Matthew Saad Mohammed, he retired from professional Boxing in 1980.
Stats for John’s professional record read – 34 wins, 1 draw, and 4 losses.
In 1974, John competed in and won the hugely successful BBC TV Series ‘Superstars’, further endearing him to the British public.
John remains one of the country’s most popular and successful boxing champions to this day. At his peak, he was considered good enough to be touted as an opponent of the great Muhammad Ali on a number of occasions and subsequently enjoyed fame in Britain and was often on the front as well as the back pages of the leading newspapers.
Ian Irving
Ian Irving is an established entertainer and comedian on the After Dinner circuit and can adapt his performance to a variety of events and functions. Having made his TV debut on a show called New Faces before Surprise, Surprise, Essex born Ian has developed his unique style of humour in to a great act at any event which range from political dinners through to benefit and reunion dinners as well as regular appearances on QE II cruises.
Sport and Golf in particular are a speciality subject of Ian’s and his knowledge and humour surrounding sport make for a great addition to him appearing at events alongside sports stars be it a corporate golf day of after dinner event. Some of the names he has worked alongside down the years include Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Geoff Hurst, Sir Nick Faldo, Lennox Lewis, Alan Shearer, Martin O’Neil, Graham Gooch, Frank Bruno amongst many others.
Some of the clients Ian has worked for include Nat West, HSBC, Bank of Scotland, Vodafone, Sony, British Airways and Hilton Hotels amongst others.
