Gyles Brandreth

Gyles Brandreth is one of Britain's most sought-after public speakers. Author, broadcaster, former Oxford Scholar and President of the Oxford Union, one-time MP for the City of Chester and a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, he once featured in the Guinness Book of Records for making the longest-ever after-dinner speech - lasting twelve and a half hours! Well-known for his appearances on TV-am and in countless game shows in the 1970s and 1980s, Gyles Brandreth now appears on Channel Four's word game Countdown, Just a Minute on BBC TV and as a presenter for CBS News in the United States. He has his own radio show every Sunday on LBC 1152. The former Member of Parliament for the City of Chester, a Government Whip and Lord Commissioner of The Treasury, Gyles Brandreth's private member's bills included the 1994 Marriage Act - allowing civil marriage ceremonies to take place in venues other than registry offices. His political diaries, Breaking the Code, are published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Gyles Brandreth's many other books include The Complete Public Speaker, an autobiography called Under the Jumper, and, more recently, Who Is Nick Saint?, described by The Times as 'a first novel of wit, style and confidence... Not merely, like all the best after-dinner speakers, does he know how to spin a yarn; unlike most politicians, he has a touching access to the secrets of the human heart'. Gyles Brandreth, formerly Chairman and now Vice-President of the National Playing Fields Association, is married to writer and publisher Michele Brown (with whom he founded The Teddy Bear Museum in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1988) and they have three children. As an award-winning after-dinner speaker he has performed in venues as varied as the Waldorf-Astoria, the Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace and Strangeways Prison. As well as providing keynote addresses and individual tailored after-dinner speeches, Gyles Brandreth gives a number of set-piece talks including 'Language is Power' (he is a member of Trevor McDonald's Better English Campaign) and 'The Secret Life of Westminster'