Former Have I Got News For You host Angus Deayton has said his “fortunate” career is due to meeting people who “changed my life”, such as screenwriter Richard Curtis.
The pair met during their time studying at Oxford University in the late 1970s, and Deayton has often credited Curtis for pushing him to pursue a career in acting.
The comedian and broadcaster has since appeared in shows such as One Foot In The Grave, Waterloo Road and Pramface, and won multiple Bafta TV awards for hosting BBC comedy programme Have I Got News For You.
Deayton reminisced on his decades-long career and its origins with City AM columnist Libby Brodie, while appearing on The Inner Table: The Art Of Living Well podcast.
The 70-year-old said: “I’ve had a fantastic life, a fantastic career, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I can’t pretend that I would do something radically different.
“I have been fortunate in a couple of regards, I think. People I’ve met, for example, who have changed my life. Like Richard Curtis, who I met at Oxford University.”
Curtis is an award-winning screenwriter, producer and director, known for blockbusters such as Love Actually, Notting Hill and Four Weddings And A Funeral.
Deayton said: “I’d never even thought about performing at all – it was entirely his fault that I was goaded into performing on stage towards the end of my degree.
“Prior to that, I’d never even considered acting or writing. It was purely through meeting him.”
Deayton said Curtis “drafted” him in to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe after two people dropped out of a show, and that “one thing led to another”.
They went on to record a Bee Gees parody track which topped the charts in Australia, and also started BBC Radio 4 comedy programme Radio Active together, which ran for seven years and was a spoof of British radio shows.
Deayton said: “That was our big break.”
“Then this programme called Have I Got News for You was looking for a presenter, and they auditioned two of us, and I got the job,” he continued, referring to the hit show he hosted for 12 years.
“Suddenly, once you’re on TV, more work flows. But for about 10 years I just thought, ‘I’m gonna have to retire because I’m never gonna get on TV.'”
Deayton has since had a successful TV and broadcasting career, appearing in shows such as Benidorm, Blackadder and Mr Bean, as well as hosting Hell’s Kitchen and Would I Lie To You.
Reflecting on his outlook on life, the star said: “I maintain that every decade has been better than the one before.
“Partly because of the way my career has gone – and when I had my child and all those things.
“Every decade has had something that’s made it better than the one before.”
The full episode of The Inner Table: The Art Of Living Well will be available on Spotify and Apple podcasts and YouTube from July 21.
