Maybe because we grew up with him, maybe because - like the Beatles or Stonehenge - he's always been there, it's easy to forget exactly how strange Noel Edmonds is. It's not like he's coy about his eccentricity. He sees no contradiction, for example, in being the face of BBC light entertainment and leading a boycott of the licence fee. Then in an interview at the weekend he spoke about being followed by two "melon-sized orbs" which he believed were his dead parents. "Conventional photography can't pick them up but digital cameras can," he said. "I've got loads of photographs of me at home with two orbs that visit me." Not to mention his views on immigration …
The focal point for his leftfield ideas is his current project Noel's HQ which aims to "fix broken Britain". Edmonds was happy to expand upon this, addressing the viewer on the show: "You clearly feel frustrated and at times angry at the tidal wave of new rules, regulations and laws that have been introduced in the name of health and safety, security or the environment."
Oh dear. You would have hoped that Edmonds would appreciate health and safety regulations. On the Late Late Breakfast Show in 1983, a series of stunt drivers took turns jumping a row of cars leading to Guy Skippon's car screeching onto the trackside narrowly avoiding spectators and Rich Smith's hospitalisation. A clearly shaken John Peel, providing the commentary, beheld a scene as harrowing as any late-night Einstürzende Neubauten session. Then in 1986 Michael Lush was killed rehearsing a bungee jump he was to perform on the show. The show was scrapped.
Yet Noel still has that annoying habit of fronting winning formats. From Swap Shop to Noel's House Party then Deal or No Deal, he just instinctively grasps what people want. Although ideologically he seems to be a disturbing blend of equal parts David Icke, Jeremy Clarkson and Robert Kilroy, so long as he keeps his TV Midas touch he's going to remain a curious feature on our broadcasting landscape.
