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Telegraph
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Saying the unthinkable: The life of James Whale in eight controversies
The late James Whale was Britain's original shock jock – a leviathan of late night broadcasting who would do and say the unthinkable and delighted in pushing guests over the edge. In the edgy Nineties, this made him a cult star, with his wee-hours The James Whale Radio Show one of the most reliably unpredictable slots on television (as well as airing on Radio Aire, it was simulcast on national TV). Rows, near-fistfights and marathon swearing sessions were all part of the mix in an era in which such outrageous entertainment simply wasn't available anywhere else. His love for going over the top would later catch up with him and ultimately proved detrimental to his career, when cancel culture was a bullet every presenter had to dodge. As fans and detractors alike mark his passing at age 74, here, then, is the life of James Whale in eight controversies. 1. Almost coming to blows with a comedian Long-haired comic Rob Newman was the toast of the Britpop set, but he didn't have a fan in Whale, who seemed to have invited him on to the James Whale Radio Show in 1990 simply to wind up the usually amicable performer. He started by introducing Rob as a comedian of many talents, before adding, 'We've yet to find one'. 'Good one, good one,' said an unimpressed Newman. Later, as Newman reached across for a cup of tea, Whale said, 'Lean in front of me again, I'll give you a kick.' Then, when Whale approached the camera to wish his [Whale's] mother well during her stay in hospital, Newman retorted, 'She's got cancer.' Whale asked the audience whether this was funny; no one laughed. The agonising segment concluded with Whale dubbing his guest 'an absolute pillock' and Newman exclaiming, 'Ooh, I've been sussed by James Whale.' Even by the anything-goes standards of early-Nineties broadcasting, the level of vitriol between the two was shocking. 2. Escorting a drunken rock star off the set In the same year in which he verbally sparred with Rob Newman, Whale went one farther and marched a sozzled Wayne Hussey of goth-rockers the Mission off the air. Hussey appeared largely relieved by the turn of events, later revealing that he had been warned to stay clear of Whale. 'Everybody advised me not to do it. [They said] he's gonna wind you up and make you look a fool,' he recalled. 'And I thought, 'There's no way he's going to make me look a fool.'' Hussey had just played a gig in Sheffield and was four (possibly five) sheets to the wind by the time he reached Whales's studio in Leeds. Largely incoherent, he chuckled obliviously at Whale's banter and didn't know how to react when the host took him by the arm and invited him into the wings, where he was escorted away. 'I was very, very drunk, and very, very happy,' said Hussey. 'I went there with the conscious decision of not letting him get one over.' 3. Considering running for Mayor of London Whale struck up a friendship with future Ukip leader Nigel Farage in the late 1990s, when Farage was a regular on the host's late-night TalkSportshow. 'I would go on at 10pm, having agreed to do an hour to comment on the next day's newspaper headlines,' Farage would later write in The Express. 'Several times when 11pm came, he asked me to stay, so I stayed on air until midnight. On a few occasions, he insisted I stay right through to 1am. This left me stranded, as I'd missed my last train home. But James always obliged and gave me a lift.' It was during one such appearance that Farage suggested Whale run for Mayor of London. He gave it serious thought – until he was warned by broadcasting watchdog Ofcom that doing so would breach broadcasting rules around impartiality. His response was to describe Ofcom as 'an august body that seems to exist for no apparent reason'. Whale finally provoked the wrath of Ofcom in 2008 when he urged his listeners to vote for Boris Johnson for Mayor, leading to a £20,000 fine for TalkSport, which promptly sacked him. Undeterred, in 2010 he once again considered running as a Ukip candidate for Mayor, against Ken Livingstone. He vowed to scrap the congestion charge, do away with 'appalling parking Gestapo officers', free the people of London from 'unfair taxes and continuous intrusion in their daily lives', and recruit his friend Peter Stringfellow to improve London's image. Farage wasn't the only politician with whom he crossed paths. He recalled Stringfellow inviting him to one of his clubs to 'meet somebody'. 'We turned up and he sat me down at this table with this woman. And I thought, gosh, I recognise you, who's that?' Whale remembered. 'And it was Margaret Thatcher. He'd invited me to a do – they were doing fundraising for the Conservatives – and here was Margaret Thatcher in his club in the West End, chatting to all the people. It was quite a bizarre evening.' 4. Walking off his own show It had been a long night for Whale in 2023, who had grown fed up with hosting a debate about the NHS on TalkTV. 'I don't want to be on the show,' he suddenly declared while whipping out his earpiece. In the glory days of the James Whale Radio Show, he was famous for goading guests into leaving (see Rob Newman above). Now it was Whale himself who was exiting, and footage of him stomping off the air quickly went viral. 5. Mocking the entire nation of Wales It was a case of Whale vs Wales after he mocked King Charles for addressing the Welsh assembly in their native language during his first appearance as monarch at the devolved parliament in 2022. Describing Charles's attempt as 'embarrassing', he questioned why 'we needed to hear Welsh in the first place'. As somebody whose mother was Welsh and Bourne in the valleys and never spoke Welsh most Welsh people I just wish King Charles didn't feel the necessity to try and do it most people in Wales don't speak Welsh and it's an embarrassment to C — James Whale MBE. (@THEJamesWhale) September 16, 2022 'As somebody whose mother was Welsh and born in the valleys and never spoke Welsh… I just wish King Charles didn't feel the necessity to try and do it,' he continued in a tweet. 'Most people in Wales don't speak Welsh and it's an embarrassment.' A furore ensued – even Rick McMurray of the indie band Ash felt the need to comment. 'Why are you so upset about a language? Are you K?' 6. Having a meltdown on Big Brother There was tension from the outset between Whale and Loose Women panellist Saira Khan when they went on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016, with Khan asking the broadcaster if he was 'racist'. 'I've never heard so much rubbish in my entire life,' he said in the first of several heated exchanges between the two. 'I don't think I am known for that. Am I known for that? I don't know. I really don't know. I've been one of the judges of the British curry awards for 10 years.' Things escalated farther as Whale told fellow contestants that Khan thought he was racist. (She said that she was merely asking the question.) He batted away her protests, saying he had 'a strange sense of humour'. 7. Rowing with Lizzie Cundy about Meghan Markle A segment about the Queen's Platinum Jubilee went quickly south when Whale invited TV personality Lizzie Cundy on to discuss Meghan Markle 's relationship with the Royal family. Cundy tore up a cardboard mask of Markle, saying, 'She's not a royal anymore.' Whale accused his guest of peddling 'nonsense' and asked her to leave the set – and then the whole thing blew up on social media. Cundy didn't bear a grudge, however. 'Thank you, dear friend, for everything,' she wrote on Instagram after Whale's death was announced. 'Not sure how I will cope.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lizzie Cundy (@lizziecundy) 8. Taking on the trans community Whale took great joy in giving 'the PC lobby … a good stiff kicking'. To that end, he labelled a TalkSport traffic reporter 'the Traffic Trannie – Britain's only transvestite traffic reporter', for which he was widely criticised. But he was never black and white on these issues. In 1994, he presented a one-off special, Trannies Galore, in which he interviewed members of the transgender community. Just last year, he hung up on women's rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen during a TalkTV debate over whether trans women should be allowed to use female toilets, having explained that an acquaintance of his did just that. 'Thank you Kellie, I've had enough, you've been very insulting to a good friend of mine,' he said. Up to the end, he was full of surprises.
Evening Standard
04-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Evening Standard
Who is James Whale?
In the 1980s he gained prominence as the host of The James Whale Radio Show on Radio Aire in Leeds. He hosted a night-time radio show on talkSPORT from 1995-2008, followed by stints on LBC 97.3 on the drivetime show and various BBC stations. He is currently the host of the Tales of the Whales podcast and a weekly radio show on talkRADIO.
Metro
05-05-2025
- Health
- Metro
TV presenter James Whale, 73, reveals he's 'at the end of cancer journey'
TalkTV presenter James Whale, who has been on screens for over 25 years, has revealed his cancer journey is 'at an end'. The longtime media personality, 73, shared the update on his health to viewers after being diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer five years ago, which has since spread to his spine, brain and lungs. He returned to his long-running show following a stay in intensive care after falling ill with a severe bout of the flu over Christmas. Joined by Talk co-host Ash Gould, he said: 'I'm at the end of my cancer journey. There is no treatment I can have anymore. 'I can't tell you how grateful I am to Talk to actually let me on the air and sit next to Ash, which is a real pain in the butt, but I've been doing it for 25 years!' Speaking about his plans to still work for as long as he could, he quipped: 'It might actually be helping me, you never know, so I don't let that cloud my judgment – but on the medication I am on, I'm all over the place. 'I'm hoping to go on for another few weeks, few months but as soon as I can't do the show anymore, I won't.' In December, the MBE recipient's wife offered an update when he returned home from the hospital. 'After a worrying week I am happy to report that @THEJamesWhale is out of ICU and back at home, having batted off the Grim Reaper yet again. 'This time he tried with a bout of Influenza A, but without success. Our hero is home for NYE,' she wrote in a caption. Whale was first diagnosed with cancer in 2000 when he had his kidney removed. It aggressively returned in 2020. Reflecting on his terminal condition after receiving his MBE last year, he admitted his worries that he 'might not make it to the end of the year.' At the time, he continued: 'I think you've got to be positive. I know it's getting a bit worse than it was. You just have to go with the flow really. 'You have to do that to get through it. One in two of us is going to go on this journey until they find a cure. They will find a cure. But you have to make the most of it.' 'When you're my age and I've had a good life, you say maybe you have another year left. Four years ago, we thought we had months.' Whale rose to prominence in the 1980s with The James Whale Radio Show on Radio Aire in Leeds and has also since gone on to become an Express columnist. Several high-profile people have been open about their journey with cancer in recent months, including Celebrity Big Brother's Trisha Goddard, who scheduled her treatment around her time in the house. More Trending Meanwhile, King Charles, who announced he had been diagnosed with cancer in February 2024, recently spoke about the 'daunting' experience. He wrote: 'A cancer diagnosis need never mean facing the future without hope and support'. Then added: ''Each diagnosis, each new case, will be a daunting and at times frightening experience for those individuals and their loved ones. 'But as one among those statistics myself, I can vouch for the fact that it can also be an experience that brings into sharp focus the very best of humanity.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. View More » MORE: I was 11 when my parents were told to plan my funeral MORE: Everything we know about King Charles' cancer treatment MORE: What ultra-processed food does to your body after days, weeks and months
