Toby Anstis
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Toby Anstis | |
|---|---|
 Radio DJ and TV presenter Toby Anstis in January 2007 | |
| Born | 14 December 1970 Northampton, Northamptonshire, England |
| Occupation(s) | Radio and television presenter |
| Employer | Global |
Toby Anstis (born 14 December 1970) is an English radio and television presenter. He is a presenter on Heart and spin-off station Heart Dance.[1]
Early life
Originally from Northampton, Anstis was educated at Desborough School, an all-boys school in Maidenhead, Berkshire. He graduated in psychology and business studies from the University of Surrey Roehampton.[2] Toby was adopted with his twin sister as a child, his biological father was Italian and mother, Gina, English. He only met his birth parents as an adult. He has commented that he was 'lucky' to have good adoptive parents.[3]
Career
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2019) |
Anstis has been working as a radio and TV presenter for almost thirty years. He began his career on BBC1's Broom Cupboard.[4] He was the shows last presenter and also spent three years on CBBC. He worked on music show The O-Zone on BBC1 and BBC2. He co-hosted Children in Need two years running, presented cricket films for Grandstand and hosted live outside broadcasts on National Lottery Live for the BBC.
Anstis also presented the first series of Trust Me I'm A Holiday rep on Channel 5, has won three episodes of Pointless on BBC1, hosted TV Scrabble, and guested on TV shows such as Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Take Away, Celebrity Egg Heads, and This Morning, as well as guest-starring in Mongrels on BBC2, and co-hosting a Celebrity Through the Keyhole with Keith Lemon and appearing in the spin-off show Lemon La Vida Loca.
Anstis started on Heart in 2001, firstly presenting the afternoon show, then the mid-morning show for 17 years, taking it to the number one most listened to commercial radio show in the UK, with 4.1 million listeners.
In 2006, Toby took part in I'm A Celebrity on ITV, DJed as Elton John's support act at the O2 in London one New Year's Eve, played gigs at clubs in the UK and in Ibiza including headlining the main stage at Epsom Derby two years in a row.
Anstis also starred in Grease (musical) at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End playing Teen Angel.
In 2019, he launched a new national radio station, HEART DANCE. He presents the breakfast show live every morning, plus Club Classics every Friday night 7-10pm on Heart and Heart Dance.
In 2020 amid the COVID-19 crisis Toby joined the supergroup The Celebs with Frank Bruno and X Factor winner Sam Bailey to raise money for both Alzheimer's Society and Action for Children. They recorded a new rendition of Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin' Stevens and it was released digitally on 11 December 2020, on independent record label Saga Entertainment. The music video debuted exclusively on Good Morning Britain the day before release. The song peaked at number two on the iTunes pop chart.[5][6]
Filmography
TV
- I'm Famous and Frightened! (2004) – Guest
- Children in Need – Co-presenter
- Trust Me – I'm a Holiday Rep – Presenter
- The Mint – Guest
- I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (2006) – Participant
- Big Brother's Big Mouth (2006) – Pundit
- Ready Steady Cook (2009)
- The Alan Titchmarsh Show (2009)
- Mongrels (TV series) (2010)
- Eggheads (2011)
- Loose Women – Loose Man
- Pointless Celebrities (2012,2016,2019) – Winning Contestant
- Celebrity Come Dine with Me: Christmas Special – Contestant
- Who's Doing the Dishes? (2015) – Celebrity chef
- Hacker's Birthday Bash: 30 Years of Children's BBC (2015) – Himself
- A Place in the Sun (2017) - Himself
- Merry Christmas Everyone[7] (2020) - Himself
References
- ^ "Global to launch Heart Dance with Toby Anstis on Breakfast". RadioToday. 17 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ^ Fame and Fortune The Sunday Times Money 31 August 2008
- ^ "Being adopted has a lasting effect". The Guardian. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
- ^ "Bio". Toby Anstis Official Website. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ^ Daily Mirror https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/good-morning-britain-stars-show-22984823.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "The Celebs - Merry Christmas Everyone". YouTube. TheCelebsVEVO. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
- ^ "The Celebs - Merry Christmas Everyone". YouTube. TheCelebsVEVO. Retrieved 11 December 2018.