Quiz show star hits the right note with new singer lover
TV HOST Richard Osman, whose BBC quiz show Pointless is said to be a favourite of the Queen’s, became an unlikely sex symbol when his geeky charm won him hordes of female fans who voted him the nation’s ‘weirdest crush’.
Sadly his numerous admirers — many of whom propose marriage via social media — will be heartbroken to learn he only has eyes for one woman.
I can reveal that two years after splitting from Absolute radio host Emily Dean, Richard has found love with jazz musician and Ronnie Scott’s star Sumudu Jayatilaka.
The 48-year- old, who separated from the mother of his two teenage children 12 years ago, brought Sumudu as his date to the Fitzdares’ ‘Sports Quiz You Can’t Google’, which he hosted this week at crooner James Blunt’s pub, The Fox And Pheasant, in Chelsea.
‘We met through mutual friends. I just looked down and there she was,’ he tells me.
‘I’m always looking down because everybody is short to me.’
That is no tall tale: at 6ft 7in, he towers over Yorkshire-born Sumudu, 39, a singer-songwriter of Sri Lankan descent who is only 5ft 2in. ‘We don’t really notice the height difference, though,’ he insists.
Last December Sumudu, who has sung with the likes of Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick and Elvis Costello, made an appearance on Richard’s game show when she performed in the Pointless Christmas special.
No stranger to the limelight, she made her BBC TV debut at 15 performing one of her own songs, and, while studying medicine at Sheffield University, went on to sing with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.
Like Richard, whose older brother Mat became a rock star as bassist with the Britpop band Suede, she enjoys a royal connection having sung live in front of the Queen for the Millennium countdown celebrations at the Dome in London.
Rhythm, however, doesn’t come as naturally to Richard. ‘They asked me if I would do Strictly Come Dancing this year,’ he adds.
‘I told them honestly I don’t have time to do all the training — and have the affair.’