Jezza a front runner to head ITV racing coverage KYLE TIPPED FOR TOP JOB
I’m wheely not that tipsy ociffer!
JEREMY Kyle is set to be the face of ITV horse racing when it switches from Channel 4 at the end of the year.
The 50-year-old is an avid fan of the sport and was a popular guest on Channel 4’s racing programmes.
Now Kyle, who is also a racehorse owner, is being hotly tipped to head up ITV’s coverage from 2017.
His hit daytime slot with the Jeremy Kyle Show is understood to be safe but the presenter has made no secret that he is keen to host more ITV shows.
In 2011 Kyle hosted Military Driving School and in the same year presented the ITV quiz show High Stakes.
In January 2013 it was revealed he was recovering from testicular cancer.
Then last year he fronted The Kyle Files, a six-part prime-time series for ITV and, in the same month, Jeremy Kyle’s Emergency Room – a ten-part ITV series over consecutive days.
An ITV insider said: “Jeremy is a fantastic presenter and has a great knowledge of racing due to his love of the sport.
“He can add that all-important star quality to the ITV racing product but, as a presenter, he knows that telling the story is all important.
“He is already on first-name terms with many racehorse trainers and owners and could seamlessly make the transition to hosting what will be a popular new programme.
“His sense of humour will also lighten the mood as we all believe that racing coverage needs to be fun, just like a day at the races for punters is all about having a joyous day out.”
It was announced recently that Racecourse Media Group, which acts on behalf of British racing, had negotiated a £30million deal to move the rights to cover the sport from Channel 4 to ITV from January 2017.
Current Channel 4 racing anchorman Nick Luck has already been tipped to make the switch to ITV.
But the Daily Star Sunday understands that former Channel 4 regular John McCririck will not be reappearing as an ITV racing pundit.
MARC WALKER A ‘TIPSY’ rider made history as the first person to be pulled over on suspicion of being drunk on a penny farthing.
The allegedly worse-for-wear reveller was stopped by two policemen near London’s Piccadilly Circus after zooming along the pavement on the Victorian contraption.
It is believed to be the first case of someone being pulled over for riding one of the high wheelers while seemingly under the influence. A passer-by wrote on Facebook: “The most London thing of the night, 2 Bobbies pullover a drunk man on a penny farthing, cycling on the footpath down by Piccadilly Circus. Standard. #elloelloello #nickedbytheolbill.”
A Scotland Yard spokesman said there was no record of the man being arrested over the incident last week but he may have been hit with an on-the-spot fixed penalty notice. The penny farthing was given its name because its oversized front wheel and small wheel at the back resembled penny and farthing coins.
Its popularity soared in the late 1800s as an alternative to the boneshaker – the first pedal bicycle – which made for an uncomfortable ride with its stiff iron frame.
But it faded into history with the invention of the modern bike at the end of the century.