Dale Winton | |
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 Winton in 2016 | |
| Born | Dale Jonathan Winton (1955-05-22)22 May 1955 Marylebone, London, England |
| Died | 18 April 2018(2018-04-18) (aged 62) Whetstone, London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Radio DJ,television presenter |
| Years active | 1972–2018 |
| Television | Supermarket Sweep (1993–2001, 2007) In It to Win It (2002–2016) Hole in the Wall (2008) |
| Parents |
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Dale Jonathan Winton (22 May 1955 – 18 April 2018) was an Englishradio DJ andtelevision presenter. He presented the showsSupermarket Sweep from 1993 until 2001 and again in 2007, theNational Lottery game showIn It to Win It between 2002 and 2016 and the 2008 series ofHole in the Wall. Winton also presentedPets Win Prizes (1995–96) andThe Other Half (1997–2002).
Winton was born on 22 May 1955 to a Jewish father, Gary Winton, and actressSheree Winton, a Jewish convert. Winton's father died on the day of hisbar mitzvah and so he was brought up by his mother.[1][2] Winton's mother died by suicide in 1976 while suffering fromdepression.[3][4]
Winton startedDJing in clubs inRichmond in 1972, where he metSteve Allen, theLBC radio presenter. The two remained friends thereafter, and lived together for a period as well as going on holiday together.[5] From there he had a selection of jobs including sellingtimeshares.[6] In 1982, Winton moved to London and began his entertainment career on the London club circuit, where he DJ'd at weekends. This led him to theUnited Biscuits Radio Network where he did a variety of jobs working forAdrian Love, before getting his own morning show.[7] From here he joinedRadio Trent inNottingham, where he presented a weekend show, moving to the weekday mid-morning show, before leaving in 1985, and going on to work at a number of other local radio stations includingChiltern Radio,Beacon Radio (inWolverhampton, for 3 years) as well asBlue Danube Radio inVienna,Austria.[8][9]
In 2000, Winton took over fromAlan Freeman to presentPick of the Pops onBBC Radio 2,[10] and hosted the show until 30 October 2010, whenTony Blackburn replaced him.[11][12] Winton sat in forSteve Wright andLiza Tarbuck on BBC Radio 2, covering the latter's Saturday show in September 2013 and November/December 2016.[13][14][15]
Winton began his television career in 1986 onPet Watch,[16] before working forChannel 4,Lifestyle Channel andITV. From 1993 to 2000, he hostedSupermarket Sweep during thedaytime TV period on ITV. In 2007,Supermarket Sweep was revived after a5+1⁄2-year absence. Winton portrayed himself as an irritating game show presenter inDanny Boyle's 1996 filmTrainspotting.[2]
In 1995–96, Winton presented BBC's Saturday night game showPets Win Prizes. In 1997, he presented the final ofThe Great British Song Contest, the UK's national selection for theEurovision Song Contest, due to a tie-in with the lottery programme. Between that year and 2002, he also presented a dating show calledThe Other Half. In 1999, he appeared on the sitcomGimme Gimme Gimme withKathy Burke in the episodeDo They Take Sugar?[17]
In 2000 he presentedBarbara Windsor – Hall Of Fame 2000 TV Special, the induction ofBarbara Windsor as the first artist to be inducted into the newly created BBC Hall of Fame.[18]
He was the subject ofThis Is Your Life in 2000 when he was surprised byMichael Aspel.[19] In 2001, he presentedChannel 5's endurance showTouch the Truck.[20] In 2002, Winton began presenting theNational Lottery game showIn It to Win It.[21] In 2003, he appeared in theBBC Threemockumentary,Dale's Wedding, in which he supposedly married the UK celebrityNell McAndrew.[22]
From 2003 to 2004, he hosted two series ofStars Reunited where the casts of popular British television series were reunited after many years. Between 2004 and 2006, he presented three series of thecelebrity weight loss "boot camp" programme,Celebrity Fit Club on ITV.[23]
Winton presented BBC One's Saturday night entertainment programmeHole In The Wall in 2008, based on theJapanese original, where contestants in skin-tightlycra costumes contorted themselves to fit through oddly-shaped holes in a moving wall.[24] The show returned for a second series in 2009 butAnton Du Beke replaced Winton as host. Winton began appearing in television advertisements for cashmygold.co.uk in 2010.[25] Winton appeared onMatt Lucas andDavid Walliams' BBC comedy seriesCome Fly With Me. He appeared in the last episode of the series, playing himself.[23] In 2012, he hosted one-offITV game showDale's Great Getaway and in February 2018, Winton hostedtravelogue seriesDale Winton's Florida Fly Drive aired onChannel 5.[26]
In 2002, Winton released hisautobiography in which he wrote about his rise to fame and his actress mother'ssuicide, andcame out ashomosexual.[27] In a 2016 op-ed for the Conservative Woman website, he revealed his interest in American politics, expressing his disappointment overMitt Romney's loss of the2012 US presidential election. He describedDonald Trump's candidacy announcement for the2016 US presidential election as "car crash TV", but added that Trump was "truly authentic".[28][29]
On 18 April 2018, Jan Kennedy, Winton's long-term agent, announced that he had died at his home.[30] On 19 April, a spokesman forScotland Yard said that police were treating the death as "unexplained", but did not believe it to be suspicious.[31] According to his friendGloria Hunniford: "Dale had a lot of things going wrong, he had pain with arthritis, he had a heart complaint, he had a chest infection, and we all know how the winter affected that. He had asthma as well."[32] The coroner concluded that Winton died of natural causes.[33]
He had recently moved from a £2.9 million apartment inRegent's Park to a property inWhetstone, North London.[34] His friends celebrated his life with a non-religioushumanist funeral ceremony byHumanists UK on 22 May 2018, his birthday.[35][36] His eulogy was preserved as part of a public historical archive of humanist funerals.[37]
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