Jon Culshaw

Jonathan Peter Culshaw (born June 2, 1968 in Ormskirk, Lancashire) is a British impressionist and comedian. He was educated at St Bede's RC Comprehensive, Ormskirk, and St John Rigby College, Orrell.

He is famous for his work on BBC Radio 4 and BBC2's Dead Ringers , ITV's 2DTV and his contributions to BBC Radio 1, particularly on The Chris Moyles Show. He also appeared in ITV's Heartbeat on 26 November.

Broadcasting career

His radio career began in hospital radio in Ormskirk. His first job was at Red Rose Radio (now Rock FM) in Preston in 1987, where even then he used to occasionally read the weather in the voice of Frank Bruno. He did voice-over work then was catapulted to notoriety with Spitting Image, where he voiced around forty characters, including John Major, the then Prime Minister. For around four years in the late 1980s, he was a DJ on the commercial radio station Viking FM, based in Hull, and also had a breakfast show on Pennine Radio and Radio Wave in Blackpool. It was a receptionist at Viking FM who persuaded Culshaw he should go onstage with his impressions and make it his living. He later appeared on BBC Radio 2's It's Been a Bad Week, and was also a regular guest on the Chris Moyles afternoon show on BBC Radio 1 in 2001-2, where he would phone up commercial organisations such as a Kwik-Fit garage in the voice of Patrick Moore or Obi-Wan Kenobi, politely requesting whether they could service his X-wing fighter, and how much time it would take.

The Radio 4 years

In 2001-2 he had a programme on ITV called Alter Ego where he interviewed male celebrities in their own style of speaking, a form of simultaneous translation. On ITV he also appeared on 2DTV, a cartoon version of what Dead Ringers would do when transposed to TV. Using the same production team, in early 2004, he had his own programme, The Impressionable Jon Culshaw which was commissioned for ITV1. His most famous cult impressions are British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Obi-Wan Kenobi (in the Alec Guinness persona), Russell Crowe, President George W. Bush, Ozzy Osbourne, Dale Winton, Radio 4's very own Godfather Brian Perkins, Sir Patrick Moore and Tom Baker (who played the fourth Doctor in Doctor Who).

He rose to fame in 1998 by impersonating William Hague while working for Capital Radio, and succeeding in contacting Number 10 Downing Street. He was put through to Tony Blair, and had a lengthy conversation with him.

He also appeared in the Doctor Who webcast Death Comes to Time and audio drama The Kingmaker. In the latter, he got to perform his Tom Baker impression, although his actual part was that of Earl Rivers.

In 2005, John was a celebrity contestant on Comic Relief does Fame Academy.

In January 2006, he began presenting the BBC show Jon Culshaw's Commercial Breakdown shown on Friday Nights. In 2006, he received an honorary fellowship from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston.

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