Andrew Nicholas Castle (born 15 November 1963) is a British broadcaster and former tennis player. Castle was UK number 1 in singles tennis in 1986, reaching as high as World No. 80 in June 1988, and No. 45 in doubles in December 1988, with Tim Wilkison of the United States. Castle reached one

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

final in his career in the

1987 Australian Open The 1987 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Kooyong Stadium in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 75th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 12 through 25 January 1987; the first tournament ...

mixed doubles event with Anne Hobbs. He won three ATP titles in men's doubles, as well as one title on the Challenger tour. He won in prize money (equivalent to in 1992). Between 2000 and 2010, Castle was a presenter on the now defunct

ITV breakfast ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited (previously known as GMTV Limited) is the national ITV breakfast television licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. The breakfast license ...

programme '' GMTV'', sharing duties with

Ben Shephard Benjamin Peter Sherrington Shephard (born 11 December 1974) is an English television presenter and journalist who is currently employed by ITV. He was a main presenter on the now defunct breakfast programme '' GMTV'' and since April 2014 has ...

to present its weekday magazine programme. In 2009, he began presenting the ITV daytime game show '' Divided''. In 2013, Castle began presenting for

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadca ...

. He has also taken part in '' Strictly Come Dancing'' and ''

71 Degrees North ''71 Degrees North'' is an English-language and Norwegian-produced reality television series on ITV which began broadcasting on 11 September 2010. Ten celebrities had to battle it out to see who would make it to the 71st parallel north, with cha ...

''.

Early life

Castle was born in

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

, Surrey. His mother, Lavinia Pollock (the great-grandchild of Annie Besant), married Frank Castle in April 1953. Andrew was born in 1963. Castle won a tennis scholarship to

Millfield School Millfield is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding s ...

in Somerset but at 15 his parents separated and he had to leave. Another scholarship sent him to Kansas. He taught tennis at the Wichita Racquet Club to both children and adults. Castle's father ran the fishmonger's in

Westerham Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles east of Oxted and 6 miles west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with both Greater London and Surrey. It is recorded as early ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, where his customers included the lady of nearby Chartwell House,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

's wife

Clementine A clementine (''Citrus × clementina'') is a tangor, a citrus fruit hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange ( ''C.'' × ''deliciosa'') and a sweet orange (''C. × sinensis''), named in honor of Clément Rodier, a French missionary who fir ...

. He went on to own shops in

North Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, south-west of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to tw ...

;

Norbury Norbury is an area of south London. It shares the postcode London SW16 with neighbouring Streatham. Norbury is south of Charing Cross. Etymology The name Norbury derives from ''North Burh'', (North Borough). Some local histories note that ...

; Stoneleigh, Surrey; and owned a fish and chip shop in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

(Kingston Road).

Tennis career

Castle became a professional tennis player in 1986, after completing a marketing degree whilst on an athletic scholarship in the United States. During his playing career, he was regularly ranked number one in Great Britain. In 1986 Castle reached the third round at Queens Club. He won three tour doubles titles, and was a mixed doubles finalist at the 1987 Australian Open. His 1987 run at the US Open was his best career singles performance at a Grand Slam event, when he reached the third round by defeating

David Pate David Pate (born April 16, 1962) is a former professional tennis player from the United States who won two singles titles and eighteen doubles titles during his career. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 18 in June 1987 and at ...

and Jimmy Brown, before losing to Boris Becker in four sets. He represented Britain at the

Seoul Olympic Games The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, and the

Barcelona Olympic Games The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

of 1992. Castle was a regular member of the British Davis Cup team and the European Cup team. His career-high rankings were World No. 80 in singles and No. 45 in doubles. Castle represents Surrey at

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

at over-45s level, and continues to play representative tennis around the world.

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runners-up)

Mixed doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Media career

After retiring from professional tennis in 1992, Castle served as a commentator and presenter for BSkyB. As well as tennis, he presented basketball, motor racing and golf for

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

. He joined GMTV in September 2000 as a presenter. After a decade, it was announced in June 2010 he was to leave the programme. Castle presented the final broadcast of ''GMTV'' on 3 September 2010.After a decade on the sofa, Andrew Castle bows out of GMTV
ITV Press Centre, 10 June 2010 He is a member of the BAFTA-nominated

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Early life

Tennis career

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runners-up)

Mixed doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Media career

''Strictly Come Dancing''

Personal life

References

External links