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 tourname ...

mixed doubles event with Anne Hobbs. He won three ATP titles in

men's doubles Men's doubles, Women's doubles or Mixed doubles are sports having two players per side, including; * Beach volleyball * Doubles badminton * Doubles curling * Footvolley * Doubles pickleball * Doubles squash * Doubles table tennis * 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 GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

'', 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 c ...

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

Divided Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the ways that numbers are combined to make new numbers. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. At an elementary level the division of two natural numbers ...

''. 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 broadcast ...

. He has also taken part in ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

'' and '' 71 Degrees North''.

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. ...

, Surrey. His mother, Lavinia Pollock (the great-grandchild of

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human ...

), 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 sch ...

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 a ...

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's wife Clementine. 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 ...

;

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 tha ...

;

Stoneleigh, Surrey Stoneleigh is a suburban area southwest of London, situated in the north of the Epsom and Ewell borough in the county of Surrey, England. It is situated approximately from central London. In the 2011 Census, the population was 8741. The are ...

; 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 t ...

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 , lor ...

(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 ...

and Jimmy Brown, before losing to

Boris Becker Boris Franz Becker (, ; born 22 November 1967) is a German former world No. 1 tennis player. Becker was successful from the start of his career, winning the Wimbledon Championships at the age of 17. He ultimately won six Grand Slam singles tit ...

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 ...

of 1988, 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 ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

. Castle was a regular member of the British

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...

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 Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

. 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

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 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. ...

tennis team, covering Wimbledon, the

Aegon Championships The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. The event is part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) T ...

Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship ...

, the French Open, Australian Open and the

. Castle has been lead commentator on all men's singles finals since 2003, working alongside

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...

Jimmy Connors James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 ...

Tim Henman Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in th ...

and

John Lloyd John Lloyd may refer to: Artists, writers, and entertainers *John J. Lloyd (1922–2014), American art director and production designer *John Lloyd (graphic designer) (born 1944), co-founder of design consultancy Lloyd Northover *John Lloyd (journa ...

. In 2005, he presented the quiz show ''Perseverance''; he presented two series of the teatime game show ''

'' (2009–2010); and appeared on '' Beat the Star'' on 24 May 2009 – all on ITV. He took part in ITV programme '' 71 Degrees North'' in 2010. Castle previously presented the breakfast show on

Smooth Radio Smooth Radio may refer to: * Smooth Radio (2010), the original national network in the UK * Smooth Radio (2014) See also * Smoothfm smoothfm is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by NOVA Entertainment. From original ...

and continued on the station with ''The Great American Songbook'' on Sunday evenings until 2019. He presents a weekend morning show on speech-based radio station

''Strictly Come Dancing''

Castle competed in the sixth series of the celebrity dance competition, ''

''. His partner was

Ola Jordan Aleksandra "Ola" Jordan (''née'' Grabowska; born 30 September 1982) is a British-Polish professional ballroom dancer and model. She appeared as a professional on the British TV show ''Strictly Come Dancing'' from 2006 to 2015. After winning a ch ...

. Castle's appearance marked the third time a main ''

'' presenter had participated in the show. After week 4, he was placed 11th out of the remaining 12 contestants, with an average score of 22.5/40. Castle was voted out after round 7 of the competition on 2 November 2008. He scored 21 points for his samba, which placed him second from bottom on the judges' leader board. He appeared in the dance-off with

Heather Small Heather Margarita Small (born 20 January 1965) is a British soul singer and former lead vocalist of the band M People. Her subsequent debut solo studio album, '' Proud'', was released in 2000. Career 1987–1998: Hot House and M People Small ...

, who was saved by all four of the judges.

Personal life

On 18 May 1991, Castle married a former

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, ...

cabin crew member Sophia, whom he had met in Tokyo whilst competing in the Japan Open tennis tournament. They have 2 daughters. He is the great-great-grandchild of

, a prominent British socialist, Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer, orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule, and the uncle of Sienna Nasir-Hawkins, the daughter of Chris Hawkins and Clare Nasir-Hawkins,

weather presenter. Charities of which he is a patron or supporter include Brainwave, the Dan Maskell Tennis Trust, Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, Macmillan Cancer Care, the NSPCC and Clic Seargent Cancer Care for Children. In 2009, Castle became a Patron of the Festival4Stars talent competition. His daughter Georgina Castle was twice runner up in the national finals. She now attends the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.Festival4Stars: Welcome, International Songwriting Competition and UK Wide Talent Contest

References

External links

Official website
* * *
Andrew Castle on LBC
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castle, Andrew 1963 births English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English sports broadcasters English television presenters English male tennis players GMTV presenters and reporters Living people People educated at Millfield Olympic tennis players of Great Britain Sportspeople from Epsom Smooth Network presenters Tennis people from Greater London Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Motorsport announcers Golf writers and broadcasters British male tennis players LBC radio presenters