Christopher Mark Ibbotson-Price (21 September 1967 – 21 April 2002) was an English journalist and presenter, who was best known as the original host of

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. ...

celebrity news show ''

Liquid News ''Liquid News'' was a daily round up of entertainment news for BBC Three (and before that BBC Choice) running from 30 May 2000 to 1 April 2004. The show was also broadcast weekly on BBC One and internationally on BBC Prime and BBC America. The p ...

''.

Early life

Price was born in Norfolk on 21 September 1967 and was adopted shortly afterwards. In his early days, he attended

Worth School Worth may refer to: Places In the United States: * Worth, Georgia * Worth County, Georgia * Worth, Illinois * Worth Township, Cook County, Illinois * Worth Township, Woodford County, Illinois * Worth Township, Indiana * Worth Township, Michigan * ...

, a Roman Catholic boarding school in Sussex. After school, he studied Italian at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

. However, he left university with the desire to become a journalist – he enrolled into the BBC reporter training scheme in 1991.

Career

Once completed, Price pursued his desire and in 1993, he became a reporter on Radio Berkshire – soon to move to

Radio Solent BBC Radio Solent is the BBC's local radio station serving Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Havelock Road in Southampton. According to RAJAR, the station has a ...

. In March 1994, he joined BBC Radio 5 Live to eventually become a Senior Broadcast Journalist. He sometimes stood in for

Sybil Ruscoe Sybil Ruscoe (born 8th August 1960, Shropshire, England) is a British radio and television presenter. Ruscoe was born in Wem, Shropshire, and began her career on the ''Express & Star'' newspaper in Wolverhampton. She then moved to Radio Wyve ...

, and occasionally presented ''Up All Night''. Price joined

BBC News 24 BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...

when it was launched in November 1997 and presented a mixture of news, fashion, and entertainment in a 10:30 pm slot, claiming to have been told he was too camp to read the news. He and the producer Chris Wilson put together a nightly entertainment news discussion programme called ''Zero 30''.

''Liquid News''

After Stuart Murphy said that he enjoyed the programme he was persuaded to take it to digital television channel

BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first United Kingdom, British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in Digital television, digital format, as well as t ...

where it became ''

'' on 30 May 2000. The show became a cult hit on BBC Choice. Even though the viewing figures were not very large, the critical reaction to the show was excellent, and ''Liquid News'' quickly became the flagship programme of the channel. In 2001, Price hit the headlines when he signed a £280,000 two-year contract. Under his new contract, he hosted extra editions of ''Liquid News'' for

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

, BBC Prime and

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ...

, raising his profile further. Some sections of the press considered his salary to be too much for a presenter on a digital channel. However, the BBC recognised Price's potential and were keen to keep him from "defecting" to a rival network. At the time, Price himself was quoted as jokingly saying that he didn't understand why people would want to watch a programme presented by a "fat, balding, homosexual". Under proposals which were awaiting government approval, Price and ''Liquid News'' would have been the centrepiece of a new BBC channel,

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

. Price hosted his last edition of ''Liquid News'' on 16 April 2002.

Other work

In 2002, Price co-hosted

's ''

A Song for Europe A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' competition to choose the UK entry into the Eurovision Song Contest. He had previously hosted

shows relating to the contest, including the preview programmes. He had been scheduled to host BBC Choice's alternative coverage of the contest in May 2002. Before his death, Price was linked to a new BBC quiz show and a breakfast show on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

Death

Towards the end of April 2002, Price was off work for a week with an acute

ear infection Otitis is a general term for inflammation or infection, inner ear infection, middle ear infection of the ear, in both humans and other animals. When infection is present, it may be viral or bacterial. When inflammation is present due to fluid bui ...

. He died of heart failure on the night of 21 April 2002 caused by

meningoencephalitis Meningoencephalitis (; from ; ; and the medical suffix ''-itis'', "inflammation"), also known as herpes meningoencephalitis, is a medical condition that simultaneously resembles both meningitis, which is an infection or inflammation of the meni ...

– an 'extremely rare' condition that had probably spread from his ear infection. On 22 April 2002, he failed to turn up for work and his close friends Robert Nisbet and Stephanie West went to his flat in Wells Street, off

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...

, in central London and found Price dead. Celebrities such as singer

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

, comic actor

Ralf Little Ralf Alastair John Little (born 8 February 1980) is an English actor, writer, presenter, narrator and former semi-professional footballer, working mainly in television comedy. He played Antony Royle in '' The Royle Family'' and Jonny Keogh in ...

, game show host

Anne Robinson Anne Josephine Robinson (born 26 September 1944) is an English television presenter and journalist. She was the host of BBC game show '' The Weakest Link'' (2000–2017). She presented the Channel 4 game show '' Countdown'' from June 2021 to ...

and BBC newsreader

Huw Edwards Huw Edwards (; born 18 August 1961) is a Welsh journalist, presenter, and newsreader. Edwards presents '' BBC News at Ten'', the corporation's flagship news broadcast. Edwards also presents BBC coverage of state events, international events, t ...

paid tribute to him. Within a few days of his death, the BBC website had received over 5,000 e-mails paying tribute to him. Price's funeral was a traditional Requiem Mass, which was held at the

London Oratory The London Oratory ("the Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in London") is a Catholic community of priests living under the rule of life established by its founder, Philip Neri (1515-1595). It is housed in an Oratory House, next to ...

on 8 May 2002. A private cremation later took place at Mortlake Crematorium.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Christopher 1967 births 2002 deaths Alumni of the University of Reading BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC television presenters English adoptees English radio people English television presenters English Roman Catholics English LGBT broadcasters English LGBT journalists English gay men Gay journalists LGBT Roman Catholics People educated at Worth School People from Norfolk 20th-century English LGBT people