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 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

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 School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private co-educational Roman Catholic boarding school, boarding and day school, day school for pupils from 11 to 18 years of age near Worth, West Sussex, Worth, West Sussex, England. Unti ...

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

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

. 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. In March 1994, he joined

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

to eventually become a Senior Broadcast Journalist. He sometimes stood in for

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

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

BBC News 24 The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air Public broadcasting, public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London, West End of ...

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 Camp may refer to: Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution * Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups * Extermination ...

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 channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

BBC Prime BBC Prime was the BBC's general entertainment TV channel in Europe, Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Asia Pacific from 30 January 1995 until 11 November 2009, when it was replaced by BBC Entertainment. The network was the result of BBC W ...

and

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is owned by 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 series). Unlike the BBC's ...

, 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 for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

. 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 (alphabet), letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''English alphabet#Letter names, a'' (pronounced ), plural ...

'' competition to choose the UK entry into the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. 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 channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

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 in ear or ear 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 t ...

. 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 mening ...

– 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 between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to t ...

, 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. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

, comic actor

Ralf Little Ralf Alastair John Little (born 8 February 1980) is an English actor, writer, presenter, narrator and former semi-professional Association football, footballer. He has worked mainly in television comedy, including playing Antony Royle in ''The ...

, game show host

Anne Robinson Anne Josephine Robinson (born 26 September 1944) is a British journalist and television presenter, best known as the host of BBC game show ''The Weakest Link'' from 2000 to 2012, and again in 2017 for a one-off celebrity special for ''Children ...

and BBC newsreader Huw Edwards 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, officially 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 Philip Neri (1515–1595). It is located in an Oratory House, next to th ...

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

Mortlake Crematorium Mortlake Crematorium is a crematorium in Kew, near its boundary with Mortlake, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It opened in 1939, next to Mortlake Cemetery. The crematorium serves the boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, ...

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 LGBTQ broadcasters English LGBTQ journalists English gay men Gay journalists LGBTQ Roman Catholics People educated at Worth School People from Norfolk 20th-century English LGBTQ people