Lieutenant Colonel (
ret) Richard Francis Strawbridge,
MBE (born 3 September 1959) is a British
television personality
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...
, engineer and former army officer. He is often referred to as "Colonel Dick".
Early life
The third of seven children of Jennifer and George Strawbridge, a worker in the oil industry in the Middle East and Far East,
[Dick Strawbridge on how his dad's Ulster fry gave him a taste for cooking]
''Belfast Telegraph
The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media, which also publishes the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and various other newspapers and magazines in Ireland. Its e ...
'' 8 October 2013 "Dick" Strawbridge was born in
Burma
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...
, then raised and educated in
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...
, Northern Ireland. He attended
Ballyclare High School from 1971 to 1976.
To achieve his ambition of becoming an army officer after taking his
O levels
O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter 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 ''o'' (pronounced ), p ...
, Strawbridge enrolled at
Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College
Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College (stylised as Welbeck – The Defence Sixth Form College), formerly named and often referred to as simply Welbeck College, was an independent, selective sixth form college in Leicestershire, England. While run ...
before going on to
Sandhurst.
Army career
Strawbridge received a commission in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
in 1979,
after attending
Welbeck DSFC (becoming head of college) and
Sandhurst. He joined the
Royal Corps of Signals
The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...
in January 1980.
Promoted to
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
in April 1981,
and
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
in October 1985,
he became a
major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
in September 1991.
He was made a
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(MBE) in 1993 for his distinguished service in Northern Ireland.
He was promoted to
lieutenant colonel in June 1999,
and left the army in November 2001.
Television career
Strawbridge has appeared as an engineering and environmental expert on various television programmes, including ''
Scrapheap Challenge
''Scrapheap Challenge'' was a British television show where teams of contestants build a working machine that can perform a specific task, using materials available in a scrapyard. The series features teams of four or five members who are giv ...
''. He first appeared as a contestant on the team Brothers in Arms who became series champions and later, he became the main presenter replacing
Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn (born 10 March 1956) is a British actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He plays the Android (robot), mechanoid Kryten in the Science fiction, sci-fi television sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' and formerly presented the engineering gam ...
. He has also appeared on three series of ''
It's Not Easy Being Green'' for
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...
, the six-part BBC Two series ''Crafty Tricks of War'' of which he was the main presenter, ''
Planet Mechanics
''Planet Mechanics'' is a British TV program shown on the National Geographic Channel in 2008. The show has ended after the first series.
Background
''Planet Mechanics'' sees two engineers, Dick Strawbridge and Jem Stansfield, travelling in an ...
'', and as a regular guest presenter on ''
Coast
A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...
''. Following his switch of career to television, Strawbridge often refers to himself as a "telly tart".
[
]
''Scrapheap Challenge''
Strawbridge began his career in television as the 'Yellow Team Leader' for six episodes in the first series of ''Scrapheap Challenge''. He has to date appeared in over 30 episodes of ''Scrapheap Challenge'' and ''Junkyard Wars
''Scrapheap Challenge'' was a British television show where teams of contestants build a working machine that can perform a specific task, using materials available in a Wrecking yard, scrapyard. The series features teams of four or five membe ...
'', winning the ''Scrapheap Challenge'' trophy in series 3 with his two younger brothers, David and Bobby, as 'Brothers in Arms', and the ''Junkyard Megawars'' trophy in 2003. On 5 June 2008, it was announced that he would be returning to ''Scrapheap Challenge'' for its 11th series. Strawbridge took over from Robert Llewellyn as the main presenter. The series was shown on Channel 4 in 2009.
''It's Not Easy Being Green''
Strawbridge, along with his family, filmed three series of ''It's Not Easy Being Green'' for BBC Two. In series 1, which was shown on 28 March 2006, the family moved to a new home in Tywardreath
Tywardreath (; , meaning "House on the Beach" (or Strand)) is a small hilltop village on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, about north west of Fowey. It is located in a sheltered spot overlooking a silted-up estuary opposite ...
near St Austell
Saint Austell (, ; ) is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon.
At the 2021 Census in the United Kingdom, census it had a population of 20,900.
History
St Austell was a village centred ...
, Cornwall and attempted to live as green a life as possible, using renewable energy and environmentally friendly resources. The second series started in Spring 2007 with a different format: Strawbridge and his son James aided several members of the public in larger and smaller ecology projects around the country.
''Coast''
Also in 2006, Strawbridge appeared as a one-off presenter on the BBC Two series ''Coast'', examining the workings of the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge
The Tees Transporter Bridge, also referred to as the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge or, locally, as The Transporter, is a bridge over the River Tees in northern England. The northern side is in Port Clarence (Stockton-on-Tees) and the souther ...
, a role he revived in the 2007 version of ''Coast'', presenting a short part of the programme on the failure of Exercise Tiger
Exercise Tiger, or Operation Tiger was one of a series of large-scale rehearsals for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Held in April 1944 on Slapton Sands in Devon, it proved fraught with difficulties. Coordination and communication problems r ...
. In series 4 of ''Coast'' in July 2009, Strawbridge examined the terrain of the Normandy landing beaches.
''The Hungry Sailors'' and ''Saturday Farm''
In 2011, Strawbridge and his son James filmed a 20-part series, ''The Hungry Sailors
''The Hungry Sailors'' is a British lifestyle show produced by Denhams TV. It aired on ITV from 2011 to 2013 and was hosted by the father and son team of Dick and James Strawbridge.
During the series, Dick and James travel round the coastline ...
'', that was broadcast by ITV, in which they sailed around Britain's coastline buying local food and then cooking it.
In 2012, filming began on a second series of ''The Hungry Sailors'' around the Cornish coast, taking in the Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...
and the Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...
. The series was broadcast from 1 July 2013.
In 2013, Strawbridge and his son James presented the ITV Food
ITV Food is the name given to the category of cookery shows broadcast on the ITV Network. Although the ''ITV Food'' website
A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is ...
series '' Saturday Farm''.
''Dirty Rotten Survival''
Filmed in America from March to July 2015, the TV series for ''National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
'' involved a hike through the Berkshire Mountains
The Berkshires () are highlands located in western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut in the United States. Generally, "Berkshires" may refer to the range of hills in Massachusetts that lie between the Housatonic and Connecticut River ...
of western Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, with Dave Canterbury
David Michael Canterbury (born September 19, 1963) is a survival expert who co-starred on the reality television show ''Dual Survival'' for two seasons (2010–11) which aired on the ''Discovery Channel''. He is also an author, publishing ''Bush ...
and Johnny Littlefield.
''Escape to the Château''
This programme followed Strawbridge and his partner (now wife), Angel Adoree, through their purchase in 2015 and subsequent renovation of Château de la Motte-Husson
The Château de la Motte-Husson is a Neo-Renaissance style . It is located in the small market town of Martigné-sur-Mayenne, in the Mayenne of France. The château is currently owned by Dick Strawbridge and his wife Angel Adoree. It is the set ...
in Martigné-sur-Mayenne
Martigné-sur-Mayenne (, before 1984: ''Martigné'') is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France.
The commune contains the Château de la Motte-Husson, owned by Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree, which features in the Cha ...
, France.
A full nine seasons were filmed, with the ninth and final season starting to air in the UK on 30 October 2022. The decision to cancel was made with the agreement of Dick and Angel Strawbridge.
The couple travelled to Australia and New Zealand in February 2023 with their Dare to Do It Tour. The plan included a series of theatre and book signing events, from 12 February to 9 March 2023. They had completed a similar Dare to Do It tour of the UK during February and March 2022.
''Escape to the Chateau DIY''
This programme, first aired in 2018, followed Strawbridge and his wife Angel as they helped expat
An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country.
The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...
château owners restore and redecorate their properties.
''Secret France with Dick and Angel''
In December 2022, the couple revealed that a new series with the working title ''Escape to the Chateau: Secret France (w/t)'', would air in 2023, about their "new journey to seek the unexpected and the extraordinary and discover more about France's history".
The plan was for four episodes of one hour each, a joint venture of Two Rivers Media, Channel 4 and the Strawbridges' own company, Chateau TV.
However, in May 2023, Channel 4 announced that the planned series would not go ahead, and it would not work with the Strawbridges again. "Following a review, we have taken the decision not to work with Dick and Angel on any new productions in the future," the statement said.
The announcement followed the leaked release of an audio recording of Angel allegedly swearing at a crew member. Production company Two Rivers Media also released a statement saying that it would "no longer work with Dick and Angel".
Dick and Angel Strawbridge subsequently released a statement via Instagram, saying: "There are two sides to every story and from the incredible support we have received, most of you know that. We are proud of who we are, and we feel we must do what we believe to be correct, that is in fact what kept ''Escape to the Chateau'' unique, and whilst we have indeed parted ways with Channel 4, we are hugely grateful to them and their teams for their support and creativity over the years."
The series was shown over three consecutive Sundays in June 2024 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 ...
.
Other television appearances
Strawbridge also had a major role in the BBC's commemoration of the 60th anniversary of D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
, and he was the co-host and resident "boffin
Boffin is a British slang term for a scientist, engineer, or other person engaged in technical or scientific research and development. A "boffin" was viewed by some in the regular military or government services as odd, quirky or peculiar, th ...
" on the 2005 game show
A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
, ''Geronimo!''. He also appeared as a regular team captain in the US series, ''Junkyard Mega-Wars''.
Strawbridge also starred in ''The Big Idea'', in which he tested out amateur inventions, and he featured in the short series ''The Re-Inventors'', a series of five, hour-long programmes commissioned by the UK digital channel UKTV History
U&Yesterday is a British free-to-air television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland specialising in history, documentaries, and culture.
It launched on 30 October 2002 as UK History and relaunched in its current format on 2 ...
and first broadcast through the week of 11 December 2006. Each episode featured Strawbridge and his son James reconstructing an invention of historic significance, with a budget of £500 and their mobile workshop. They then try it out against the real thing. UKTV History also shows "Crafty Tricks of War" from time to time.
On 13 November 2009, Strawbridge was a guest on Robert Llewellyn's web series ''CarPool
Carpooling is the sharing of Automobile, car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, and prevents the need for others to have to drive to a location themselves. Carpooling is considered a Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) serv ...
''.
In summer 2010, he appeared in ''Celebrity Masterchef
''MasterChef'' is a British competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 2005 as ''MasterChef Goes Large' ...
'', reaching the final.
On 20 November 2010, Strawbridge appeared on the ''Children in Need
''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...
'' Special of ''Bargain Hunt
''Bargain Hunt'' is a British television programme in which two pairs of contestants are challenged to buy antiques from shops or a fair and then sell them in an auction for a profit. It has aired on BBC One since 13 March 2000 in a daytime ...
''.
In 2012, Strawbridge was announced as presenter of new Channel 5 series ''Beat the Ancestors'', which commenced broadcast in February 2013.
In 2016, he was announced as a co-host of the three-part BBC Four
BBC Four 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 launched on 2 March 2002 series '' Trainspotting Live'', which was broadcast in July 2016.
In 2017, Strawbridge presented ''Cabins in the Wild'' with Will Hardie, a show following a competition set up by the Welsh Tourist Board
Visit Wales () is the Welsh Government's tourism organisation. Its aim is to promote Welsh tourism and assist the tourism industry.
History
The Wales Tourist Board was established in 1969 as a result of the Development of Tourism Act 1969 a ...
. Eight competitors were selected based on their designs to build cabins, intended to be combined as a hotel in the countryside, before one ultimate winner was selected. The two presenters also constructed their own cabin.
In 2018, Channel 4 broadcast a programme called ''The Biggest Little Railway in the World
The Biggest Little Railway in the World (BLR) was a temporary 71 mile (114 km) 1.25 inches (32 mm) O scale, O-gauge model railway from Fort William, Highland, Fort William to the Inverness, City of Inverness, the two largest settlemen ...
'', which documented an attempt to get a model train to traverse the Great Glen Way
The Great Glen Way () is a long distance path in Scotland. It follows the Great Glen, running from Fort William in the southwest to Inverness in the northeast, covering . It was opened in 2002, and is designated as one of Scotland's Great Tr ...
between Fort William and Inverness
Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...
. Strawbridge was the main presenter and lead engineer on the project.
Podcast
Following the completion of the final series of Escape to the Chateau, Dick and Angel Strawbridge launched a weekly podcast titled ''Dick & Angel’s CHAT…EAU.'' According to Global Player, ''Dick and Angel's Chat...Eau'' will follow the day-to-day life of the Strawbridge family today, including "the inner workings of their unique family home, the upkeep, the projects and the adventures, big and small".
The first episode launched on Global Player and other major podcast platforms on 1 November, 2023, and is titled "112 Steps, 2 Turrets & 1 Tip," and involved the couple looking back at how they found their chateau and knew that it was "the one".
Personal life
Strawbridge married Brigit A. Weiner in 1982, with whom he has two children. The couple separated in 2010. He has two additional children with Angela Newman (born 7 April 1978; known as Angel Adoree), founder of The Vintage Patisserie, whom he married in November 2015. She had founded the Vintage business in London about 10 years earlier; it was relocated to the couple's château in the Pays de la Loire region of France in 2015.
Strawbridge was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Plymouth University
The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...
in 2010.
Dick with James Strawbridge (celebrity chef son) are the authors of ''Preserves'', a book in the "Made at Home" series published by Mitchell Beazley in 2012.
Strawbridge is a Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
.[ Escape to the Chateau: Make Do and Mend, Series 2, Episode 2]
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strawbridge, Dick
1959 births
Royal Corps of Signals officers
British television presenters
Members of the Order of the British Empire
People from County Antrim
British environmentalists
Living people
People educated at Ballyclare High School
Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
20th-century British Army personnel