Tim Shaw (born 9 June 1974) is a British radio host, TV presenter and engineer. He is currently hosting a selection of factual engineering and science TV series on the National Geographic TV channel in both the US and International territories. He previously hosted TV series in the UK for

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 ...

, Channel 5,

More4 More4 is a British free-to-air television channel, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel launched on 10 October 2005. Its programming mainly focuses on lifestyle and documentaries, as well as foreign dramas. Content When ...

, Virgin1,

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

and Current TV.

Early life

Before pursuing a career in radio and television, he studied

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

and

Product Design Product design as a verb is to create a new Product (business), product to be sold by a business to its customers. A very broad coefficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products. Thus, it is ...

at university. He has a degree in Professional Broadcasting.National Geographic Channel
Retrieved 8 September 2015.

Career

Radio

Shaw began working for Kerrang! Radio in 2004, on ''The Asylum''. It broadcast between 10:00 pm and 1:00 am Sunday to Thursday with help from members of his team nicknamed Juicy Lucy (Lucy Helliwell), Donkhole, Knob Holder (Greg Pebble), Duncan Donuts (Duncan North), Slippy Knickers, Chris Peacock and Toenail and his special friend Judith the Clairvoyant to name a few. The show ended on 20 September 2007. In 2005, Shaw and his then colleague Greg Prebble performed a mock burglary at the Sutton Coldfield home of Kerrang Radio's then station director, Andrew Jeffries, live on air. The living room was sprayed with obscene graffiti and a window smashed. The stunt resulted in Shaw being suspended by the station. On 11 September 2007, Kerrang! Radio announced that Shaw had been given the breakfast slot. The show began on 1 October 2007, hosted by Shaw and Kate Lawler and airing between 7:00 and 10:00 am Monday to Friday. Shaw was dismissed from Kerrang Radio on 23 April 2008 as the result of an

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

investigation into the running of an on-air competition. OFCOM found that in a competition to give two tickets to a Rolling Stones documentary, Shaw had planned to award the tickets to a friend, pre-record his "entry" and play it "as live" instead of running a genuine competition. Shaw presented ''Absolution'' on

Absolute Radio Absolute Radio is a British Independent National Radio, National radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK, Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via Digital audio broadcasting and ...

, previously

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

, each Friday and Saturday night, 10:00 pm to 1:00 am. The show took almost the same format as his former Kerrang! Radio show, ''The Asylum''. The first show aired on 3 October 2008. With the original team of Roque Segade-Vieito and Eloise Carr, Shaw won the Sony Award for Best Entertainment Show in 2009. Shaw presented ''Tim Shaw's Rehab'' on

BRMB Free Radio Birmingham is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer Radio, Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Midlands (region), West Midlands. As o ...

and ''Networked'' on Orion Media stations

Wyvern A wyvern ( , sometimes spelled wivern) is a legendary winged dragon that has two legs. The wyvern in its various forms is important in heraldry, frequently appearing as a mascot of schools and athletic teams (chiefly in the United States, Unit ...

Beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

and

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...

each Friday and Saturday night, 10:00 pm to 1:00 am, with help from members of his team Jamie Lee, Pants, Slippy Knickers and Donkhole plus various guests. The show took almost the same format as his former Absolute Radio and Kerrang! Radio shows ''The Absolution'' and ''The Asylum''. The first show aired on 15 January 2010. Shaw hosted a Sunday afternoon show on Bauer Radio-owned Rock FM in

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

. The show was later networked by Rock FM's eight sister stations, including CFM,

Hallam FM Hallam FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Sheffield, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to South Yorkshire. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 283,000 ...

Key 103 ''For the Network, see Hits Radio. For the National DAB station, see Hits Radio UK.'' Hits Radio Manchester is an Independent local radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester ...

Radio Aire Radio Aire was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Leeds and West Yorkshire. The station was merged and relaunched as Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020. History Radio Aire was launched at 6a ...

, Radio City, Metro Radio, TFM and

Viking FM Viking FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Sheffield, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the East Riding of Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire. As of September 2022, the st ...

Television

Street Genius ''Street Genius'' (formerly known as ''None of the Above'') is a popular science TV series that airs on National Geographic Channel. It features scientific experiments related mainly to physics, chemistry and engineering performed by British p ...

'' (formerly known as ''None of the Above'') is a National Geographic

popular science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

TV show, aired in 140 countries, in which Shaw conducts experiments on the streets and offers viewers a

multiple choice Multiple choice (MC), objective response or MCQ (for multiple choice question) is a form of an objective assessment in which respondents are asked to select only correct answers from the choices offered as a list. The multiple choice format is m ...

question, including "none of the above", and once members of the public answer correctly what the outcome will be, the science behind the experiment is explained. It is filmed on the west coast of the United States. Currently in its tenth series on the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney General ...

, '' Car SOS'' features Shaw and mechanic

Fuzz Townshend John Richard Keith "Fuzz" Townshend (born 31 July 1964) is a British drummer, TV presenter of National Geographic Channel's '' Car SOS'' (also shown on Channel 4/ More4), motoring journalist for '' Classic Car Weekly'', former technical editor ...

restoring classic cars from across Europe, which are often in serious states of disrepair. The owners, and their cars, unbeknownst to them, are nominated by a relative or friend because of an inability to restore the vehicle themselves, often for medical and/or financial reasons. The owners are then surprised with the car at a staged event, usually setup by Shaw. ''True Tube'' is a concept devised by Shaw and production company Nerd TV, which was originally commissioned as a TV show to be aired by

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

in 2013. The concept was to recreate the craziest stunts on YouTube and break down the engineering involved. Following the success of Shaw's other shows on their channel, National Geographic stepped in and bought the show from Sky in early 2014. The show aired on 5 February 2014. Shaw's co-host is his friend Buddy Munro. In August 2008, Shaw became a presenter on '' Fifth Gear'' for series 14. On 7 May 2009, Shaw hosted ''

Extreme Male Beauty Extreme may refer to: Science and mathematics Mathematics * Extreme point, a point in a convex set which does not lie in any open line segment joining two points in the set *Maxima and minima, extremes on a mathematical function Science *Extremo ...

'' for

, a show that explored male vanity and the various beauty standards that are placed on men but often overlooked. Throughout the course of the show, he explored people's reactions to his own body and made choices on how to improve himself that include a change in diet, plastic surgery and exercise. Shaw was one of the presenters on ''Britain's Top 5...'' which aired in December 2012 on

Quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ev ...

, an engineering show about mankind's greatest mechanical achievements. Shaw featured on Channel 4's '' Balls of Steel'', in which he was called "Mr. Inappropriate" and did outrageous things in public. Shaw presented a six-part series called ''

Experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

'', which aired on Channel 4 in 2015.

Holocaust interview

At the end of 2006, Shaw interviewed Kitty Hart-Moxon, a survivor of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

and the

death camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

Auschwitz-Birkenau. Shaw believed that the interview would last 90 minutes but it actually lasted just under seven hours. Shaw went ahead with the interview as he believed that schools attempting to teach the Holocaust in a 50-minute history lesson was "a disgrace". Of the interview, Shaw himself said "This has changed my life and the best thing I have done in a long time" and audience

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

was generally positive.

Controversy

Shaw's wife, Hayley, sold his

Lotus Esprit The Lotus Esprit is a British sports car that was built by Lotus Cars at their Hethel#Lotus Cars, Hethel factory in England between 1976 and 2004. It was among the first of designer Giorgetto Giugiaro's polygonal "folded paper" designs. Backgr ...

, worth £25,000, for 50 p on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

after he joked with Jodie Marsh live on air that he would leave his wife and two children for her. Hayley placed the lot on the auction site at the "buy it now" price of 50p with the description "I need to get rid of this car in the next two to three hours before my husband gets home to find it gone and all his belongings in the street." The car sold within five minutes.

Awards

References

External links

Personal website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Tim British radio DJs English radio personalities Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1974 births Shock jocks