Jonkheer (female equivalent: ; french: Écuyer; en, Squire) is an honorific in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the nobility. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used by the untitled nobility. In Belgium, this is the ...

Alexander "Dr Xand" van Tulleken (born 18 August 1978) is a British doctor and TV presenter. He is best known for presenting the CBBC children's series '' Operation Ouch!'' with his identical twin brother Chris, and the Channel 4 show ''How to Lose Weight Well''. Van Tulleken has presented many documentaries, including an episode of ''Horizon'' discussing male

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

and a BBC programme on the European migrant crisis. He can often be seen offering up his own body for science experimentation in diet show ''How to Lose Weight Well'', as well as in '' BBC Horizon'' episodes "Sugar vs Fat" and "Is Binge Drinking Really That Bad?" As of July 2023, he was appearing regularly on the

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins ...

weekday programme '' Morning Live'', providing a variety of medical advice. Van Tulleken is also a member of the "Made of stronger stuff" podcast on

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is a walled garden streaming media and audio download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, ...

Ancestry

He is descended from

Jan van Hoogenhouck Tulleken Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

_{nl">:nl:Jan_van_Hoogenhouck_Tulleken.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:nl:Jan_van_Hoogenhouck_Tulleken">nl/sub> (1762–1851), a Dutch Rear-Admiral who was later raised to the nobility with the title of Jonkheer

(female equivalent: ; french: Écuyer; en, Squire) is an honorific in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the nobility. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used by the untitled nobility. In Belgium, this is the ...
(equivalent of a Squire). As his descendant, this gives van Tulleken this title as well.

In June 2023 Xand, along with his brother Chris, were the subject of the BBC genealogy programme ''Who Do You Think You Are? (British TV series), Who Do You Think You Are?'', in which they learned that Jan van Hoogenhouck Tulleken's father, Ambrosius Tulleken, was a wealthy slave-trader who had a plantation in Demerara

Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state f ...
in The Guianas

The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories:

* French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France ...
.

Early life & education

He went to both Hill House preparatory school, and then King's College School

King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a public school in Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV, as the junior department of King's College London and ...
, an independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:

Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independe ...
day school for boys in Wimbledon, London, with his twin Chris. He then went to Somerville College

Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, ...
(Xand) at the University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...
. There he studied medicine, specialising in Tropical medicine.

Personal Life

Xand is married to Dr Dolly Theis, who is a visiting researcher at MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. Xand has one son from a previous relationship.

Television career

The van Tulleken twins often appear on shows together, but also both have individual appearances on various programmes.

With Chris van Tulleken

* Presenters of 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 ...
's ''Medicine Men go Wild'' (2008).
* Presenters of BBC Two

BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...
's '' Trust Me, I'm A Doctor'' (2013) alongside Michael Mosley

Michael Hugh Mosley (22 March 1957 – 5 June 2024) was a British television and radio journalist, producer, presenter and writer who worked for the BBC from 1985 until his death. He presented television programmes on biology and medicine a ...
.
* Presenters of both ''What's The Right Diet for You? A Horizon

The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether ...
Special'' (2015), and also ''Is Binge Drinking Really That Bad?'' (2015), testing the effects of sporadic alcohol consumption compared to regular alcohol consumption.
* Appeared on Series 5 of '' Hacker Time''.
* Presented a documentary series called ''The Twinstitute''.
* Presented ''Surviving the Virus: My Brother & Me'' (2020). The show explores how Xand was left with an irregular heartbeat after catching COVID.

References

External links

*

1978 births
Living people
Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford
English people of Dutch descent
Horizon (British TV series)
People educated at King's College School, London
British television presenters
Jonkheers of the Netherlands

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