GARRY Bushell is best known for his hard-hitting, award-winning newspaper columns which have been published in the national press for 29 years. But before that he wrote for rock weekly Sounds where he covered and discovered hundreds of bands. A fireman's son from Woolwich, south east London, Garry did his journalist training under Paul Foot on the Socialist Worker before joining the rock press in 1978. He was the first to write about such legendary bands as the Specials, U2, Bad Manners, Secret Affair and Twisted Sister. He wrote Iron Maiden's authorised biography Running Free and co-wrote Ozzy Osbourne's first authorised biography, Diary Of A Madman. He managed the Cockney Rejects and The Blood. He fronted (and still fronts) his own band, and notched up a Number One single with the all-star charity record Let It Be - a project he conceived and organised. Garry's Bushell On The Box TV column has appeared in The Sun, The Daily Star and The People. His own TV show of the same name Box ran for two series on ITV, attracting more than one million viewers at midnight and attaining an audience share high of 68per cent. He has appeared on more than 2,000 other TV shows, including some of television's biggest prime time hits; and many radio shows. Garry is an outspoken broadcaster who has written novels, appeared in gangster movies and featured prominently in the acclaimed documentary films East End Babylon, Casuals and Rough Cut & Ready Dubbed. He has worked with and befriended legends of British comedy, including Benny Hill, Bob Monkhouse, Bradley Walsh, Joe Pasquale, Bobby Davro and Jim Davidson. Harry Hill has said his TV Burp was inspired by Garry's column; guests on his TV series included Lilly Savage, Vic & Bob, Craig Charles and Penn & Teller. He has campaigned consistently for TV talent shows (when executives insisted the format was dead) and for variety shows. Garry's column is currently published weekly in the Daily Star Sunday. img_7340 Television (as self) Garry has appeared on more than 2,000 shows including Noel's House Party (17 appearances), The Generation Game (seven appearances), You Bet (six appearances), Celebrity Squares (five appearances), Drop The Celebrity, I'm Famous & Frightened, An Audience with Freddie Starr, the Big Big Talent Show (resident judge for the entire second series), Through The Keyhole (twelve appearances), Children In Need, Newsnight, Barrymore, the Southbank Show, The Mrs. Merton Show, The Weakest Link Celebrity Special (twice), This Morning, TVam, GMTV (resident TV critic for four months), The Big Breakfast (resident TV pundit 2001-2002), Des O'Connor Tonight, Today with Des & Mel, Celebrity Poker, Sky Poker, Showbiz Blackjack, The Wogan Show, Do The Right Thing, Hit The Road, Celebrity 15 - 1, Britain's Best Celebrity Dish, The One Show (four appearances), Loose Women (four appearances), Pets Win Prizes, Public Opinion, Stupid Punts, Saturday Night, and Nuts TV (resident pundit for six months, 2007). Presenting: Bushell On The Box (host and writer, ITV, fifty consecutive shows), The National Alf (host and co-writer, Channel 4 documentary), Gagging For It (host and writer, ITV stand-up broadcast pilot), Garry Bushell Reveals All (quiz show host and writer, Granada M&M; four series), Sky TV talent show pilot (1996, host and writer). Television (Acting) Operation Good Guys (as self) Generation Game (Sherriff of Nottingham) Bushell On The Box (numerous parts) Hale & Pace (Viking marauder) Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna (randy milkman) Journalism Bushell On The Box began in 1987 and has appeared in The Sun, The Daily Star, The People and The Daily Star Sunday. Walk Tall With Bushell, ran in the Star from 1991-2; a similar current affairs column ran in The Sun throughout 1994. Garry joined the staff of the UK rock weekly Sounds in 1978, and started shifting on Fleet Street in 1985 (Sun, Daily Mirror, London Evening Standard). His writing has also appeared in Kerrang, the Independent, Vive Le Rock, Auto Express, Classic Rock, Iron Fist, Big Cheese, Temporary Hoarding, Street Sounds (launch editor and contributor) and the Modern Review. Testimonials Bob Monkhouse called Garry a terrific writer, the sharpest and most knowledgeable TV critic in Britain adding I am proud to call him my friend. Richard Littlejohn describes him as the best one-liner merchant in Fleet Street. Barbara Windsor dubbed him the sharpest TV critic in the business. Roy Hudd called him the Max Miller of Fleet Street. Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie said: He is simply the best. Former Sun editor Stuart Higgins said: Garry is untouched and unbeatable. Former Sun deputy editor Fergus Shanahan said: Outstanding, a genius. Former People editor Neil Wallis: Brilliantly funny, our greatest ever TV writer. Howard Stern: Garry Bushell is my ambassador in England. Radio Radio Litopia (as host); The Garry Bushell Talk Show - http://litopia.com/shows/the-garry-bushell-show/ and The Hungry & The Hunted - http://litopia.com/shows/hungry/ (2014 - 2016) Total Rock (as DJ, 2002 - 2012) Bloodstock Radio (as DJ, 2013) TalkSport (as host, 2006) Virgin Radio (as resident pundit, the Russ & Jonno Show, 1994) Capital Gold stand-in breakfast host (2002). Numerous other radio appearances, including the Jonathan Ross Show, Steve Wright In The Afternoon, Radio One Breakfast Show, Chris Evans Drivetime, Nick Ferrari's LBC show, the Danny Baker Show etc Spoken Word Literary stage, Rebellion Festival (2015) Literary stage, Rebellion Festival (2014) Literary stage, Rebellion Festival (2013) Breakfast with Bushell (SkaMouth Festival 2013) Bratwurst with Bushell (Randale Festival, Germany 2013) An Evening with Garry Bushell (P&O Cruise; 2011) An Evening with Garry Bushell & Jeff Turner, East Ham WMC (2009) Stage/Pantomime Bushell On The Rampage (one man show, coming 2016) A Festival of England (rock and variety show host: 2008, 2005 and 1996) Dave Lee's Miles Of Smiles (comedy variety show: 2002, 2000, 1998, 1996, 1995) Garry Bushell Out Of His Box (stand-up show, 2000) Bushell's Blue Christmas (host, 1999) Cinderella (1997-8), Wimbledon Theatre as Baron Hard-up The Big Big Variety Show (host, 1998) - Blackpool Pleasure Beach; Green Room, Cafe Royal Butlin's Talent Weekend (host 1997) Dick Whittington (1993-4), Westcliffe Pavilion, as The Ship's Captain Bibliography Includes the Harry Tyler pulp fiction crime trilogy (The Face, Two-Faced, Facedown), The World According To Garry Bushell, Bushell On The Rampage, Hoolies and Running Free - the authorised biography of Iron Maiden. More recently he has published: Dance Craze: The 2-Tone Story Time For Action - on New Mod Riff-Raff Rebels & Rock Gods The Power & The Glory Facedown has just been released as an audio book. Film A Fools' Circle (2015) Gatwick Gangsters (2014) Twisted Sister - The Movie (2014) East End Babylon (2012) Casuals (2012) Thick As Thieves (2012) Hell To Pay (2001) Rough Cut & Ready Dubbed (1982) DVD Bushell On The Box (presenting/casting/writing) Bushell's Blue Xmas (presenting/casting/writing) TV Comedy Writing The Brian Conley Show (Bushell & Lee) Music Thirteen Gonads albums, various e.ps. and split singles: full discography at www.the-gonads.co.uk Conceived and masterminded the chart-topping charity single 'Let It Be' by Ferry Aid (Number One for three weeks) Managed the Cockney Rejects, negotiating them a deal with EMI worth GBP600,000 in today's money. Garry Bushell - Just The Filth, released on CD and download (2013) Bushell On The Box was a run-away hit for the ITV Night Network. Written and presented by Garry Bushell, the show ran for two hit series (fifty episodes). At its peak in 1996 it had one million viewers at midnight and a top audience share of 68 per cent. Yet Bushell On The Box was made on a tiny budget (GBP3,500 per show for the first series, GBP5K a show for the second). Filmed at Garry's home in Eltham, South London, it featured raw rants, its own mini-soap and some of the biggest names in TV and comedy. Guests - who all turned up un-paid - included Barbara Windsor, Ray Winstone, Bob Monkhouse, Jonathan Ross, Vic & Bob, Dale Winton, Lenny McLean, Paul O'Grady, Bill Roache, Billy Murray, Penn & Teller, Ulrika, and Craig Charles. Joe Pasquale and Bradley Walsh took part in demented sketches, Iron Maiden sent video messages, while the Drifters, an Abba tribute act and punk band The Blood performed in Garry's back garden. The show also went on occasional road-trips, including Somerwest World (Minehead) where Garry discovered Stephen Mulhern; Blackpool (with Mick Miller) and Switzerland (with Jim Tavare). Producer Allan Sherwin says: It was guerrilla TV making, made on the hoof, yet we had better guests than most mainstream chat shows. Garry was incredibly productive. Everyone in showbiz wanted to work with him - for free! * Bushell On The Box was made by Carlton Factual; after Garry turned down the offer of a third consecutive season, it later returned as a weekly element on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast. Harry Hill has said that standing in for Garry on the BOTB column gave him the inspiration for TV Burp; more worryingly Al Murray has said reading Garry's Sun columns helped inspire The Pub Landlord...
