Tim Shaw (presenter)



Tim Shaw (born 9 June 1974 in Sheffield, Yorkshire 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 has previously hosted TV series in the UK for Channel 4, Channel 5, More4, Virgin1, Discovery and Current TV.

Early life
At the age of 12, Shaw was certified as a "creative genius" in problem solving by the British Dyslexia Association. At 16, he was designing products that are still on sale in high street shops, such as folding walking aids, fast flashing brake lights that illuminate when cars brake heavily, rubberised ice cube trays and many other items. Soon after that, he was awarded a scholarship in Engineering at Oxford University. He was named "Young Engineer of the Year" twice, in 1992 and 1994, for innovative inventions. Before pursuing a career in radio and television, he also studied Mechanical Engineering and Product Design at university. He has a first class degree in Professional Broadcasting.

Radio
When working at Hallam FM in 1999, Shaw was investigated by the Radio Authority. The investigation found that 2 programmes were broadcast that condoned rape and contained descriptions of paedophilia. Hallam FM was fined a record £50,000 and Shaw was dismissed from the station. Shaw began working for Kerrang! Radio in 2004, on The Asylum. It broadcast between 10pm and 1am Sunday to Thursday with help from members of his team nicknamed Juicy Lucy, Donkhole, Nob Holder, 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 replacing. The show began on 1 October 2007, it was hosted by Shaw and Kate Lawler and aired between 7:00 am and 10:00 am Monday to Friday. The show had been gaining popularity and a growing audience according to Kerrang! Radio figures.

Shaw was dismissed from Kerrang Radio on 23 April 2008 after the result of an Ofcom investigation into the running of an on air competition. OFCOM found that in a competition to give 2 tickets to a Rolling Stones documentary, Shaw had planned to award the tickets to a friend, pre-recorded his ‘entry’ and played it ‘as live’, instead of running a genuine competition.

Shaw presented "Absolution" on Absolute Radio, previously Virgin Radio each Friday and Saturday night, 10pm to 1am. The show takes 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 and Networked on Orion Media stations Wyvern, Beacon & Mercia each Friday and Saturday night, 10pm to 1am, with help from members of his team Jamie Lee, Pants, Slippy Knickers & Donkhole plus various guests. The show takes 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. The show was later networked Rock FM's eight sister stations, including: CFM, Hallam FM, Key 103, Radio Aire, Radio City, Metro Radio, TFM and Viking FM.

Television
Street Genius (formerly known as None of the Above) is a National Geographic popular science TV show, aired in 140 countries, in which Shaw conducts experiments on the streets and offers viewers a multiple choice 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 fourth series on the National Geographic Channel, Car SOS features Shaw, and mechanic Fuzz Townshend restoring classic cars from across Europe, which are often in serious states of disrepair. The owner, and their car, unbeknownst to them, are nominated by a relative or friend due to an inability to restore the vehicle themselves, often because of medical and/or financial reasons. The owners are then surprised with the car at a staged event, usually setup by Shaw. However, the owner is occasionally aware, and the car is instead restored due to its meaning to the classic car world. It is then placed in a public museum once the work is completed.

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 in 2013. The concept was to recreate the craziest stunts on YouTube and breakdown the engineering to do so. 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 good friend, Buddy Munro. In August 2008, Shaw became a presenter on the Fifth Gear for series 14.

Shaw was the main presenter of Britain's Worst Driver.

On 7 May 2009, Shaw hosted Extreme Male Beauty for Channel 4, 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, 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, which aired on Channel 4 in 2015.

Holocaust interview
At the end of 2006, Shaw interviewed Kitty Hart-Moxon, a survivor of the Holocaust and the death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Shaw believed that the interview would last 1 hour and 30 minutes but it actually lasted just under 7 hours. Shaw went ahead with the interview as he believes that schools attempting to teach the Holocaust in a 50-minute history lesson is 'a disgrace', and is also trying to get the interview played at schools. Listener feedback has said that the interview has been inspiring and interesting and makes one think in disbelief that the Holocaust only happened 60 years ago.

Shaw himself has said "This has changed my life and the best thing I have done in a long time" and audience feedback has been generally positive suggesting that Kerrang! Radio bosses, who were initially sceptical about running an item so different from their usual output until Shaw persuaded them, may have underestimated how supportive the listeners would be.

Controversy
Shaw's wife, Hayley, sold his Lotus Esprit, worth UK£25,000, for 50p on eBay after he told 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.