My Story [Paperback]

Dale Winton, his story, sun-tanned warts and all. There is more to his career than seven series of Supermarket Sweep, groundbreaking though that programme was in its time (weekdays 10.00 am). He started out as a DJ in 1974, breaking into television in 1989. The supermarket show was one of the great popular hits of the Nineties. Since then he has gone on to present, among many other shows, The National Lottery and Pets Win Prizes. But there's another story, a personal, private story not untouched by tragedy. Perhaps his fans don't want the truth but would rather stick with the myth and legend that is the Dale Winton phenomenon. Anyway, his publishers estimate this 'will make compelling reading for millions'. We'll see. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The real story behind Dale Winton's tragic childhood, his struggle for stardom and the complicated truth about his sexuality

Dale Winton is one of the most popular stars on television today. For over 25 years his warm and winning ways have made him one of Britain's most popular and powerful personalities on television, radio, and with live audiences everywhere. But his cheerful television persona hides the fact that his personal life has been marred by tragedy. Refreshingly open and honest, My Story not only covers his difficult rise to fame and the poverty he experienced before becoming a household name, but also his determination not to let a tragic childhood blight his adult life. It is a disarmingly honest account of his relationship with his parents, his bullying father who died on the day of his bar mitzvah, but particularly the very close relationship he had with his beautiful but troubled mother, whose lengthy struggle with depression and carefully planned suicide has haunted him since the afternoon he found her, just days after his 21st birthday. Dale: My Story also covers his plastic surgery, his lifelong battle with the scales, and reveals for the first time the complicated truth about his sexuality. (20021018)

Born in 1955, Dale grew up in North London. He began his career as a DJ on the London club circuit, and his first professional steps as a young aspiring broadcaster began in 1974 with the United Biscuits Industrial Radio Station. By 1977 he was presenting a five-day-a-week live programme at Radio Trent. In 1989 Dale broke into television, and in 1993 began presenting the hugely popular seven-series show, Supermarket Sweep. Since then he has presented a wide variety of prime-time shows including The National Lottery, The Other Half, Pets Win Prizes and Touch the Truck, as well as numerous one-off specials. Dale also presents Saturday afternoon's Pick of the Pops on BBC Radio 2. (20021018)