But this weedy teenager was going places. People enjoyed laughing at him so much that more bookings flooded in. Soon he had enough money to set himself up on the next rung of the showbiz ladder – as a mobile DJ. Chris Evans, not for the last time, was building an entertainment career by ripping up the rulebook.
Thirty years on, “the skinniest Tarzan in town” is taking one of the biggest prizes in television: becoming Jeremy Clarkson’s replacement as lead presenter of the global phenomenon that is Top Gear. Along the way, he has helped redefine popular entertainment, achieving fame that made him more written about than the Prime Minister. And much as it might amaze the Orford club ladies, his conquests have included actresses, models, the singer Kim Wilde and the Spice Girl Geri Halliwell. And if there have been acts of self-destruction – or creative boundary pushing – that would have destroyed ordinary careers, they seem only to have made Evans stronger.
Partly this is due to what one media executive called “a streak of genius: amazing creativity, an understanding of what the public wants. And an ability to deliver audiences so big that people take the risk of hiring him.” Another said: “Not many Prince Hals become Henry V. He is simply the best. There’s not another producer or broadcaster of his talent. The nearest is Jeremy Clarkson.”
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