Frank Skinner
For the composer of the same name, see Frank Skinner (composer) Christopher Graham Collins more commonly known by the
pseudonym Frank Skinner (born
28 January,
1957) is an
English comedian.
He was born at
Sandwell General Hospital,
West Bromwich and grew up in
Oldbury,
Worcestershire,
England. He attended Moat Farm Infant School from 1961 to 1964, St. Hubert's Roman Catholic Junior School from 1964 to 1968, and then Oldbury Technical Secondary School from September 1968. He passed 2
O-levels in the summer of 1973 and was allowed to take
A-levels in English Language and Art, along with several O-level re-sits, at Oldbury Technical School Sixth Form. But he was caught embezzling the school meals service by selling cut-price meal vouchers to pupils and expelled just six weeks into his studies.
For several years he was known to the police after a series of minor offences including putting a length of pipe across a road and causing a car crash, although he never ended up in prison.
But he soon turned his life around by taking 4 A-levels (including English Language and Literature) at night school and then graduating from the Birmingham Polytechnic, now known as the
University of Central England in
1985 with a degree in English Literature. After graduating, he spent four years as an English lecturer at
Halesowen College, whilst being a
stand-up comedian on the side, before quitting his job in 1989 to pursue his comedy career full-time. During this period he quit drinking and remains one of the UK's most high-profile recovering
alcoholics.
Christopher Collins took on the pseudonym Frank Skinner when the actors' union
Equity told him there was already someone of the same name on their books (their rules do not permit two members with identical names). He took the name from a member of his late father's
dominoes team. It also coincidentally is the name of a movie composer.
Skinner had performed his first stand-up gig in 1987 and made his
television debut a year later. In 1990 he co-wrote and starred in a weakly-received
sitcom,
Packet Of Three, on
Channel 4 but continued to see his reputation as a stand-up grow. He won the 1991
Perrier Award at the
Edinburgh Fringe, beating
Jack Dee and
Eddie Izzard.
 |
Baddiel and Skinner on the sofa |
He often works with best friend
David Baddiel, notably on the popular late night entertainment show
Fantasy Football League, when the two famously shared a
flat, and on
Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned. They wrote and performed the
football song "
Three Lions" with the
Lightning Seeds and the
England national football team for
Euro 96, and re-released it for the
1998 World Cup. Both times the song reached #1 in the UK charts and it is widely regarded as the best of the English football anthems. It was re-released on the
5 June 2006 for the 2006 World Cup, and charted at #9 in the UK Singles Chart after it was expected by some to repeat its previous success due to widespread dislike of the official anthem,
Embrace's
World At Your Feet.
As of 2004, Skinner has his own chat show on
ITV and has appeared in a number of sitcoms, including
Blue Heaven (1992) and
Shane (2004). In 2003, he was listed in
The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. He has lived in London since the beginning of his comedy career in 1991, but still supports
West Bromwich Albion F.C. and
Warwickshire County Cricket Club. When West Bromwich Albion won promotion to the
FA Premier League in 2004, he featured in an Express and Star article which commemorated the club's promotion.
In 2005, Skinner announced he was going to leave behind his television work in favour of returning to the stand-up comedy circuit. It was rumoured that ITV's decision not to offer him a new contract was the main driving force behind this decision. A second series of
Shane has been made, but is lost amongst the wrangling. Skinner and David Baddiel covered the
2006 FIFA World Cup by podcast for
The Times, a British broadsheet. Frank is currently learning to play the banjo for a celebrity reality show to be broadcast on the BBC next year.
In February 2006, he received an
honorary degree from the
University of Central England. [
1]
