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Tarrant was educated at the King`s School, Worcester (1960-4) where he excelled at cricket and hockey,[1] although he has often said they were not happy times, recalling his "very strict" schooldays in a fund-raising book of memories, and in 1999 describing the school as a "modern-day Iran".[2]

After turning down a place at Oxford University, Tarrant attended the University of Birmingham, where he read English. He later worked as a teacher in Brockley for a while following graduation. It is worth noting that Chris Tarrant was thrown out of Chamberlain Hall for tying a Brent Goose`s wings together and throwing it off the 13th floor of the tower. Though in a respectable job, he found himself homeless after walking out on a girlfriend without anywhere to stay, so for six months he lived in his grey mini van in the grounds of the school where he worked.[3]

Bored with life as a teacher, Tarrant wrote a series of insolent letters to television companies claiming brazenly: "I am the face of the 1970s and this is your last chance to snap me up". He eventually gave up teaching to pursue his dream of television, driving a truck during the day and becoming a Birmingham based DJ during the night. Incredibly, the effort paid off and he was invited by the Midlands-based ATV for an audition and ended up as a newsreader on the regional bulletins.[4]

(Credit to wikipedia.org)

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