Peter Bolesław Schmeichel MBE (Danish pronunciation: [pedɐ ˈsmɑjˀɡl̩]; born 18 November 1963) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and was voted the IFFHS World’s Best Goalkeeper in 1992 and 1993. He is best remembered for his most successful years at English club Manchester United, whom he captained in the 1999 UEFA Champions League to complete the Treble, and for winning UEFA Euro 1992 with Denmark.
Born in Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Schmeichel was famous for his intimidating physique (at 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) tall and weighing close to 100 kg (15 st 10 lb) during his playing days), and wore specially made size XXXL football shirts. A fierce competitor, he was known for his loud, unstinting criticism of mistakes he believed the defenders in front of him committed. Unusually for a goalkeeper, Schmeichel scored 10 goals during his career, including one for the national team. He is also the most capped player for the Denmark national team, with 129 games between 1987 and 2001. In addition to Euro 92, he played for his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and three additional European Championship tournaments. He captained the national team in 30 matches. He also represented Gladsaxe Hero, Hvidovre, Brøndby, Sporting CP, Aston Villa and Manchester City in a career that lasted from 1981 until 2003 and yielded 24 trophies.
Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all-time, the IFFHS ranked Schmeichel among the top ten keepers of the 20th century in 2000, and in 2001, Schmeichel won a public poll held by Reuters, when the majority of the 200,000 participants voted him as the best goalkeeper ever, ahead of Lev Yashin and Gordon Banks. In 2003, Schmeichel was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his impact on the English game. In March 2004, he was named as one of the “125 greatest living footballers”, at the FIFA 100 celebrations. His son, Kasper, is also a professional football goalkeeper, currently playing for Premier League side Leicester City and the Denmark national team.
Professional career:
Brøndby
Despite the fifth best defence in the league, conceding 40 goals in 30 games, Schmeichel and Hvidovre finished in 14th place and were relegated in 1985. After only a single season, the club bounced right back to the 1st Division, but Schmeichel was lost by Hvidovre to Danish runners-up Brøndby IF before the 1987 season. Winning the Danish league in his first year, he joined a club which he helped turn into a success. He made his debut for the Danish national team in May 1987, under national manager Sepp Piontek, and was selected for the Euro 88 tournament, where he eventually became Denmark’s starting goalkeeper, after initially serving as a back-up to Troels Rasmussen in Denmark’s opening 3–2 defeat to Spain; Denmark lost both of their remaining two matches 2–0 to West Germany and Italy, however, and were eliminated in the first round of the competition.
In all, Schmeichel and Brøndby won four championships in five seasons. The climax of his Brøndby career would come in the European 1991 UEFA Cup competition, which saw Schmeichel as an important part of the team that reached the semi-finals, keeping seven clean sheets in the competition.The club was eliminated from the tournament following a 2–1 away defeat to Roma with a last-minute goal by Rudi Völler. Following the tournament, Schmeichel was voted 10th in “The World’s Best Goalkeeper 1991” poll by the IFFHS.
Manchester United
Schmeichel in July 1991, just days after signing for Manchester United
Following his showings on the international scene, Manchester United signed Schmeichel on 6 August 1991 for £505,000, a price described in 2000 by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson as the “bargain of the century.” It was mainly because at the time, Schmeichel was a relative unknown outside of Denmark, especially within the United squad members. Schmeichel played the bulk of his career for United, eight years in total. With United, Schmeichel won five FA Premier League titles, three FA Cups, one League Cup, and the UEFA Champions League.
Manchester United finished as runners-up in Schmeichel’s first season (also winning the Football League Cup for the first time in the club’s history), but it was on the international stage that Schmeichel enjoyed his biggest success that year. In the Danish national team under new national manager Richard Møller Nielsen, Schmeichel was Denmark’s starting goalkeeper at the Euro 92 tournament which they won. Although Denmark initially finished behind Yugoslavia in their qualification campaign for the final tournament, the latter nation were banned from the competition, while Denmark replaced them in the finals. Schmeichel made a string of important saves during the tournament, keeping a clean sheet in Denmark’s opening 0–0 draw against England, and producing decisive stops against Eric Cantona and Jean-Pierre Papin in a 2–1 win over France to advance to the last four. In the semi-finals against defending champions the Netherlands, following a 2–2 draw after extra time, he stopped a penalty kick from Marco van Basten – the only miss of the shoot-out – which enabled Denmark to advance to the final on a 5–4 victory. Schmeichel also made several decisive saves in the final, and even held a cross with one hand, keeping a cleansheet in his nation’s 2–0 victory over Germany. For his performances throughout the season, he was elected “The World’s Best Goalkeeper of 1992” by IFFHS.
In the 1992–93 season, 22 clean sheets from Schmeichel helped United win the Premier League championship, the first time the club had won England’s top trophy in 26 years. Schmeichel was once again named “The World’s Best Goalkeeper” in 1993. In January 1994, Schmeichel fell out with Ferguson, as United had squandered a 3–0 lead to draw 3–3 with Liverpool. The two had a row where Schmeichel “said the most horrible things”, and he was subsequently sacked by Ferguson. A few days later, Schmeichel made an improvised apology to the other players. Unknown to him, Ferguson was eavesdropping on this, and he let Schmeichel stay at Manchester United.Schmeichel and United repeated the Premier League championship win at the end of the season, also capturing the FA Cup. At international level, however, he suffered disappointment as Denmark failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
He played his 129th and last international against Slovenia in 2001. Naturally, he kept a clean sheet – something he had done, staggeringly, in 42 per cent of his appearances for Manchester United. But Schmeichel will be remembered as far more than being the greatest goalie in the history of De Rod-Hvide and the Red Devils.
Indeed, in a 2001 Reuters poll, he beat Lev Yashin and Gordon Banks to be named the finest keeper in football history.
Despite being a goalkeeper, he would run into the attack on corner kicks if his team was behind. The sight of him going up for the corner was a great distraction to opposing defenders. He scored a goal in this fashion, for Man United, in a UEFA Cup match against Rotor Volgograd at Old Trafford in September 1995. He scored in the last minutes of the game to tie the match 2–2, though United were eliminated from the tournament on the away goals rule.
Schmeichel played for Denmark at Euro 96 hosted by England. The defending European Champions went out in the preliminary group stage, despite delivering results equivalent to the Euro 92 tournament in the first round.
Following a match against Arsenal in November 1996, Schmeichel was accused of racism by Arsenal striker Ian Wright. During the game, Schmeichel and Wright had a number of controversies, and at the end of the game, the two players confronted each other on their way off the pitch. After the game, news emerged of a police inquiry into the incident, where it was alleged that Schmeichel had made a racist remark. After months of politicising by The FA and The PFA, who wanted a “converted” Schmeichel as their posterboy of the “Kick Racism out of Football” campaign, no evidence was found and the case was dropped.
Under new national manager Bo Johansson, Schmeichel was a part of the Danish squad at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He was one of the leading members of the Danish campaign, which ended in a 3–2 quarter-final defeat to Brazil.
Schmeichel ended his Manchester United career on the highest note, when Schmeichel and United won the Treble, the FA Premier League title, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, in the same season. In that year’s FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, Schmeichel saved a penalty kick by Dennis Bergkamp in the last minutes of the game (which Schmeichel revealed he was unaware of time), to send the game into extra time. In the absence of the suspended Roy Keane, he captained United in the UEFA Champions League final in May 1999. German opponents Bayern Munich had a 1–0 lead until the dying minutes of the game, when United received a corner kick. Schmeichel ran into the attack attempting to cause confusion, and Teddy Sheringham scored the equalising goal. A few seconds later, Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored the 2–1 winner for United to ensure that Schmeichel’s United career ended on the highest possible note. In an unforgettable celebratory moment, Schmeichel was shown cartwheeling gleefully in his area after Solskjær’s winning goal.
With his departure, Manchester United had trouble finding a replacement for him, going through several high-profile goalkeepers including Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi, Fabien Barthez, Tim Howard and Roy Carroll before finally buying Edwin van der Sar, who Sir Alex Ferguson considered the best goalkeeper to have played for the club since Schmeichel.
Sporting CP
Schmeichel decided to leave English football at the end of the 1998–99 season, as the gruelling 60-game season, which came with playing with a successful club, was threatening to undermine his high standards at the age of 36. Seeking a slower pace of football, he moved to Sporting CP, where he penned a two-year contract. In his first season with the club, he won the 1999–2000 Primeira Liga title, putting an end to the team’s 18 years without a championship. He scored his only goal for the Danish national team, a penalty kick in a 2–2 draw against Belgium, in a June 2000 warm-up match for Euro 2000. He represented Denmark at Euro 2000, where the team was eliminated in the group stage. He announced his retirement from the national team in February 2001, and played his final match (his 129th international appearance) two months later, captaining the side in a 3–0 friendly win over Slovenia at Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium; he was substituted in the 65th minute to a standing ovation, replaced by long-time back-up Peter Kjær.
His second year with Sporting was remarkable in that it was the first time in 14 years, since his Hvidovre days, that Schmeichel’s club had finished below second place in the league. Schmeichel stated his wish to activate a contract option of a further year at Sporting in January 2001, but eventually decided to leave the club when his contract expired in June 2001.
Aston Villa
Schmeichel returned to England with Aston Villa in July 2001, signing a one-year contract with the option to extend it by a further year. On 20 October 2001, Schmeichel became the first goalkeeper to score a Premier League goal, in a 3–2 defeat away to Everton; this feat has been repeated only four times: by Blackburn Rovers’ Brad Friedel on 21 February 2004, also from a corner kick; by Tottenham Hotspur’s Paul Robinson from a free-kick on 17 March 2007; by Everton’s Tim Howard on 4 January 2012; and by Stoke City’s Asmir Begović on 2 November 2013. Schmeichel left Aston Villa after one season after he fell behind Peter Enckelman in the club’s pecking order under new manager Graham Taylor, who had replaced John Gregory in February 2002.
Manchester City
In 2002, Schmeichel completed a move to Manchester City on a free transfer. He played only one season, in 2002–03. Schmeichel’s record in the Manchester derby is exceptional, in that he was never on the losing side. During his nine years with Manchester United, they were unbeaten against Manchester City, while in his single season with City, they won at Maine Road and drew at Old Trafford.
Retirement:
Schmeichel announced his retirement from football in April 2003.
In December 1999, Schmeichel became the owner of his childhood club Hvidovre IF, but withdrew from the club in June 2002.
Schmeichel worked as a pundit for the BBC after retiring, being a regular analyst on Match of the Day until 2005. He then began hosting live UEFA Champions League matches on Danish television channel TV3+, with Preben Elkjær and Brian Laudrup the studio pundits. However, he still works occasionally as a pundit for the BBC.
His popularity in Britain is perhaps best measured by Chesney Brown on the Manchester-based soap opera Coronation Street, naming his former dog (a Great Dane) “Schmeichel”.
He also took part in Soccer Aid, and played for the Rest of the World team, who lost 2–1 after he was substituted at half-time. Schmeichel was a contestant on the 2006 series of the BBC’s popular Saturday night TV programme Strictly Come Dancing, but was voted out by the public on his 43rd birthday. He also appeared on The Weakest Link in the UK, but he was voted off as the weakest link in the first round.
On 31 August 2007, an investor group including Schmeichel announced their intention to invest 250 million DKK (€33.5 million) in the football club Brøndby IF and make him sports director. This was announced in a press conference in Danish at a hotel in Copenhagen. The offer fell through when Brøndby failed to accept the offer within the group’s deadline.
In February 2007, he became the host in a new quiz, on TV3 named 1 mod 100 (the Danish version of 1 vs. 100). In 2008, he became the host of the European version of the Discovery Channel programme, Dirty Jobs.
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Ranulph “Ran” Fiennes is a British explorer and holder of several endurance records. He is also a prolific writer and poet.
Fiennes served in the British Army for eight years including a period on counter-insurgency service while attached to the Army of the Sultanate of Oman. He later undertook numerous expeditions and was the first person to visit both the North and South Poles by surface means and the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot. In May 2009, at the age of 65, he climbed to the summit of Mount Everest. According to the Guinness Book of World Records in 1984, he was the world’s greatest living explorer. Fiennes has written numerous books about his army service and his expeditions as well as a book defending Robert Falcon Scott from modern revisionists.
Adventurer and explorer:
Since the 1960s Fiennes has been an adventurer. He led expeditions up the White Nile on a hovercraft in 1969 and on Norway’s Jostedalsbreen Glacier in 1970. One notable trek was the Transglobe Expedition he undertook between 1979 and 1982 when he and two fellow members of 21 SAS, Oliver Shepard and Charles R. Burton, journeyed around the world on its polar axis, using surface transport only. Nobody else has ever done so by any route before or since.
As part of the Transglobe Expedition, Fiennes and Burton completed the Northwest Passage. They left Tuktoyaktuk on 26 July 1981, in an 18 ft open Boston Whaler and reached Tanquary Fiord on 31 August 1981. Their journey was the first open boat transit from West to East and covered around 3,000 miles (2,600 nautical miles or 4,800 km) taking a route through Dolphin and Union Strait following the south coast of Victoria Island and King William Island, north to Resolute Bay via the Franklin Strait and Peel Sound, around the south and east coasts of Devon Island, through Hell Gate and across Norwegian Bay to Eureka, Greely Bay and the head of Tanquary Fiord. Once they reached Tanquary Fiord, they had to trek a further 150 miles via Lake Hazen to Alert before setting up their winter base camp.
In 1992 Fiennes led an expedition that discovered what may be an outpost of the lost city of Iram in Oman. The following year he joined nutrition specialist Dr Mike Stroud to become the first to cross the Antarctic continent unsupported; they took 93 days. A further attempt in 1996 to walk to the South Pole solo, in aid of the Breast Cancer Campaign, was unsuccessful due to a kidney stone attack and he had to be rescued from the operation by his crew.
In 2000 he attempted to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole. The expedition failed when his sleds fell through weak ice and Fiennes was forced to pull them out by hand. He sustained severe frostbite to the tips of all the fingers on his left hand, forcing him to abandon the attempt. On returning home, his surgeon insisted the necrotic fingertips be retained for several months before amputation, to allow regrowth of the remaining healthy tissue. Impatient at the pain the dying fingertips caused, Fiennes cut them off himself with an electric fretsaw, just above where the blood and the soreness was.
Despite suffering from a heart attack and undergoing a double heart bypass operation just four months before, Fiennes joined Stroud again in 2003 to complete seven marathons in seven days on seven continents in the Land Rover 7x7x7 Challenge for the British Heart Foundation. “In retrospect I wouldn’t have done it. I wouldn’t do it again. It was Mike Stroud’s idea”.Their series of marathons was as follows:
26 October – Race 1: Patagonia – South America
27 October – Race 2: Falkland Islands – “Antarctica”
28 October – Race 3: Sydney – Australia
29 October – Race 4: Singapore – Asia
30 October – Race 5: London – Europe
31 October – Race 6: Cairo – Africa
1 November – Race 7: New York City – North America
Originally Fiennes had planned to run the first marathon on King George Island, Antarctica. The second marathon would then have taken place in Santiago, Chile. However, bad weather and aeroplane engine trouble caused him to change his plans, running the South American segment in southern Patagonia first and then hopping to the Falklands as a substitute for the Antarctic leg.
Speaking after the event, Fiennes said the Singapore Marathon had been by far the most difficult because of high humidity and pollution. He also said his cardiac surgeon had approved the marathons, providing his heart-rate did not exceed 130 beats per minute. Fiennes later said that he forgot to pack his heart-rate monitor, and therefore did not know how fast his heart was beating.
In June 2005, Fiennes had to abandon an attempt to be the oldest Briton to climb Mount Everest when, in another climb for charity, he was forced to turn back as a result of heart problems, after reaching the final stopping point of the ascent. In March 2007, despite a lifelong fear of heights, Fiennes climbed the Eiger by its North Face, with sponsorship totalling £1.8 million to be paid to the Marie Curie Cancer Care Delivering Choice Programme.
In 2008, Fiennes made his second attempt to climb Mount Everest, getting to within 400 metres of the summit before bad timing and bad weather stopped the expedition. On 20 May 2009, Fiennes reached the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the oldest British person to achieve this. Fiennes also became the first person ever to have climbed Everest and crossed both polar ice-caps. Of the other handful of adventurers who had visited both poles, only four had successfully crossed both polar icecaps: Norwegian Børge Ousland, Belgian Alain Hubert and Fiennes. Fiennes, in successfully reaching the summit of Everest in 2009, therefore definitely became the first person ever to achieve all three goals. Ousland wrote to congratulate him. Fiennes continues to compete in UK-based endurance events and has seen recent success in the veteran categories of some Mountain Marathon races. His training nowadays consists of regular two-hour runs around Exmoor.
In September 2012 it was announced that Fiennes was to lead the first attempt to cross Antarctica during the southern winter, in aid of the charity Seeing is Believing, an initiative to prevent avoidable blindness. The six-man team was dropped off by ship at Crown Bay in Queen Maud Land in January 2013, and waited until the Southern Hemisphere’s autumnal equinox on 21 March 2013 before embarking across the ice shelf. The team would ascend 10,000 feet (3,000 m) onto the inland plateau, and head to the South Pole. The intention was for Fiennes and a skiing partner to lead on foot and be followed by two bulldozers dragging industrial sledges.
Fiennes had to pull out of The Coldest Journey expedition on 25 February 2013 because of frostbite and was evacuated from Antarctica.
The Global Reach Challenge/The Explorers Grand Slam in aid of Marie Curie, 2016-2017.
Author:
Fiennes’ career as an author has developed alongside his career as an explorer: he is the author of 19 fiction and non-fiction books, including The Feather Men. In 2003, he published a biography of Captain Robert Falcon Scott which attempted to provide a robust defence of Scott’s achievements and reputation, which had been strongly questioned by biographers such as Roland Huntford. Although others have made comparisons between Fiennes and Scott, Fiennes says he identifies more with Lawrence Oates, another member of Scott’s doomed Antarctic team.
Awards and recognition:
In 1970, while serving with the Omani Army, Fiennes received the Sultan’s Bravery Medal. He has also been awarded a number of honorary doctorates, the first in 1986 by Loughborough University, followed in 1995 by University of Central England, in 2000 by University of Portsmouth, 2002 by Glasgow Caledonian University, 2005 by University of Sheffield, 2007 by University of Abertay Dundee and September 2011 by University of Plymouth. Fiennes later received the Royal Geographical Society’s Founder’s Medal.
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1982 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.
Fiennes was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1993 for “human endeavour and for charitable services”: his expeditions have raised £14 million for good causes.
In 1986 Fiennes was awarded the Polar Medal for “outstanding service to British Polar exploration and research.” In 1994 he was awarded a second clasp to the Polar Medal, having visited both poles. He remains the only person to have received a double clasp for both the Arctic and Antarctica.
In the 2007 Top Gear: Polar Special the presenters travelled to the Magnetic North Pole in a Toyota Hilux. Fiennes was called in to speak with the presenters after their constant joking and horseplay during their cold weather training. As a former guest on the show who was familiar with their penchant for tomfoolery, Fiennes bluntly informed them of the grave dangers of polar expeditions, showing pictures of his own frostbite injuries and presenting what remained of his left hand. Sir Ranulph was given recognition by having his name placed before every surname in the closing credits: “Sir Ranulph Clarkson, Sir Ranulph Hammond, Sir Ranulph May”….
In May 2007 Fiennes received ITV’s Greatest Britons Award for Sport beating fellow nominees Lewis Hamilton and Joe Calzaghe. In October 2007 Fiennes ranked 94th (tied with five others) in a list of the “Top 100 living geniuses” published by The Daily Telegraph.
In late 2008/early 2009 Fiennes took part in a new BBC programme called Top Dogs: Adventures in War, Sea and Ice, in which he teamed with fellow Britons John Simpson, the BBC News world affairs editor, and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the round-the-world yachtsman. The team undertook three trips, with each team member experiencing the other’s adventure field. The first episode, aired on 27 March 2009, saw Fiennes, Simpson and Knox-Johnston go on a news-gathering trip to Afghanistan. The team reported from the Khyber Pass and the Tora Bora mountain complex. In the other two episodes they undertook a voyage around Cape Horn and an expedition hauling sledges across the deep-frozen Frobisher Bay in the far north of Canada.
In 2010 Fiennes was named as the UK’s top celebrity fundraiser by Justgiving, after raising more than £2.5 million for Marie Curie Cancer Care over the previous two years – more than any other celebrity fundraiser featured on JustGiving.com during the same period.
In September 2011 Fiennes was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Science from Plymouth University and in July 2012 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Glamorgan.
In December 2012 Fiennes was named one of the Men of the Year for 2012 by Top Gear magazine.
In October 2014 it was announced that Fiennes would receive an honorary Doctorate of Science, from the University of Chester, in recognition of “outstanding and inspirational contribution to the field of exploration”.
Basma Khalifa is a sudanese, Irish Afro-Arab woman living in London. Travelling the world and being inspired by the identity of those around her Basma set out to make meaningful content that she felt was missing in the fashion industry.
Basma graduated with a BA degree in Fashion Business before she started her career working in public relations at Peoples Revolution in New York City. Basma worked alongside brands such as Jeremy Scott and Style.com.
From there Basma moved to London where she began working at magazines ranging from Vogue, Net-A-Porter, Harper’s Bazaar, ES Magazine and InStyle Magazine.
Her experience working in Luxury and Commercial fashion allowed Basma to build an extensive book of contacts before setting out as a freelance Stylist.
In a bid to create powerful content, Basma began Vlogging and created a series called She Is where she interviewed women in the fashion industry about their views on diversity.
From there Basma has featured on BBC News, BBC Three, Radio 4 Women’s Hour and Radio 1xtra. Basma is now on the journey to present documentaries centred around identity, diversity and helping young people find their path.
Whats she had done:
Worked at NYC, London and Miami Fashion Week.
Styled campaigns, lookbooks globally.
Styled commercials for big brands such as Samsung, Barclays and Kinder.
Took part in BBC Womens Expert 2017
Featured on prime time news outlets.
Regularly contributed to panels centred around fashion and diversity.
What she is up to:
Working alongside various production companies on documentary plans.
Styling campaigns and commercials for high profile clients.
Regularly featuring on panels and events speaking about experience in the fashion industry and the importance of diversity and identity.
Travelling to various places in Africa to connect East to West through creative outlets.
Working with women on a one to one for event dressing and red carpets.
Sophie Grace Holmes is a dedicated fitness fanatic, health and nutrition enthusiast, speaker and blogger. She also works as a personal trainer, fitness model and sports massage therapist, and loves to help others fulfil their fitness goals and personal aspirations while she fulfils her own.
She is passionate about sharing her journey in the hope that it provides inspiration and motivation to others.
After being born 10 weeks premature, Sophie was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at four months old. At the time, her parents were told she might not make it to 30, let alone her teens.
Now 25, and having dedicated her life to proving that prediction wrong. Every day, she continues to fight CF through a combination of her love of fitness and a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
Her life so far has shown her that rather than sitting back and accepting the views of others, it really is possible to challenge those expectations through dedication, self-belief and courage.
Committed to living life to the fullest, she always pushes herself to achieve her greatest ambitions. She firmly believes that we should lead positive lives we’re passionate about, that we should never give up, and that we should always do what makes us happy. We should also go on new adventures, trying new sports and challenging ourselves to see what our mind and body can do both through things that scare you and excite you.
After all, absolutely any dream is possible if you have the courage to pursue it.
She believes that everyone is able achieve something extraordinary.
Sophie hopes by sharing her own personal journey with us, she can empower us to achieve our biggest aspirations, challenge ourselves and prove anything is possible when you put your mind to it.
Calum Milan Best (born February 6, 1981) is a British American television personality. He is the son of footballer George Best.
Best was born in San Jose, California, the son of parents from the United Kingdom: Angie Best (née Angela MacDonald Janes), an English model, and George Best, a Northern Irish footballer.Calum was raised in Los Angeles, where he became a model in his mid-teens.
His father was an acclaimed Northern Ireland footballer. Best is a patron of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (“Nacoa”), a UK charity providing support to children affected by a parent’s drinking. He moved to his parents’ native United Kingdom when he was 21.
Best has taken part in the reality TV shows Fool Around With on E4 and The Match on Sky One. In 2005 and 2006 he was featured in ITV’s Celebrity Love Island, winning the second series on August 28, 2006. Around this time he played himself in the final episode of ITV’s Footballers’ Wives. In September 2006, Best appeared in the ITV2 series Calum, Fran and Dangerous Danan, in which he was seen travelling with Paul Danan and Fran Cosgrave from Texas to Los Angeles on America’s U.S. Route 66.
In late 2006, Best launched a men’s fragrance called “Calum”, stating “I had all the input into the smell. I chose the smell, I chose the bottle, I chose the packaging, the whole thing”,the product is being made by Jigsaw ESL.
Best went on to launch his second fragrance, called “Best”. After that success, Jigsaw ESL also manufactured his third fragrance called “Day and Night”.
In 2008, Best appeared on RTÉ’s Livin’ With Lucy. Later that year, he featured in MTV’s Totally Calum Best. The show detailed Best’s attempts to remain celibate for fifty days.
In 2009, he appeared as a guest judge in reality television show Paris Hilton’s British Best Friend, in which he tested the contestants’ flirting abilities. In November 2009, he presented the BBC TV Documentary Brought up By Booze: A Children in Need Special, which highlighted the plight of children brought up by alcoholic parents. Best drew upon his relationship with his own father in the making of the programme, which the BBC described as a ‘raw and often distressing journey’.
In 2010, Best appeared in Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me, where he dined with Janice Dickinson, Samantha Fox and presenter Jeff Brazier.
Best filled in a spot for Ian Wright on Live from Studio Five on January 8, 2010. On October 2, 2010, Best appeared as a celebrity on All Star Family Fortunes along with Denise Welch, who was on the opposing team.
Calum hosted via webcam an Online bingo session at Bingocams UK on April 20, 2012.
In 2012, he won Celebrity Bainisteoir, managing Moy Davitts of Mayo.
In January 2015, he took part in the fifteenth series of Channel 5 reality series Celebrity Big Brother. He came third.
In 2016, Best was a member of the cast of the E! series Famously Single, which follows eight single celebrities in their search for love. He also returned for the second season of Famously Single which premiered June 25, 2017.
On January 3, 2017, he returned to compete on the nineteenth series of Celebrity Big Brother,in which he finished in seventh place.
On March 22, 2017, he presented the documentary My Best, directed by Luigi Maria Perotti. He defined this film therapeutic[ the documentary film helped him deal with his identity crisis and his alcohol problems.
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