Andrew Nicholas Castle (born 15 November 1963) is a British broadcaster and former tennis player. Castle was Great Britain's number 1 in singles tennis in 1986, reaching as high as World No. 80 in June 1988, and No. 45 in doubles in December 1988, with Tim Wilkison of the United States.
 Castle in 2009 | |
| Country (sports) |  Great Britain |
|---|---|
| Residence | London, England |
| Born | 15 November 1963 Epsom, Surrey, England |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Turned pro | 1986 |
| Retired | 1992 |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Prize money | $344,337 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 22–57 (27.85% at ATP Tour, Grand Prix tour, WCT tour, and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup) |
| Career titles | 0 |
| Highest ranking | No. 80 (13 June 1988) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | 1R (1987, 1988, 1991) |
| Wimbledon | 2R (1986, 1987) |
| US Open | 3R (1987) |
| Other tournaments | |
| Olympic Games | 2R (1988) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 63–70 (at ATP Tour, Grand Prix tour, WCT tour, and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup) |
| Career titles | 3 |
| Highest ranking | No. 45 (19 December 1988) |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | SF (1988) |
| French Open | 3R (1987) |
| Wimbledon | 2R (1986, 1987) |
| US Open | QF (1990) |
| Mixed doubles | |
| Career titles | 0 |
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
| Australian Open | F (1987) |
| Last updated on: 25 October 2012. | |
Castle reached one Grand Slam final in his career in the 1987 Australian Open mixed doubles event with Anne Hobbs. He won three ATP titles in men's doubles, as well as one title on the Challenger tour. He won US$344,338 in prize money (equivalent to £196,195 in 1992).
Between 2000 and 2010, Castle was a presenter on the now defunct ITV breakfast programme GMTV, sharing duties with Ben Shephard to present its weekday magazine programme. In 2009, he began presenting the ITV daytime game show Divided. In 2013, Castle began presenting for LBC.[1][2] In November 2023, without any official announcement or explanation before or since, he was removed from all LBC broadcasting.
He has also taken part in Strictly Come Dancing and 71 Degrees North.
Early life
editCastle was born in Epsom, Surrey. His mother, Lavinia Pollock (the great-grandchild of Annie Besant),[3] married Frank Castle in April 1953.[citation needed] Andrew was born in 1963. Castle won a tennis scholarship to Millfield School in Somerset but at 15 his parents separated and he had to leave. Another scholarship sent him to Kansas. He taught tennis at the Wichita Racquet Club to both children and adults.[4]
Castle's father ran the fishmonger's in Westerham, Kent, where his customers included the lady of nearby Chartwell House, Winston Churchill's wife Clementine. He went on to own shops in North Cheam; Norbury; Stoneleigh, Surrey; and owned a fish and chip shop in Taunton, Somerset (Kingston Road).[citation needed]
Tennis career
editCastle became a professional tennis player in 1986, after completing a marketing degree whilst on an athletic scholarship in the United States. During his playing career, he was regularly ranked number one in Great Britain. In 1986 Castle reached the third round at Queens Club. He won three tour doubles titles, and was a mixed doubles finalist at the 1987 Australian Open. His 1987 run at the US Open was his best career singles performance at a Grand Slam event, when he reached the third round by defeating David Pate and Jimmy Brown, before losing to Boris Becker in four sets. He represented Britain at the Seoul Olympic Games of 1988, and the Barcelona Olympic Games of 1992.[5] Castle was a regular member of the British Davis Cup team and the European Cup team. His career-high rankings were World No. 80 in singles and No. 45 in doubles.
Castle represents Surrey at squash at over-45s level, and continues to play representative tennis around the world.
Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
edit| Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0–1 | Apr 1988 | Seoul Open, South Korea | Hard | Dan Goldie | 3–6, 7–6(7–5), 0–6 |
Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runners-up)
edit| Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1–0 | Apr 1988 | Seoul Open, South Korea | Hard | Roberto Saad | 6–7, 6–4, 7–6 | |
| Loss | 1–1 | Aug 1988 | Toronto, Canada | Hard | Tim Wilkison | 6–7(3–7), 3–6 | |
| Win | 2–1 | Aug 1988 | Rye Brook, USA | Hard | Tim Wilkison | 4–6, 7–5, 7–6 | |
| Win | 3–1 | Jan 1990 | Adelaide, Australia | Hard | Nduka Odizor | 7–6, 6–2 | |
| Loss | 3–2 | Jun 1991 | Manchester, England | Grass | Nick Brown | 4–6, 3–6 |
Mixed doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)
edit| Result | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1987 | Australian Open | Grass | Anne Hobbs | Zina Garrison Sherwood Stewart |
6–3, 6–7(5–7), 3–6 |
Media career
editAfter retiring from professional tennis in 1992, Castle served as a commentator and presenter for BSkyB. As well as tennis, he presented basketball, motor racing and golf for Sky.
He joined GMTV in September 2000 as a presenter. After a decade, it was announced in June 2010 he was to leave the programme. Castle presented the final broadcast of GMTV on 3 September 2010.[6]
He is a member of the BAFTA-nominated BBC tennis team, covering Wimbledon, the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club, the French Open, Australian Open and the Davis Cup. Castle has been lead commentator on all men's singles finals since 2003, working alongside John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Jimmy Connors, Tim Henman and John Lloyd.
In 2005, he presented the quiz show Perseverance; he presented two series of the teatime game show Divided (2009–2010); and appeared on Beat the Star on 24 May 2009 – all on ITV. He took part in ITV programme 71 Degrees North in 2010.[7]
Castle previously presented the breakfast show on Smooth Radio and continued on the station with The Great American Songbook on Sunday evenings until 2019. He presented a weekend breakfast show on speech-based radio station LBC. He has been off air since November 2023 without any apparent explanation from LBC. As of November 2023, Matthew Wright has replaced Andrew Castle on Weekend Breakfast at LBC.
Strictly Come Dancing
editCastle competed in the sixth series of the celebrity dance competition, Strictly Come Dancing. His partner was Ola Jordan. Castle's appearance marked the third time a main GMTV presenter had participated in the show. After week 4, he was placed 11th out of the remaining 12 contestants, with an average score of 22.5/40. Castle was voted out after round 7 of the competition on 2 November 2008. He scored 21 points for his samba, which placed him second from bottom on the judges' leader board. He appeared in the dance-off with Heather Small, who was saved by all four of the judges.
| Week # | Dance/Song | Judges' score | Result | ||||
| Horwood | Phillips | Goodman | Tonioli | Total | |||
| 1 | Cha-Cha-Cha / "Mercy" | 4 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 23 | Safe |
| 3 | Tango / "20th Century Boy" | 4 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 22 | Safe |
| 5 | American Smooth / "You Know I'm No Good" | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 17 | Safe |
| 6 | Viennese Waltz / "Annie's Song" | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 24 | Bottom Two |
| 7 | Samba / "Ain't it Funny" | 4 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 21 | Eliminated |
Personal life
editCastle married Sophia Runham in May 1991.[8] They have two daughters, including musical theatre actress Georgina.[9]
He is the great-great-grandson of Annie Besant, a prominent socialist, women's rights activist, and supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule.[10]
References
edit- ^ "Former GMTV presenter Andrew Castle joins LBC 97.3 to host weekend breakfast".
- ^ "LBC".
- ^ Williams, Andrew (1 June 2012). "Andrew Castle: The first time I played tennis I fell in love with the ball". Metro. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ SMITH, AIDAN (28 June 2014). "Andrew Castle is a smooth operator". The Scotsman. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Andrew Castle". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
- ^ After a decade on the sofa, Andrew Castle bows out of GMTV ITV Press Centre, 10 June 2010 Archived 13 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ TV – News – Richie. Huq tipped for '71 Degrees North'
- ^ @AndrewCastle63 (18 May 2018). "27 years ago Sophia Runham honoured me by becoming my wife. I feel blessed every day that we are together (apart from when she doesn't want to watch a film!) Anyone that knows us will agree that I completely over achieved" (Tweet). Retrieved 16 July 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ Morgan, Sally (6 November 2022). "Andrew Castle and daughter Georgina open up about their close relationship and why this Christmas will be special". Hello!. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
- ^ "First Impressions: Andrew Castle". The Lady. Retrieved 16 July 2023.