- After Dinner Speakers
- Personal Appearances
Topics:
- Food and wine
- Living
- TV/Radio Presenter
Oz Clarke
As well as being one of the UK's favourite experts on wine on television, Oz is also a best selling author and fantastic at corporate wine tasting events and speaks about wines from around the world.
How Oz began
Oz Clarke's wine career began when he captained the wine-tasting team for Oxford University. After graduating, Oz spent a number of years as an actor for the Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre, The Old Vic, Chichester and the West End. Before turning to writing professionally in 1984, Oz was by then a leading West End actor (playing all the men in the Mitford Girls, Sweeny Todd and Peron in Evita).
Oz Clarke - a journalist and best selling author
He has been wine correspondent of The Daily Telegraph. His first book, the first edition of Webster's Wine Guide (now annually published Oz Clarke's Wine Guide) won the first Wine Magazine Book of the Year Award and the first Wine Guild of the United Kingdom Wine Writer Award.
Since then he has written Oz Clarke's New Essential Wine Book, a further fifteen editions of his Wine Guide and The Pocket Wine Guide, which again won for Oz the Wine Guild and Wine Magazine Book of the Year Award, Sainsbury's Regional Wine Guides and Sainsbury's Pocket Book of Wine. Oz Clarke's New Classic Wines is a major book about new world-class winemakers and their wines that should, in Oz's opinion, be regarded as 'New Classics'. This book won the Glenfiddich, The Andre Simon and The Wine Guild Awards.
Oz has been given the Special Millennium Award by Le Prix du Champagne Lanson for his outstanding contribution to wine education and communication during the last ten years. Mr Georges Alnot, Managing Director of Champagne Lanson said 'we are proud to present this Award to Oz Clarke, for his enthusiasm, passion and energy in his field'.
Food and Drink Presenter and other TV shows
Oz is a presenter of BBC TV's Food and Drink programme where his remarkable tasting ability has won him great notoriety. He was a regular presenter of the BBC1 daytime makeover show Style Challenge, and according to one TV critic: …'it's only when the presenter rota turns to Oz Clarke that the programme really bursts into life. Oz is a cheery character who can make any morning feel fine.' He has presented a number of wine items for the BBC1 consumer show The Really Useful Show and travel items for BBC Holiday and Summer Holiday programmes. He has guested on The Generation Game, Friends Like These, Call My Bluff, Good Morning, Eat Your Words, Masterchef, Pebble Mill at One, Celebrity Ready Steady Cook, The Travel show, Children in Need Specials, It's Only TV But I Like It and Kavanagh QC and many more programmes and each year he makes personal appearances at the BBC Good Food Show.
