2016 Virgin Money
London Marathon Celebrities
1.
Jack Ashton
18.
Jeremy Joseph
2.
Andrew Barton
19.
Gwilym Lee
3.
Marcus Bean
20.
Danny Mills
4.
Ricky Boylan
21.
Chris Newton
5.
Clarke Carlisle
22.
Bobby Norris
6.
Chris Chittell
23.
Giles Paley-Phillips
7.
James Cracknell
24.
Gary Poulton
8.
CJ de Mooi
25.
Kate Quilton
9.
Natalie Dormer
26.
Robert ‘Judge’ Rinder
10.
Chris Evans
27.
Gary Rowett
11.
James Farrar
28.
Camilla Rutherford
12.
Gruffudd Glyn
29.
Baasit Siddiqui
13.
Richard Harrington
30.
Iwan Thomas MBE
14.
Graham Hornigold
31.
Shane Williams
15.
Lee Hendrie
32.
Kai Owen & Nadine Mulkerrin
16.
Dame Kelly Holmes MBE
17.
Ashley James
Scroll down for full biographies
Jack
ASHTON
Bristol-born actor Jack is best known for his role as vicar Tom
Hereward on BBC One’s 1960s-set medical drama Call the Midwife,
alongside actress and comedian Miranda Hart and Strictly Come
Dancing’s Helen George.
After moving to London for drama school, Jack never left and has
worked extensively on stage, and screen, since graduation, appearing
in TV shows including BAFTA award-winning drama Broadchurch,
Endeavour, Holby City and ITV sitcom Vicious, alongside Sir Ian
McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi. Jack is running the marathon for
Macmillan
Andrew
BARTON
Andrew Barton is a hairdresser, best known for offering expert
advice on 10 years younger, Angela and Friends and Lorraine Kelly’s
Dream Team.
Twice named British hairdresser of the year, he began his career as
an apprentice at a Yorkshire salon, going on to work across the globe
from the United States to the Far East.
Formerly the international creative director of Saks, he now heads up
his own hair and beauty empire, running London salons and creating
his own hair care range. Andrew, who was adopted, is running the
marathon for Coram which has been helping children find adoptive
parents for over 40 years.
Marcus
BEAN
Marcus is a TV chef who regularly appears on ITV’s This Morning with
Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield. He’s also appeared on Good
Food’s Market Kitchen and Channel 4’s What’s Cooking.
Marcus is self-taught, and found fame after entering a Channel 4
competition called the Iron Chef.
He’s made live appearances at the BBC Good Food Show and the
Ideal Home Show and has written for publications including Hello
and Foodie Magazine London.
Marcus and his wife Jenny run their own pub/restaurant in
Baschurch, Shropshire and the Brompton Cookery School and B&B.
He’s running the marathon for the NSPCC.
Ricky
BOYLAN
Ricky is a British light welterweight boxer who has been competing
since he was 17. He made his professional debut at London’s York
Hall against Sid Razak in December 2010, going on to win the LightWelterweight Southern Area Title in December 2013.
Ricky ran the London Marathon in 2013, just 36 hours after his eighth
pro fight against Arek Malek at Canary Wharf.
He will run the marathon this year for the NSPCC.
Clarke
CARLISLE
Clarke is a former professional football player who provided defence
for clubs including Queen’s Park Rangers and Leeds United. He also
earned three caps for the England under-21 team.
Since retirement he’s presented on Match of the Day 2 and been a
pundit for both Sky Sports and ITV Sport.
He’s also appeared as a contestant on Channel 4 game show
Countdown and is the first footballer to take part in BBC topical
debate show Question Time.
He’s an ambassador for Kick It Out, which campaigns for inclusion
and equality in football. Clarke will be running the marathon for
Cancer Research.
Chris
CHITTELL
Chris is an English actor who is best known as much-loved Emmerdale
favourite Eric Pollard. Initially contracted for just 12 episodes, Chris
has played the five-times married, smooth-talking businessman
since 1986, making him the longest serving cast member of the ITV
soap.
His early career saw him star in classic films including To Sir, With
Love, alongside Sidney Poitier and The Charge of the Light Brigade
and on stage at the Old Vic alongside Peter O’Toole in Shakespeare’s
Macbeth.
Chris is a marathon veteran and is running this year to raise funds
for Bloodwise.
James
CRACKNELL
James Cracknell is one of Britain’s most successful athletes of all time
with two Olympic gold medals at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004
Olympic Games, and six World Championship titles. Since retiring
from his 13-year international career, James has distinguished himself
as a very special and inspiring sportsman, athlete and adventurer.
In 2010, he took on the challenge of cycling, running, rowing and
swimming his way across America from LA to New York. It was
during this challenge, however, that he suffered a near-fatal accident
after being struck from behind by a truck while cycling. While he
endured a difficult recovery, he is now back to his sporting best.
In addition to training for marathons and many other races in the
UK, James is Vice President of the charity Headway and has been
appointed to lead policy exchange work on obesity and physical
activity.
CJ de
MOOI
CJ is a professional quizzer, best known as a regular on the BBC TV
show Eggheads where he, and his fellow panellists, take on a team of
would-be champions in a general knowledge battle. CJ left Eggheads
briefly in 2011 to pursue acting, appearing in plays, musicals and
pantomimes and filming his movie debut The Renata Road.
He starred in spin-off show Revenge of the Egghead in 2014, going
solo up against a team of five contestants, before returning to the
Eggheads panel the same year.
CJ has also appeared on quiz shows including The Weakest Link,
Fifteen to One and Countdown.
Natalie
DORMER
Natalie is a British actress who has starred in two of the biggest
books-turned-blockbuster series of the last decade, on the small
screen as Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones, and on the big screen
as Cressida in the Hunger Games: Mockingjay movies.
She’s also appeared on television in The Scandalous Lady W, as Anne
Boleyn in The Tudors and in Elementary.
Her movie credits include Ron Howard’s Rush, alongside Chris
Hemsworth, and Ridley Scott’s The Counselor, with Brad Pitt. This
year she’s set to star in supernatural horror The Forest.
Natalie is running the marathon for the NSPCC.
Chris
EVANS
Chris Evans is a Radio 2 presenter and was, last year, named the new
frontman for the BBC’s flagship motoring show Top Gear.
Chris has hosted some of the biggest TV shows in recent years, from
Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast and TFI Friday to, more recently, BBC
One’s The One Show.
He used to wake up the nation on both Radio One and Virgin Radio’s
breakfast shows. In 2005 he was back on the airwaves on BBC Radio
2, taking over Terry Wogan’s morning slot in 2010 which saw him
win music radio personality of the year at the Sony Radio Academy
Awards. Chris is running the marathon for BBC’s Children in Need.
James
FARRAR
James is a successful model. He graduated from the Royal Centre
School of Speech and Drama in 2010 and went on to star in Gutted at
the Theatre Royal, Stratford East.
He’s also appeared in TV shows including Silent Witness, EastEnders
and By Any Means along with starring as charming Liam in Hollyoaks.
James is running the marathon for Bloodwise, which funds research
into blood cancers.
Gruffudd
GLYN
Gruffudd is a Welsh actor, best known for starring alongside an
Oscar-winning Eddie Redmayne in the 2014 Stephen Hawking
biopic, The Theory of Everything.
He’s also appeared on the big screen in blockbusters Thor: The Dark
World, alongside Chris Hemsworth, and in last year’s space drama
The Martian with Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain.
He’s appeared on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and
he’s starred on television in Doctor Who, Lewis, Stella and last year’s
BBC One ratings winner Poldark alongside Aidan Turner.
Gruffudd is running the marathon for Bloodwise.
Richard
HARRINGTON
Richard is a Welsh actor best known for playing the lead role of
troubled DCI Tom Mathias in the BAFTA Cymru award-winning
detective drama Hinterland. Last year Richard starred in the BBC One
adaptation of Winston Graham’s Poldark as Captain Andrew Blamey.
He has also appeared in a string of television shows including Bleak
House, Coronation Street, Casualty, Spooks, Silent Witness and Lark Rise
to Candleford. Richard has starred on stage and won a BAFTA Cymru
Award for his role in the film Dafydd.
The dad-of-two is running the marathon for Bloodwise.
Graham
HORNIGOLD
Graham is the Executive Pastry Chef of Hakkasan Group and has
spent the last 25 years honing his incredible skills in some of the
finest hotels and restaurants in London. He was named UK Pastry
Chef of the Year in 2007.
In November 2015, Graham took over from Mary Berry as a judge on
CBBC’s Junior Bake Off finding the UK’s best young bakers.
This will be Graham’s fifth London Marathon for the charity
WellChild and in memory of his brothers Simon and Ian, who died
in a car crash in 2006.
Lee
HENDRIE
Lee Hendrie is a former Aston Villa and England footballer. While at
Aston Villa, Lee won the 1997-1998 Young Player of the Year award
and featured in the 2000 FA Cup Final. Following his retirement
from professional football, he has founded the Lee Hendrie
Academy, hoping to discover and nurture new footballing talent
across the UK. Lee is running the marathon to support MS National
Therapy Centres.
Dame Kelly
HOLMES MBE
Dame Kelly is one of Britain’s most successful 800m and
1500m runners, who won medals in the World Championships,
Commonwealth Games and an Olympic Bronze in Sydney in 2000.
Four years later she took double gold at the Athens Olympics and
was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2004. Dame Kelly still
holds records for the 800m and 1500m.
Since retirement in 2006, she’s launched the Dame Kelly Holmes
Trust, to support athletes transitioning from sport, using their skills
and experience to mentor disadvantaged youngsters.
She’s running her first marathon for that trust, and also supporting
Myeloma UK, MIND, The Pickering Trust and Hospice in the Weald.
Ashley
JAMES
Ashley is a former star of reality show Made in Chelsea, going on to
carve out a successful career as a model, TV and radio presenter.
She currently hosts her own show on Hoxton Radio and has been
a presenter on Clothes Show TV, Clothes Show Live and online
fashion channel Fashtag TV. She fronted the PopGirl TV show Style
Stars, setting down fashion challenges to teenage girls, and most
recently appeared on Celebrity Dinner Dates.
In 2014 she launched her own jewellery brand Whistle & Bango.
She’s running the marathon for Marie Curie.
Jeremy
JOSEPH
Jeremy has owned G-A-Y for over two decades, cementing its status
as one of London’s hottest night spots and expanding the brand to
open G-A-Y bars in London and Manchester.
The G-A-Y stage has seen performances of some of the biggest stars
in the world including Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, Amy
Winehouse and Adele.
Jeremy, who will be running the marathon with Glenn Horder,
fundraising manager for the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), will
be dressing in drag. It will be Jeremy’s seventh London Marathon
and he will, once again, be raising funds for EJAF.
Gwilym
LEE
Gwilym is a Welsh actor, best known for his role as DS Charlie Nelson,
sidekick to Neil Dudgeon’s DCI John Barnaby in ITV’s long running
drama Midsomer Murders.
He previously starred in TV dramas including Land Girls, Monroe and
time travel favourite Ashes to Ashes alongside Philip Glenister.
On stage he’s played Oedipus at the National Theatre, Laertes to Jude
Law’s Hamlet at the Donmar in 2009 and won first prize in the 2011
Ian Charleson Awards for his role as Edgar in King Lear.
He’s running the marathon for Bloodwise.
Danny
MILLS
Danny Mills is a former professional football player best known
for his spell at Leeds United where he helped the team to reach the
Champions League semi-final.
He also played for Norwich City, Charlton Athletic, helping them
win promotion to the Premier League, and Manchester City before
retiring in 2009.
He made his England debut in 2001 and was part of the England
squad for the 2002 World Cup, going on to earn 19 international caps.
He’s now a popular pundit and commentator on Radio 5 live.
Danny is running the London Marathon for the Bobby Moore Fund,
which supports Cancer Research UK’s work to beat bowel cancer.
Chris
NEWTON
Chris is one of the UK’s most successful international riders on road
and track, a former professional cyclist with five Olympic medals to
his name.
He’s currently the GB Cycling Olympic Endurance coach and helped
guide Lizzie Armitstead to silver in London 2012 and the GB women
to World Team Pursuit Championship gold in 2014.
Since retiring, he’s taken up running, completing five marathons,
four in London, with a personal best of two hours and 39 minutes
last year. He will, once again, run in support of Anthony Nolan,
which helps save the lives of people with blood cancer.
Bobby
NORRIS
Bobby is one of the stars of reality show The Only Way is Essex.
Having joined the cast in season four, he has kept fans glued to their
screens, particularly with his fiery but fiercely loyal friendship with
Gemma Collins.
Bobby’s beloved mum Kym was diagnosed with acute myeloid
leukaemia last year and was in desperate need of a stem cell
transplant to save her life.
An anonymous donor was found through Anthony Nolan and Bobby
is ‘saying thank you’ by running the marathon to raise funds for the
charity.
Giles
PALEY-PHILLIPS
Giles is the award-winning children’s author of The Fearsome Beastie,
which won The People’s Book Prize 2012 and the Heart of Hawick
Children’s Book the following year.
There are currently plans to turn The Fearsome Beastie into an
animated film starring Alison Steadman and Brian Blessed.
His other work includes Tamara Small and the Monster’s Ball, Little Bell
and the Moon and There’s a Lion in My Bathroom. He has also written
the popular picture books Things You Never Knew About Dinosaurs
and Princess Stay Awake.
The father-of-two will be running the marathon for Action Aid UK.
Gary
POULTON
Gary took on Alan Sugar in the eleventh series of The Apprentice,
making it to the semi-finals and finishing a very respectable fourth
before hearing that infamous, ‘You’re fired!’
Gary, from Birmingham, was a programme manager for Tesco. He
now works for Whitbread and is running the marathon to support
his company’s affiliated charity Great Ormond Street Hospital,
specifically The Premier Inn Clinical Building, which is due to
open in 2017. An accomplished runner, Gary has previously run the
marathon and the Great North Run wearing a mankini.
Kate
QUILTON
Kate is a television presenter best known for presenting Channel 4’s
Food Unwrapped since 2012, a series which investigates the science
and provenance of food.
During her time at Channel 4 she has commissioned a number
of award-winning multiplatform projects including D-Day: As It
Happens for which she won the BAFTA for Digital Creativity (2014)
and the Digital Emmy (2014).
In 2016 she began presenting Tricks of the Restaurant Trade with
Simon Rimmer.
Kate is running the London Marathon for the first time, in support
of the Papworth Trust.
Robert ‘Judge’
RINDER
Robert is a criminal barrister, best known as ‘Judge’ Rinder, who
presides over his own compelling TV courtroom.
Known for his no-nonsense approach, the ‘Judge’ has, since 2014,
been tackling showdowns between warring parties who agree, in
the end, to abide by his ruling.
Robert married long-term boyfriend Seth Cumming two years ago,
with his old University friend, and star of Sherlock and 12 Years a Slave,
Benedict Cumberbatch officiating.
Robert is a keen marathon runner and is, this year, raising funds for
Buttle UK, which provides grants and support to vulnerable children.
Gary
ROWETT
Gary is manager of Birmingham City FC, the team where he played
from 1998 to 2000.
After starting his career at Cambridge United, he went on to play
for Everton, Derby County, Leicester, Charlton Athletic and Burton
Albion before retiring in 2007. Two years later he returned to Burton
as assistant manager, before taking the reins himself in 2012 and
helping the club to the First Division play-offs.
He was appointed Birmingham City manager in 2014 and is running
the marathon for Liam’s Smiles. The charity, which raises funds for
Meningitis Now, was launched by ex-Birmingham City player Colin
Doyle and his wife after their son Liam contracted meningitis as a
baby.
Camilla
RUTHERFORD
Camilla is a British actress who found fame playing Isobel alongside
Michael Gambon and Helen Mirren in Robert Altman’s acclaimed
Gosford Park.She has gone on to star on stage and in television shows
including Rome and mini-series Fleming, about the early life of the
007 author Ian Fleming.
Camilla has also starred alongside Reese Witherspoon in Vanity Fair
and in Wes Anderson’s Darjeeling Limited with Adrian Brody and
Owen Wilson. She’s modelled for Max Factor and Links of London
and currently writes a blog, The English Mother, about her experiences
as a mum-of-three. Camilla is running the marathon for the NSPCC.
Baasit
SIDDIQUI
Baasit is one of Britain’s best-loved armchair critics. As part of the
Siddiqui family on Channel 4’s BAFTA award-winning reality show
Gogglebox, he sits on his sofa, with dad Sid and brother Umar, offering
their own unique views on the best and worst TV shows of the week.
When he’s not in front of the camera Baasit, from Derby, teaches IT
at a secondary school in Nottingham.
This will be Baasit’s second marathon and his first London Marathon,
which he’s running to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Iwan
THOMAS MBE
Iwan is a former 400m runner who won gold medals at the World
Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth
Games. He’s also an Olympic silver medallist and holds the British
Record in the 400m with 44.36 seconds.
Now a presenter, he covered the London Paralympics for Channel
4, he’s a regular on The One Show and hosts his own BT Sport show,
Chequered Flag, which sees him travel the world covering Moto GP
racing. He appeared in last year’s Strictly Come Dancing and was a
finalist in Celebrity MasterChef in 2009.
Iwan is running the marathon for Macmillan.
Shane
WILLIAMS
Shane Williams is a Welsh rugby union player, most famous for his
long and successful tenure as a wing for the Ospreys and the Welsh
national team. He won 87 caps for Wales and four caps for the British
and Irish Lions. He remains second only to David Campese on the list
of all-time international try scorers having scored 60 tries in 91 test
matches. He was selected at the IRB Player of the Year in 2008.
Since his retirement, he has worked as a presenter and pundit
covering the Six Nations Championships for the BBC and the Rugby
World Cup on ITV.
This will be his second London Marathon.
Hollyoaks Characters
Kai
OWEN
&
Nadine
MULKERRIN
Kai and Nadine both star in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks. They have recently been working closely with
the NSPCC as they tackle one of the Channel 4 soap’s most controversial storylines, which see Kai’s
character Pete, a paedophile, grooming his teenage stepdaughter Cleo.
It is that work with the NSPCC that has prompted the pair to run the marathon to raise funds for the
children’s charity.
Prior to Hollyoaks, Welshman Kai found worldwide fame in Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood
while Nadine starred as Chloe in BBC sitcom In with the Flynns alongside Will Mellor.