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Angus Purden

Angus Purden (believed to be born in 1974) is a British television presenter from Scotland. A teenage Mr Scotland and model, he wrote for a local evening newspaper and is now best known for presenting do-it-yourself and Scottish lottery shows. Apart from being one of the regular presenters for the BBC series Cash in the Attic since 2002, Purden has also appeared in programmes such as Channel 4's Room For Improvement (2004) and Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns (2005–2006) by Living TV. He makes frequent appearances on Scottish television, including becoming the face of the People's Postcode Lottery in 2008.

Early life

The youngest in his family with two sisters and a brother, Purden is believed to have been born in 1974. He was raised in Lanarkshire, Scotland. As a teenager, he won the title of Mr Scotland in a Daily Record competition in 1992. The win opened the door to working as a catwalk model in Paris and Milan, including a three-year modelling stint for Giorgio Armani in Milan. According to Purden, "I was surrounded by beautiful people so I remember laughing my head off that they thought I looked exotic. I was just a wee boy from a housing estate in Lanarkshire but I had thick, long curly hair and they liked me. The designer Romeo Gigli used me as his muse, and designed an entire collection on me. It was an amazing time."

Career

Purden subsequently turned to journalism, writing a column for the Glasgow Evening Times. His first break on television was on STV as a prize presenter for the quiz show Wheel Of Fortune presented by John Leslie. Subsequently, he was a reporter for GMTV and Five News.

Purden is one of the regular presenters of the BBC's Cash in the Attic. In the programme, the presenter visits a family's home to find out what they need to raise money for. They then explore the home to find items that may be taken to auction, which are valued by experts. Before this, he presented Series 1 to 3 of Channel 4's Room For Improvement, a home renovation show.

Purden appeared in programmes with TV personality and self-described psychic medium Derek Acorah. In 2005 he presented Derek Acorah's Quest for Guy Fawkes, which attempted to discover what happened during the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 by contacting Guy Fawkes's spirit. In the first season of Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns (2005–2006), Purden and co-presenter Danniella Westbrook accompanied Acorah to towns and cities throughout Great Britain said to be haunted. These programmes were produced for Living TV.

Purden has done television work for British Airways TV, RBS, Scottish Television (now STV) and the Travel Channel, and also fronted TV We Love To Hate for BBC Three. Radio appearances include BBC Radio Scotland and LBC 97.3, and he writes occasional travel pieces for the Scottish tabloid the Sunday Mail.

In 2006, Purden played a shopping channel presenter, Clive, selling a Kalashnikov assault rifle, in a cinema advertising campaign against the arms trade for Amnesty International.

Selected work

Year(s) of appearance	TV programme or series	Awards and nominations
2002–present	Cash in the Attic (2001–present)
2004 (Series 1–3)	Room for Improvement
2005	2005 BAFTA/LA Cunard Britannia Awards
2005	Derek Acorah's Quest for Guy Fawkes
2005–2006 (22 episodes)	Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns
2007–present	Postcode Challenge
February 2008	Ready Steady Cook (participant)
[Currently unknown]	TV We Love to Hate
[Currently unknown]	Watch to Win

Some information in this table was obtained from .

Personal life

Purden is interested in interiors and architecture. In January 2004 it was reported that he and his partner owned a 1722 five-storey Georgian townhouse in the East End of London which had taken seven years to renovate and furnish from its original near-derelict state. He later moved to Notting Hill.

By April 2006 Purden had returned to Glasgow's West End after having spent 12 years in London. He said that being back in Scotland was a "breath of fresh air" and added: "Life seemed too hard in London. I needed to be there initially because of my career but now that I'm more established I feel it's going to be easier to commute. I'm elated to be back. In Glasgow, he acquired and renovated two B-listed properties.

Purden lists his other main interests as including food, travel (he speaks fluent Italian) and consumer issues. However, in February 2008 he was branded a kitchen calamity after recording the lowest-ever score on the BBC programme Ready Steady Cook.