Adedoyin Olayiwola"Ade"AdepitanMBE(/ˈædiəˈdɛpiˌtæn/;born 27 March 1973) is a Nigerian-born British television presenter andwheelchair basketballplayer. As a presenter, he has hosted a range of travel documentaries and sports programmes forBBCtelevision. Adepitan is a disability advocate and one of the first physically disabled television presenters in the UK, with a career of over 20 years.
 Adepitan in 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Adedoyin Olayiwola Adepitan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Ade | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | British | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 27 March 1973[1] Maryland,Lagos,Nigeria | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Employer(s) | BBC,Channel 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Adepitan was born inLagos.As an infant he contractedpolio,which caused damage to his legs that required him to use a wheelchair. At the age of three, he moved with his family to the United Kingdom, where he grew up inEast London.Becoming a wheelchair basketball player, he was part of the British team that played at the2004 Summer Paralympics,securing a bronze medal. He is involved in a range of charities promoting access to sport for disabled people, and in 2005 was made aMember of the Order of the British Empire(MBE) for services to disability sport.
During the 2000s, Adepitan began appearing on British television. His early appearances included as an actor in the programmesCasualtyandDesperados.He also moved into presenting, initially primarily for sports programmes during the 2000s. From the 2010s, he increasingly appeared on travel documentaries, initially for episodes of theChannel 4seriesUnreported Worldand then for the BBC seriesAfrica with Ade Adepitan(2019) andClimate Change: Ade on the Frontline(2021).
In 2021, he was chosen to presentopen-accessmeetings of an unaffiliated scientific group set up to report to the public on the changing state of the global environment, following in the footsteps ofIndependent SAGE.[2]
On the 14 August 2024Birmingham City Universityannounced that Adepitan would be replacing SirLenny Henryas Chancellor of the University.[3]
Early life
editAdepitan was born in the Maryland district inLagos,Nigeria. At the age of fifteen months Adepitan contractedpolio,which affected his legs and ultimately left him unable to walk.[4][5]
At the age of three, Adepitan and his mother migrated to the United Kingdom to join his father, who lived in theLondon Borough of Newham.He was educated at Southern Road Primary School inPlaistow,which he credits with helping him with his disability and problems at home. From an early age, he had aspirations of becoming an international sportsman. He also attendedLister Community School.[6]
Basketball career
editAdepitan is an accomplishedwheelchair basketballplayer, for his club Milton Keynes Aces[chronology citation needed][7]and as a member of the Great Britain team that won the bronze medal at the2004 Summer ParalympicsinAthensand the gold medal at the 2005 Paralympic World Cup inManchester.[8]
Television and media career
editAdepitan has featured on many television programmes and series as an actor, presenter or guest, particularly for theBBC.He often uses television as a platform to campaign against racism and disability discrimination. He was one of three wheelchair basketball players featured in the 2002BBC One identHip-Hop.He was one of the main presenters of the children's programmeXchangeproduced forCBBCand has appeared in thesoap operaEastEnders.He starred as wheelchair basketball coach, "Baggy Awolowo", in the TV seriesDesperados.[citation needed]
In 2005, Adepitan participated inBeyond Boundarieswhich was a four-part documentary in which Adepitan trekked through rainforests, deserts, rivers and mountains in Nicaragua, and made a video diary filmed in London and Spain, talking about his sporting aspirations and how he coped as a London boy living inZaragozaunable to speak any Spanish.[9]
Adepitan has become increasingly involved in making documentaries for Channel 4; he was appointed as one of the main presenters onChannel 4of the London 2012Paralympic Gamesand co-presentsThat Paralympic ShowwithRick Edwards.[10]In 2013 he presented aChannel 4Dispatchesprogramme,Britain on Benefits,as well as a documentary for Channel 4'sUnreported Worldabout Cuban basketball players,Cuba, Basketball and Betrayal.[11]He was also part of the Channel 4 2014Winter Paralympic Gamesand the Rio 2016 Paralympics presenting team alongsideClare Balding.
Adepitan has also worked with the BBC, having presented theInvictus Games,guest-presenting an episode ofThe One ShowalongsideAlex Jones.In 2016, Adepitan co-presented three-partBBC TwoseriesNew York: America's Busiest CityalongsideAnita RaniandAnt Anstead.Since 2016, Adepitan has co-presented the BBC'sChildren in Needappeal. In 2017 he co-presentedWorld's Busiest Citieswith Anita Rani andDan Snow.In 2019, Adepitan presented a new four-part series for BBC TwoAfrica with Ade Adepitan,[citation needed]traveling across Africa, from West Africa and city of his birth - Lagos in Nigeria - through Central and Eastern Africa and on to the deep south of the continent. In 2021 he was one of the BBC presenters for theGlobal Citizen Festival,[12]a panellist with the BBC game showBlankety Blank[13]and celebrity contestant ofCatchphraseon 30 October, competing against hisParalympicsco-presenterClare Balding.
On 17 May 2023,Channel 4commissioned a film in which Adepitan travels toOrania,a whites-only town inSouth Africa.[14]The film was entitledWhites Only: Ade's Extremist Adventure,and it premiered on 18 March 2024.[15]
Charity works
editAdepitan does a lot of charity work, particularly supporting many charities to help other people with physical disabilities. He is a patron of Go Kids Go (formerly known as Association of Wheelchair Children). He is also a great supporter of the National Society for the Prevention of the Cruelty to Children Charity (NSPCC) and theWheelPowerCharity. Adepitan travelled to Ghana in support ofComic Relief.He also participated in theDisabled Motoring UKAlps 2011 Challenge.[16]Adepitan is also an Athlete Ambassador forRight to Play,the world's leading sport for development charity.[17]
Awards
editAdepitan was made a Member of theOrder of the British Empire(MBE) for services to disability sport in 2005.[18]He was also presented with anHonorary DoctoratefromLoughborough University,in recognition of his outstanding services to, and performances in, disability sport.[8]The same year, Adepitan was awarded a 'Certificate of Excellence' by the Champions Club UK in recognition not only of his efforts at promoting disability sport, but also for being a positive role model. He was particularly commended for his strong and persistent message of hope within the young black disabled community.[19]
He was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award by theUniversity of East Londonin 2010, and had an Honorary Doctorate conferred by the university in November 2010.[20]
In 2020, Adepitan was included in thePowerlistof the 100[21]most influential Black British people.
Personal life
editOn 19 August 2018, Adepitan married singer Linda Harrison (who performs as Elle Exxe)[22][23]inSt Paul's Cathedral.[24]They have a son, born 4 January 2021.[25]
Adepitan is a keen football fan; he became a supporter ofWest Ham Unitedas a young boy after attending the trophy parade for their1980 FA Cup Finalvictory, and is a season ticket holder at theLondon Stadium.[26][27]
References
edit- ^"Ade's Olympic dreams".BBC Sport.Retrieved24 September2022.
- ^Watts, Jonathan (20 June 2021)."Head of Independent Sage to launch international climate change group".the Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on 20 June 2021.
- ^"Ade Adepitan named new Chancellor of Birmingham City University".Black Country Radio.Retrieved14 August2024.
- ^Hattenstone, Simon (18 August 2013)."Ade Adepitan: 'We got up to crazy things – disabled kids were wild and cool'".The Guardian.Retrieved17 April2020.
- ^"Ade Adepitan".World Bank Live.13 November 2020.Retrieved13 March2021.
- ^Iosias, Jody (10 December 2011).Ade Adepitan.Cred Press.ISBN978-6139885459.
- ^"Ade's Olympic Dreams".BBC Sport Academy.15 July 2002.Retrieved6 November2011.
- ^ab"Ade Adepitan, MBE".The Newham Story.Newham Borough Council. Archived fromthe originalon 7 October 2011.Retrieved6 November2011.
- ^COWAN, AMBER (8 October 2005)."Not just anybody: Ade Adepitan".The Times.Retrieved17 April2020.
- ^"The presenters: Ade Adepitan".Channel 4. 2012. Archived fromthe originalon 4 July 2013.
- ^"Channel 4's Unreported World with Ade Adepitan".Sightsavers. October 2015. Archived fromthe originalon 8 April 2023.
- ^"BBC One - Global Citizen Live: Music Festival for the Planet".
- ^"Blankety Blank".BBC One.Series 1, Episode 2.
- ^"Channel 4 commissions Ade: My Week in the Whitest Place on Earth (w/t), a new film by Ade Adepitan exploring one of the most extreme communities on the planet".channel4 /press.Retrieved20 May2023.
- ^Richardson, Hollie; Catterall, Ali; Virtue, Graeme; Seale, Jack; Wardell, Simon (18 March 2024)."TV tonight: what happened when a Black broadcaster visited a 'whites-only' town in South Africa?".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved29 May2024.
- ^"Disabled Motoring UK - Alps Challenge and Inaugural Awards Ceremony".Archived fromthe originalon 21 July 2020.Retrieved30 August2012.
- ^"Ambassadors, Right to play".Retrieved11 March2020.
- ^"MBEs for CBBC's Ade Adepitan and South Today's Sally Taylor"(Press release). BBC.Retrieved6 November2011.
- ^"Motivational Monday - Ade Adepitan".Disability Network.10 June 2019.Retrieved17 April2020.
- ^""East London the place to be", say ground-breaking artists "(Press release). University of East London. 25 November 2010.Retrieved6 November2011.
- ^"2019 | Alumnus named on Black Powerlist for the third time | Loughborough Alumni | Loughborough University".lboro.ac.uk.Retrieved17 April2020.
- ^Powell, Interviews by Rosalind."Relative Values: Ade Adepitan, former Paralympian, and his singer wife, Elle Exxe, on their 17-year age gap".The Times.ISSN0140-0460.Retrieved11 May2021.
- ^McGarrigle, Clyde (12 July 2020)."Paralympian Ade Adepitan: 'Earnings from the 2012 games enabled me to buy a flat'".The Telegraph.ISSN0307-1235.Retrieved11 May2021.
- ^"Ade Adepitan marries Linda Harrison at St Paul's Cathedral".HELLO!.29 August 2018.Retrieved17 April2020.
- ^Adepitan, Ade (4 January 2021)."I'm still buzzing!! Because at 6:36 am this morning I became a father for the first time. So much respect for my wife @ElleExxe she absolutely smashed it, and now we have a beautiful baby boy!".Twitter.
- ^"My Sport: Ade Adepitan".14 September 2004.
- ^"Hammers fan preparing for marathon challenge | West Ham United F.C."
External links
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