It was a long and rocky road for the tenacious teen before he would make it as one of TV’s top talents. Hundreds of rejected job applications, mentors telling him to pursue a ‘normal’ career instead and struggling to climb his way to the top. But eventually Phillip Schofield’s unrelenting nature, charming personality and a little bit of luck would help him ascend. Those formative years of struggle led him to today, where we know him as the host of two of ITV’s leading programmes ‘This Morning’ and ‘Dancing on Ice’.
Phillip’s big break would arrive in the form of a newspaper advertisement in the Auckland Star on February 5, 1982.
It read: “Pop show wants frontpersons… You will need to know your music, be involved in the current pop scene… and have that indefinable thing, a TV presence.”
The advert was shown to Philip by a well-wisher, who knew the 20-year-old would be perfect for the role.
Philip, who had moved 12,000 miles to New Zealand six months earlier, had a burning desire to present combined with charisma and good looks.
In 1992 biography ‘Philip Schofiled: The Whole Amazing Story’, Phillip initially said of the job: “It sounds good. But it’s not right for me. I want to do radio.”
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His confidence had taken a knock after years of dreaming that he would be on the radio and never quite getting the break he deserved.
Even back at Tretherras Senior School in Newquay, England, Phillip had been regularly told to give up on his goal by teachers.
One of them, Gerry Green said: “I put his wild ambition down to adolescent dreaming: I thought he’d just have to live and learn.”
Another, Bruce Connock echoed the same words: “Getting into the BBC was a pipedream – he wouldn’t do it even if he stayed at school until he was 90!
“It wasn’t like wanting to be a hairdresser or building, or even a teacher.”
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Despite the less than encouraging words, Phillip was undeterred and fired-off endless letters to the BBC asking for a job – all without a response.
It was not until his 17th birthday that he would finally be invited for an interview to work as a bookings clerk within the UK institution.
But two years on and Phillip was still doing admin work.
Apart from getting to write travel reports for two weeks to cover a colleague’s holiday, he did not appear to be making any strides closer to his dream.
Then his family decided to fulfil their lifelong dream and move to New Zealand – with Phillip deciding to go with them.
There, he filed countless CVs to local radio stations but was repeatedly told his “voice wasn’t deep enough for radio”.
Phillip’s hopes were slowly being crushed and by the time the Pop Show advert appeared, he was depressed.
Later on, despite Phillip’s initially unenthusiastic response, his mother talked him into sending an application.
He was invited for an audition to the music entertainment show that would be known as ‘Shazam’ and broadcast on New Zealand Television (NZTV).
Peter Grattan, who was tasked with finding the show’s talent, recalled having 35 auditionees lined-up that day and after seeing the first 14 he was a “worried man”.
Then the 15th walked through the door – “a tall, skinny lad with a cheeky look,” biographer Robin McGibbon wrote.
The man said: “Hello. My name is Phillip Schofield. And I’m your host for Shazam! We’re going to be here every week with the latest from the pop charts.”
Peter explained: “Phillip was at ease in front of the camera. And the camera simply loved him. He was a natural.
“The more we saw of Phillip on screen, the more excited the control room got. About halfway through Phillip’s minute, there was this big sort of ‘wow’.
“He spoke to the viewer, not the camera, in a very natural manner.”
At the end of the audition, Peter did not give away how much he had impressed him and the crew, and simply said: “Thank you – we’ll let you know.”
Peter recalled: “But as soon as he had gone I told the remaining candidates they were not needed.
“I cancelled the auditions planned for the following evening.”
Phillip was contacted a week later and invited to the station’s offices on Shortland Street, where he was told he would be their new star.
Walking back towards his family home, he said: “I’m going to be on television.”
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