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Christopher John Tarrant OBE (born October 10, 1946, Reading, Berkshire) is an English radio broadcaster and television presenter, now best known for hosting the TV game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

Tarrant was educated at the King's School, Worcester (1960-4) where he excelled at cricket and hockey and enjoyed immense popularity for his surrealist humour and iconoclastic attitude. He acknowledged a debt of gratitude to his English teacher James Cash M.C. and his history teacher, Dr Alex Natan, a German former world record holding athlete. Tarrant attended the University of Birmingham, where he read English and worked as a teacher for a while following graduation. Though in a respectable job, he found himself homeless after walking out on a girlfriend without anywhere to stay, so for six months he lived in his van in the grounds of the school where he worked.

Bored with life as a teacher, Tarrant wrote a series of insolent letters to television companies claiming brazenly: "I am the face of the 70s and this is your last chance to snap me up". Incredibly, he was invited by the Midlands-based ATV for an audition and ended up as a newsreader on the regional bulletins.

Tarrant became known locally as a reporter on light-hearted or "wacky" stories on the main news bulletins for ATV while also being the serious news anchor later in the evening. Eventually he was told he needed to concentrate on one or the other to find his niche, so he chose the wackier stories. This coincided with an offer to host a show which would turn him into a national star.

As one of the co-hosts of the groundbreaking Saturday morning children's TV show Tiswas, Tarrant became known to a UK-wide audience though this programme was not shown by all of ITV's regional networks simultaneously during Tarrant's time on it. He left the show in 1981 to make a late night adult version named O.T.T., but after a national outcry over its controversial content (including naked balloon dances and topless dancers) it was dropped after one series. A more toned down version of the show, 'Saturday Stayback' appeared in 1983.

In 1984, Tarrant joined London commercial radio station Capital Radio, firstly presenting the weekday lunchtime show, before taking on the breakfast show.

His long running morning show ran for 17 years and became one of the staples of early morning London life for many people. At the start, he was a radio amateur. In total there were 4,425 programmes, with the show ending on the 2nd of April 2004. He was replaced by Johnny Vaughan. Tarrant presented a one-off show on BBC Radio 2 during Christmas 2004.

Tarrant combined his radio day job with many TV projects of varying quality and success, including the early 90s ITV quiz show "Lose A Million", before he became the host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and re-established his credentials with a national audience.

Tarrant's catchphrases on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? include "Is that your final answer?" and "But we don't want to give you that!". They have become as famous as the show itself. The show has helped to make him very wealthy, with both board game and computer versions.

Tarrant politely applauds the contestant when they leave the show with their winnings. However it has been noted that he claps like a sea lion. Tarrant also mocks everyone on the "phone a friend" feature, usually repeating and mocking their initial response to Tarrant’s statement "Hello! It's Chris Tarrant here!".

His main hobby is fishing and he smokes cigars.

He is a Non-Executive Director of Celador Radio Broadcasting and an executive and associate of Sound TV, and a Trustee/Patron of The New School at West Heath for disadvantaged children (the school previously being a private school for girls that the late Diana, Princess of Wales went to).

Tarrant is married to Ingrid, his second wife.

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