Early Career
Boyd was born in Feltham and grew up in Ashford in Middlesex attending Tudor Grammar School. His father, who was a boxing and weightlifting champion and later a bodybuilder, was from Newcastle upon Tyne. On leaving school, he worked at a Debenhams store in Staines. Aged 19, he went to New York to work at a summer camp as soccer coach. From there, Boyd went on to study at Brighton College of Education. To finance his studies, Boyd worked as a night club DJ and stringer at BBC Radio Brighton; he also worked for two years as a dolphin trainer at the Brighton Dolphinarium, and later worked two seasons as a red coat entertainer at a Butlins holiday camp in Bognor Regis. In 1974, he joined start-up news radio station LBC as a journalist, and, in 1976, was made editor of the rolling news breakfast show "AM".
A gifted sportsman, he turned down joining Sussex County Cricket Club in 1975 to concentrate on performing.
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