TV debut leaves designer with at least one fan

Hot air, malarkey and The Big Breakfast played essential parts in one designer’s ploy to avoid making coffee for the studio.

Oliver King, senior designer at Priestman Associates, is now on a caffeine-induced buzz, and nicely basking in the glow of fame.

King’s 60 seconds of stardom came when he presented Priestman’s Soft Fan on Channel Four’s The Big Breakfast. His colleagues gave him a mission – to incorporate the word “malarkey” into his spiel about the fan. The reward was coffee on tap for two weeks. King succeeded, “malarkey” coming out in his first few sentences.

But enough of all that, what’s The Big Breakfast really like? “It was actually very relaxed apart from them calling on a professional electrician to plug the fan in (they were concerned that it may blow a fuse or some such malarkey),” says King, who adds: “And yes, Zo&#235 Ball is gorgeous.”