Draft:Andy Ruffell
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| Submission declined on 30 January 2025 by Flat Out (talk). This submission's references do not show that the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article—that is, they do not show significant coverage (not just passing mentions) about the subject in published, reliable, secondary sources that are independent of the subject (see the guidelines on the notability of people). Before any resubmission, additional references meeting these criteria should be added (see technical help and learn about mistakes to avoid when addressing this issue). If no additional references exist, the subject is not suitable for Wikipedia. Declined by Flat Out 2 seconds ago. | |
Comment: Please remove all URLs from the body of the article, we don't link to external sites this way. Also don't include any text that is not supported by a reliable source. Flat Out (talk) 04:41, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: Please remove all URLs from the body of the article, we don't link to external sites this way. Also don't include any text that is not supported by a reliable source. Flat Out (talk) 04:41, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
Andy Ruffell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Andrew Michael Ruffell May 8, 1966 |
| Occupation(s) | BMX Racer, Freestyle BMX Showman, Race Organizer, TV Presenter & Producer, Film Producer, Author, Documentary Maker, Music Event Founder & Organizer |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Website | www |
Andy Ruffell (born May 8, 1966)[1] is a British former professional BMX rider and freestyle showman, winning many championships, including a world title, earning over 600 trophies, and establishing several world records in an 8-year BMX career (1979-1987). In 1988 he retired from active competition, became a full time TV presenter in the BMX field and later an early director of the London media agency, BiG Group, producing in-flight entertainment programs, documentaries and awards shows in the UK, Asia, and the Americas. In the 1990s he moved into live music TV, co-founding and producing the MOBO (Music Of Black Origin) Awards and the DanceStar (Electronic Music) Awards. As a consultant and serial entrepreneur across sports and entertainment genres in the US and Europe, he continues to develop existing and new broadcast shows and events from bases in London, Miami and Las Vegas while continuing to build an extensive visual archive of BMX history.
Early life
[edit]Ruffell was first introduced to BMX in 1977 while still a pupil at McEntee Senior High School, Walthamstow.[2] Later an episode of the TV show CHiPs[3] featured BMX riders in California and from that moment he was hooked.[4] He promptly converted his Raleigh Grifter to look more like a BMX bike while dreaming of owning the real thing. After a year working a market stall before and after school, in a hardware store over the summer holidays[5] and a paper round seven days a week, he saved enough to purchase a Mongoose Supergoose.
Before any official BMX Teams existed in the UK, Ruffell spent every waking minute he could in various custom designed bowl parks, including Harrow Skatepark, and Rom (Hornchurch), while building his reputation as one of the best park riders anywhere. This was a brand new discipline at the time and Ruffell is credited as being one of the first British riders to perfect tricks like aerial 360ºs and giant airs.[4]
He formed his own team with other Walthamstow boys and in October 1980, under the guidance of the experienced motocross rider Don Smith, they competed in Britain's first ever BMX meeting in Chatham, which Ruffell won.
Professional BMX Career
[edit]
In 1980, after randomly crashing trials being held by Richard Barrington of the UK’s Team ACE[6] at Hollow Ponds, Walthamstow, Ruffell was signed to his first professional team, though the official Pro Class was still not formed until 1985. He left school, just 14 years old, and started his career as a money-earning rider. In October 1980 he raced for ACE, again at Chatham, and won his class outright.[7] The following year he was approached by bike importers and UK BMX pioneers Malcolm & Sue Jarvis,[8] to join their fledgling Racing Team Ammaco Mongoose,[9] and with them he won the National Title in 1981.[citation needed] After a trip to a Knott’s Berry Farm BMX race in California, Ruffell was the first European rider to be offered full Mongoose Factory Sponsorship[10] by the legendary race car champion and design engineer Skip Hess.[11][12]
Ruffell went on to win two National Titles and Superclass National No.2 plate, riding Team Mongoose. As BMX was exploding worldwide in the early 80s, he also travelled the world for the brand as a ‘Mongoose International Ambassador’, touring countries across Europe, Africa & Australia, doing Freestyle shows to audiences of up to 12,000. In 1982/3 he became UK Freestyle Champion, having won every freestyle event he entered. This culminated in a prestigious Young Cyclist Of The Year award in 1984, from the UK Minister Of Sport, for services to BMX.[13]
Also in 1984 Ruffell secured the first auto brand sponsorship in the UK with the Ford Motor Company and became the face of the national UK campaign, The Ford Challenge, aimed at teaching kids the basics of BMX Riding.[14]
In 1985 he was offered a new contract and switched to the UK’s biggest manufacturer Raleigh Bicycles. He became the first official No.1 Pro in 1985 and as part of the deal Raleigh launched the Andy Ruffell Team Special Signature Series BMX bike that went on to sell over 50,000 units.[citation needed] Raleigh also launched the first dedicated BMX national print advertising campaign that featured creatively enhanced photos of Ruffell appearing to do stunts including riding a tightrope over the Grand Canyon and jumping 100ft in the air from a ski jump in Switzerland.[citation needed] During that same year he won the British National Pro Title, Screensport Pro TV Series Title and was accredited with more race wins than any other UK Professional.[citation needed] Alongside his competitive racing duties Ruffell toured the UK & Europe performing in over 100 BMX Freestyle shows.[citation needed]
In 1986 he jointly set up the original PRA (Professional Riders Association) with Tony Hoffman[15] but late in the year the bottom fell out of the BMX market, Ruffell left Raleigh and went back to Ammaco Mongoose, racing for them again in 1987. Around this time he also briefly raced for Team Robinson.[16] Ruffell’s swan song was in Tamworth in 1988, his last competitive race resulting in one final triumphant win.[citation needed]
TV Career
[edit]Front of camera
[edit]Ruffell developed a significant career in television and hosted seven series over four years of the nationally televised BMX Beat (1984-88) and The Tizer World Freestyle Championship, both on the UK’s ITV network. He also cohosted the Kellogg’s BMX Championship on Channel 4 for two years. In all he appeared in over 500 TV shows in the UK and around the world, including two appearances on BBC Superteams (22m viewers) where he became the youngest participant in the show’s 10 year history. At this time he was recognized universally as a TV celebrity, in small part for the misfortune of falling off his bike in a live tv accident and another incident where a pedal fell off during BMX Beat. In a 2020 podcast, in relating these incidents, he cheerfully quoted the old adage, "No publicity is bad publicity".[7]
In 1983 he landed the starring role in BMX The Video, produced by Thorn EMI and selling over 1 million copies worldwide.[17] Ruffell also featured in TV commercials for Kellogg’s Frosties (South Africa) and Lyons Ready Brek (UK/Europe), 1983.
Behind camera activities
[edit]Ruffell retired from BMX in 1988.[18] By The 1990s he had become a director of The BiG Group,[19] a communications company in London, and traveled the world producing in-flight entertainment for Cathay Pacific and British Airways as well as commercials and corporate video for Cunard Line and MasterCard.
In 1995 Ruffell co-created The MOBO Awards, Europe’s first urban music awards show, with Kanya King. In 2000, with the success of MOBO under his belt he branched into another popular music genre, creating the annual DanceStar Awards,[20] later rebranded as The World Electronic Music Awards. Like MOBO most DanceStar shows were broadcast live, first from London, reflecting the European market, and then in 2002 to encompass American tastes DanceStar USA was launched, broadcast from Miami. By 2004 the show had become the most widely broadcast Electronic Music event in history shown in 54 countries on networks including MTV USA & Europe, Channel 4 (UK), and Star TV in Asia.[citation needed]
In 2006 he co-founded A3TV, the world’s first Electronic Dance Music (EDM) TV platform that broadcast from Key West to West Palm Beach in 5 million households.[citation needed] A3TV subsequently evolved into DSTV on YouTube, with over 1 billion views across 6 channels.
In 2024 Ruffell became CEO of Lifestyle Video Networks, a leading distributor of online video content, and the multi-channel YouTube network 5th & Ocean Productions, a main shareholder in Dancestar TV and a global Over The Top TV channel.
In 2023 he announced a development partnership between his DanceStar Ventures Co., GroupM, and BiG Group to launch multiple Electronic Music televised events in Asia, including the DanceStar Electronic Music Awards, DanceStar Live and The Electronic Music Hall Of Fame.
Family
[edit]Andy Ruffell is the eldest of three well-known brothers in BMX. His younger siblings, twins Neil and Robert Ruffell, both won accolades in the BMX field with Neil representing the Skyway Freestyle team and known for legendary airs at Southsea King of the Skateparks competitions, while Robert was a racer at heart and an Expert Freestyler finalist in the 1984 UKBMX Freestyle Championships at London’s Sobell Centre.[21]
Filmography
[edit]- BMX The Video - starring role (Thorn EMI, 1983)[22]
- Pubmonkey - executive producer (Tramp Films, 2015)[23]
Book
[edit]- BMX From Start to Finish - author Andy Ruffell, with Ken Evans. Published 1984 by Adam & Charles Black, London. ISBN 0-7136-2470-1[24]
Music Recordings
[edit]- BMX Boys Have a Lot of Fun – Danny and The Mongoose Team - Celebrity participant. Single entered Gallup chart at #170 (Jan.21, 1984). Released Jan.7, 1984.[25][26]
- Ain't No Stopping Us Now / I Heard It Through The Grapevine – The MOBO Allstars – Executive producer. Charity record released 1998 in aid of The Royal Marsden Hospital Charity Leukaemia Research Fund & The Sickle Cell Society.
References
[edit]- ^ https://www.universityofbmx.com/article-list-profiles/251-ruffell-andy-england. Retrieved Oct.24, 2024.
- ^ https://www.infoschools.net/uk/london/the-mcentee-school/#contact-info
- ^ Episode title: "CHP-BMX" - S2 E21, original US airdate Mar.3, 1979. http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/List_of_CHiPs_episodes
- ^ a b https://www.britishbmxhalloffame.com/congratulations-andy-ruffell-inducted-into-the-british-bmx-hall-of-fame-class-of-2023/ Retrieved Oct.24, 2024.
- ^ Sunday Times Magazine, Nov.27, 1983, from p.52.
- ^ https://www.britishbmxhalloffame.com/rise1980/
- ^ a b https://www.bmxweekly.com/2020/01/podcast-andy-ruffell/ Interview with Dale Holmes. Retrieved Oct.28, 2024.
- ^ https://www.universityofbmx.com/blog/after-sport-careers/249-jarvis-malcom-england
- ^ https://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/ammaco/
- ^ https://www.vintagemongoose.com/people/riders.php
- ^ https://www.britishbmxhalloffame.com/congratulations-andy-ruffell-inducted-into-the-british-bmx-hall-of-fame-class-of-2023/
- ^ BMX Action Bike, Issue 1, published Apr/May1982.
- ^ https://www.universityofbmx.com/hall-of-fame/hof-members-overall/hall-of-fame
- ^ Ford BMX Challenge Handbook, published in BMX Action Bike magazine, July 1984, and distributed at Ford dealerships. Retrieved from https://www.radbmx.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=10581.0 Oct.28, 2024.
- ^ "Tony Hoffman, former professional BMX racer." Retrieved Oct.28, 2024 from https://www.juneauempire.com/news/from-prison-to-pillar-tony-hoffman-shares-his-journey-from-addiction-to-the-olympics-in-final-pillars-of-america-speech/
- ^ https://photos.usabmx.com/Robinson-Racing-Photos/1979-Team-Robinson-photo-shoots. Retrieved Oct.28, 2024.
- ^ https://www.fatbmx.com/bmx-oldskool/item/48766-bmx-the-video-the-famous-airport-sequence-1983-by-the-stuntabiker. Retrieved Oct.30, 2024.
- ^ https://www.universityofbmx.com/images/stories/profiles/andy-ruffel/andy_ruffell.pdf
- ^ https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02520892/officers?page=2
- ^ https://vimeo.com/197581030
- ^ Retrieved Oct 24, 2024 from http://www.23mag.com/events/ukbfa/uk84f.htm
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10326762/
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3456262/fullcredits/
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3456262/fullcredits/
- ^ https://www.ukmix.org/forum/chart-discussion/chart-analysis/10895472-uk-singles-charts-1984-including-chart-panel-sales
- ^ https://www.discogs.com/release/10722473-Danny-And-The-Mongoose-Team-BMX-Boys. Posting #6 Mon May 16, 2022, 08:05. Retrieved Oct.30, 2024.