Benjamin Rory Slade (born 22 April 1976) is a British educator. Early days as a BBC Children's TV presenter Whilst at school in Cardiff in the 80s and 90s, Slade became the longest-serving presenter of the cult BBC 1 network children's TV magazine programme, Why Don't You? He joined the series in 1988 as a member of the Cardiff presenting team (known as "the gang") wearing his trademark flat cap. These Cardiff programmes were the first written by the celebrated TV writer Russell T. Davies. Davies used this early opportunity to weave a dramatic storyline into the various activities, games and 'makes' to make the programme more interesting and appealing and to improve its audience ratings. During the Davies and Slade era the show's audience grew from 0.9 million to 2.9 million on Children's BBC beating ITV's This Morning with Richard and Judy. Slade's 'character' quickly became synonymous with "Why Don't You...?" and with Davies' scripts. As such, he was asked to join the Newcastle presenting team which also featured a very young Ant McPartlin in his television debut role. He subsequently appeared as a lead character/presenter in two further series with two different Liverpool "gangs" which also featured Hollyoaks star Alexandra Fletcher. These episodes were written and studio directed by Russell T. Davies who went on to write and produce Doctor Who, Torchwood, Queer as Folk, Years and Years and It's A Sin. Davies' scripts featuring Slade as a crazy young inventor were acknowledged as his first forays into writing television drama and helped launch his impressive writing career. Slade last appeared as a guest presenter on the final series directed by Trevor Stephenson-Long before pursuing a career in arts education and school leadership. Slade is credited as the longest-serving presenter in the cult television show's near 21-year run on network BBC 1. Slade is adopted and hails from Cardiff where he attended Whitchurch High School. He is featured in Russell T Davies' biography: T is for Television: The Small Screen Adventures of Russell T Davies (2008). In the book Davies reveals that he had great plans for Slade and some other characters from the series in a new TV Drama. However, the casting was overruled by the then head of Children's Television, Anna Home. Slade is a keen musician with ABRSM grade 8s in both piano and violin. He was also a member of the HTV (now ITV1