Adrian Chiles climbed BBC ladder with blokeish charm

With his blokeish charm and Brummie accent, Adrian Chiles has climbed the ranks to become one of the best-known faces of the BBC.

In his early career, the English literature graduate planned to teach English abroad, but his hopes were scuppered by a broken leg.

Chiles studied journalism in Cardiff and cut his teeth as a sports reporter.

He joined the BBC for a three-week work experience stint on Business Breakfast and eventually landed the role of an assistant producer.

He went on to front Radio 4's Financial World Tonight and the Radio 5 Live business programme Wake Up To Money and BBC2's Working Lunch.

The 43-year-old's coverage of flagship events includes the Beijing Olympics and the Euro 2008 football championships.

He has forged a massively successful TV partnership with Christine Bleakley on The One Show and the pair have become close friends.

He is also known for fronting Match Of The Day 2 and Apprentice spin-off show You're Fired!

In 2008 Chiles was named as the most-watched person on British television that year.

He attracted a combined audience of more than one billion in a poll which added together viewing figures for each show a presenter appeared on.

It is understood that should he have wished to remain at the BBC, Chiles could have been adding a chat show to his range of programmes.

But in a statement released today he said it was "no secret" that he was disappointed by changes made to The One Show.

The presenter - thought to be unhappy at Chris Evans being drafted in to host the Friday night edition of his early evening show - will front GMTV and present ITV football coverage.

In October 2009, Chiles and radio presenter Jane Garvey were divorced, on the grounds of his unreasonable behaviour.

The pair, who married in 1998 and were seen as a BBC "golden couple", were granted a "quickie" divorce at the High Court in London.

The couple have two daughters named Evelyn and Sian.