Who is Adrian Chiles? BBC presenter attends Liam Payne's funeral wearing a poignant tribute to the late One Direction star

Late singer Liam Payne's funeral was held on Wednesday, November 20, after his death last month. At the private service, Liam Payne's family and friends came to honor the singer, who passed away at the age of 31 on October 16. Many of his closest friends in the entertainment industry were present during the funeral.

Liam Payne's friends, such as former football player Robbie Keane, BBC presenter Adrian Chiles, and BBC R2 DJ Scott Mills, were also present. Adrian Chiles arrived to honor Liam Payne wearing a coat from West Bromwich Albion. This is because Payne was a big supporter of Baggies (Football Club), just like Chiles.

Adrian Chiles is a British television and radio personality and author. Because of his expertise with Financial World Tonight, he was the host of the business program Working Lunch on BBC Two.

Due to his background as a writer and his passion for football, he has also presented business shows like The Money Programme, in addition to sports shows like Match of the Day 2. Chiles also won a Gold Medal at the Sony Radio Academy Awards in 2002.

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Adrian Chiles is a BBC presenter, a writer and met One Direction's Liam Payne during The X Factor

Chiles and Liam met at a show (Image via Carla Speight/Getty Images for Bauer Media)

English radio and television host Adrian Chiles is well-known for hosting business and sports shows on the BBC. He studied English literature at the University of London. From 1998 to 2009, he was married to Jane Garvey, with whom he had two kids.

He has developed, written, and starred in numerous additional BBC shows, such as Asian Millionaires and the 2003 series So What Do You Do All Day? for BBC Two. In addition to stories for Panorama and other documentaries, he developed and hosted Royal Millions, an examination of the Queen's finances, for BBC One.

Chiles also hosted The Apprentice: You're Fired!, a spin-off series of the well-liked UK television program The Apprentice, from 2006 to 2009. In it, he interviewed the most recently fired applicant. Chiles returned as host for the 2007 relaunch of the show, replacing Working Lunch.

In April 2007, he appeared as a guest host on BBC One's Have I Got News for You. He later departed from the BBC in 2009 and then made his comeback in January 2016, fronting the two-part travel/religion series My Mediterranean with Adrian Chiles on BBC Two.

He also hosted BBC One's Why We Voted to Leave: Britain Speaks in July 2016 to learn the reasons behind Britain's vote for Brexit. Later, on January 1, 2019, he asked the same people, more than two years later, how they felt about the same in a follow-up show titled Brexit: Bewitched, Bothered or Bewildered? on BBC Radio 4.

In November 2016, he served as the host of the BBC Two documentary Whites vs. Blacks: How Football Changed a Nation. Chiles also co-presented The One Show in 2007 with Myleene Klass, who was later replaced by Christine Bleakley.

They further worked together on Daybreak and the three-part documentary series, Christine and Adrian's Friendship Test. Additionally, as a writer, he wrote many books like The Curious Columns of Adrian Chiles, The Good Drinker: How I Learned to Love, and We Don't Know What We're Doing.

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As per Chiles, he met Liam Payne when he was on The X Factor, the show where One Direction was formed prior to their rise to fame. After Liam Payne passed away, Adrian talked about their passion for West Bromwich Albion Football Club and how they first connected. As per Standard’s November 20 report, Chiles stated on the BBC following Payne's death:

"I got to know him when he first did X Factor… He came up to me and said 'up the Albion' - he was a West Brom fan.”

He further went on to talk about his bond with Liam Payne and their shared passion for the Midlands team, and how they went to a game together, along with his parents.