Richard Osman's very famous rock star brother who rivalled Oasis in 90s

Richard Osman may be known for presenting Pointless and being a bestselling author, but the TV personality has a very famous brother who has secured three number one albums in the UK

Richard Osman’s books and TV shows may have secured him fans across the globe, but his brother is equally as well-known.

The Pointless TV presenter and The Thursday Murder Club author recently made headlines when he revealed he’d been admitted to hospital after waking up in agony. During a recent episode of his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment, Richard, 54, explained how doctors discovered he had a kidney stone.

“I've had quite the week of it. I woke up the other night in pain and I had a kidney stone,” he told co-host Marina Hyde. He added: “It is the single most painful thing that has ever happened to me. The doctors kept saying it's more painful than childbirth but I'm not sure I can buy that.”

But while his health update may have got people talking, Richard isn’t the only Osman to be in the limelight. In fact, the TV personality’s brother is Mat Osman, bassist and founder of the group Suede.

Known for songs including Animal Nitrate and My Dark Star, Suede were part of the Britpop era of the 90s alongside Blur, Oasis and Pulp. With three UK number one albums, the band’s success included scooping the acclaimed Mercury Prize in 1993 with their self-titled debut album.

The band split up in 2003, though they reformed with a comeback gig at London's Royal Albert Hall in 2010. “I think in a way it was lucky we split up for a while. When we came back, we knew how fragile and how important it is to make music,” Mat told Sky News.

“Almost until then, it became a bit of a treadmill - first the campaign, then the album, then the tour. And when we came back, we were really clear with ourselves and each other that we had to make everything really special and different to what we'd done before.”

As well as his chart-topping music career, like Richard Mat is a successful author and has published two novels. His latest book, The Ghost Theatre, was published in 2023 and follows two teenagers in 17th-century London.

“My first novel was about a musician, about brothers and stuff and it drew from [my] experience. [With The Ghost Theatre] I was really aware that I wanted to write something without a safety net, where I had to make it all up. Because I want to be a writer, not a musician who has written a book,” he told The Guardian.

But despite their careers taking them in similar directions in recent years, there’s no sibling rivalry between the pair. Speaking to Good Housekeeping, Richard explained how his brother was there for him after his debut novel The Thursday Murder Club hit shop shelves.

“I’m quite mainstream and he’s very cool. The first few weeks after the book [The Thursday Murder Club] came out and it went absolutely crazy and was number one, it was nice because I could sit with him and it was the first time I’d had that thing he’d had in the 1990s with Suede,” he said.

“We are very different people, but one thing we’ll both do is knuckle down and work hard.”

The duo have even supported each other’s literary success in public outings and Richard and Mat took part in a discussion at Hay Festival together in 2023. Following the event, Richard shared a snap of himself and Mat on Instagram as he gushed over the “lovely” day.

“Such a lovely time at Hay Festival chatting to my brother Mat about his brilliant new novel 'The Ghost Theatre'. Then am insanely long and very funny signing queue,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the pair both appeared on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio last year where they gave fans a further insight into their differing career paths. “I went into television because that's how my brain works. That boom, boom, boom, entertain, entertain, entertain, keep people reading,” Richard explained.

“Matt went into music, because that's how his mind works, which is passion and expressing yourself and trying to bring beauty out of chaos. And that's how the books read, I think.”

Though the pair have achieved a level of success that many could only dream of, they insist that there’s no secret behind their achievements. When asked by The Guardian what was behind their fame, Mat admitted: “I really have no idea. Every now and then the pair of us do marvel at it because I think if you’d met us at about 15, you’d have thought, well… good luck to those two!”