Wendy Nelson was born in Birmingham and began her journalistic career in 1968 through the IPC training scheme in Devon.
…Owen, Nick
Nick Owen was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.
…Pyrah, Gill
Gill was born in Yorkshire in 1951 (date unknown). She has a degree in psychology.
…Kettley, John
John was born in Halifax. He was employed by the Met Office from 1970 until 2000. He had a spell working at the Nottingham Weather Centre (1980 – 1985), where he made appearances on BBC Birmingham’s Midlands Today (1980 – 1983) and on Central TV (1984 – 1985).
…Coverdale, Frances
Frances was born in London. She is a former newspaper journalist.
…Stevens, David
David was born in Worcester in 1929. He was a long-serving newsreader/presenter with BBC Midlands (1961 – 1987).
…Lankester, Barry
Barry was a pioneer of regional broadcasting in the West Midlands. He presented the first edition of Midlands Today on 28th September 1964 and six years later he was the first voice on Radio Birmingham. He joined the BBC in October 1955 as a studio manager and one of his roles was providing sound effects for The Archers. He introduced the programme by telling “the story so far…” for ten years from 1960. He was a BBC Radio announcer (1959 – 1960), presenter for BBC Midlands (1959 – 1960 and 1964) and relief BBC TV newsreader (1959 – 15th June 1963). Later he was a commentator/producer for BBC Radio Birmingham and Radio WM.
…Thomas, Guy
Guy was born in May 1931. He was invited to join Television Wales and West (TWW) in 1959 as the first newsreader/interviewer at their newly opened Bristol studio before becoming anchorman of the nightly news magazine TWW Reports, covering Wales and the West Country.
…Hammond, John
John was born in Bosham, West Sussex, the son of a farmer. After taking an interest in the weather from the age of four, he studied geography at the University of Salford, followed by meteorology at the University of Birmingham.
…Finighan, Adrian
Adrian is a Welsh journalist. He joined the BBC in 1988, working in local radio as a reporter and producer.
…Lloyd, Jim
Jim is a former actor. He joined Tyne Tees Television as an announcer (1959) and later took up the same role at ATV (Midlands) (1961). He left to join BBC Birmingham’s Midlands Today as a presenter. In 1964, a meeting with the Spinners gave him his long-term interest in folk music which led him to join BBC Radio 2 in 1969 as a presenter.
Ashby, Marie
Marie was born in Edinburgh and raised in Carlisle.
Having obtained a degree in French, she then went on to study a one-year post-graduate course in radio journalism. Her career began in radio, where she worked as a district reporter for BBC Radio Cumbria in Barrow, Furness, covering the South Lakes.
Six months later, she moved to BBC Radio Nottingham, taking up a reporting job. Then, in 1989, while on placement to Midlands Today, Marie moved to Central TV, where she spent sixteen years, as a reporter and presenter; she would soon became one of the main anchors on the main evening regional news programme there. During her time with ITV, Marie presented many programmes, covering political and social issues.
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