Paul was born in July 1974. Before finishing university, he started working for Downtown Radio/Cool FM as a holiday relief newsreader and occasional reporter in 1997, becoming full-time by 1998 when he graduated from Bournemouth University.
…Young, Helen
Helen was born in Crawley but raised in East Grinstead and Old Coulsdon/Purley, Surrey. She graduated with a BSc (hons) in geography from Bristol University in 1990 and joined the Met Office in September 1990, working in the commercial services division as a consultant, providing climatology reports for the building and transport industries. She wrote climatological reports for county councils and often had to go out to rural locations and report on whether proposed road routes would be fog prone or frost prone. Helen commented: “It was a great job, but you were certainly less popular than being a TV weather forecaster!” She trained as a forecaster in November 1992 and moved to Bristol Weather Centre in February 1993. She appeared as a forecaster on local TV for HTV for one week as emergency cover. Later, she would move to BBC Bristol, appearing on Points West.
…Olver, David
David was educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Belfast College of Business Studies. He joined the BBC Northern Ireland presentation team at the age of 18, in January 1978 and took up duties which included television and radio newsreading, as well as television and radio continuity.
…Morris, Christopher
Chris was born in Luton. His career in broadcasting and journalism spanned 60 years.
…Dougall, Robert
Robert was born and educated in Croydon. After leaving school, he worked briefly in the City, before joining the BBC in the accounts department. He made his first broadcast on the old Empire Service on his 21st birthday in 1934. On the day World War II was declared, and speaking as an anonymous Englishman, he broadcast a last-minute appeal to the German people to stop the invasion of Poland. He was a reporter in the early years of the war before joining the Royal Navy. He was based in Northern Russia as an interpreter for 18 months.
…Griffiths, Derek
Derek is fondly remembered by a certain generation as a children’s TV presenter during the 1970s on Play School and Play Away.
…Dimmock, Peter
Peter was a pioneering sports broadcaster and a senior BBC television executive during the formative years of the medium in the 1950s. He was born in London and at the outbreak of war, joined the Royal Army Service Corps territorial unit and was called up only two months later to serve in France, during the retreat from Dunkirk. In March 1941, he was allowed to transfer into the Royal Air Force and qualified as a pilot officer. Then in 1943, he became a flying instructor on Tiger Moth and Miles Magister at various flying training schools, with the rank of Flight Lieutenant, and in February 1944 was appointed as a staff officer at the Air Ministry.
…Creegor, Vivien
Vivien was born in London and admits to being on the wrong side of 55. She began her career at the BBC in 1976 as a production assistant in BBC Drama, where she also abridged books for BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime. Vivien was invited on to the BBC’s in-house broadcast training scheme and was taken on by BBC Radio 4 as an announcer (1980 – 1982).
…Cant, Brian
Brian was a much-loved actor and iconic children’s TV presenter. He enthralled generations of children with his contributions to many classic series including Play School (1964 – 1987) and Play Away (1971 – 1984).
…Cartledge, Andy
Andy joined the BBC as a studio manager in the early 1960s and was a continuity announcer on both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 (October 1968 – April 1969) before he moved over to TV Centre and became a familiar voice on BBC One and BBC Two.
…Whitmore, Richard
Richard was born in Hitchin. He began his professional career in journalism as a reporter for the local newspaper in Hertfordshire.
…Eynon, Malcolm
Malcolm was born in 1947. He joined the BBC in 1974 and for 27 years was a regular voice as a network announcer on BBC One and BBC Two before taking redundancy in October 2001.
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