Jacqui was a television continuity announcer/director with BBC Northern Ireland (1989 – c. 1999). She then moved to BBC Radio Ulster, as a newsreader. Jacqui read her final news bulletin there just before midnight on Friday 22nd November 2019.
…Carse, Duncan
Duncan was a BBC Radio Overseas/Home Service announcer in 1941 and a BBC TV in-vision announcer in the 1950s.
…Ross-Barnard, John
John was born in October 1939. He received his education at Wellington College, Crowthorne (1953- 1958).
…Harris, Paul
Paul was a BBC South TV announcer in the late-1970s and early 1980s. He was also a BBC TV network announcer (1981).
Sayer, Phil
Phil was briefly an in-vision announcer for Granada (1982) before joining BBC TV in the north west as a news presenter. He’s also worked for several regional radio stations and runs his own voiceover agency.
“I may have been the shortest serving Granada announcer, having been there for just six months,” says Phil.
Damon, Dan
Dan began his broadcasting career with Cardiff’s short-lived CBC Radio. He joined the BBC in 1974 as a sound engineer for radio news in Broadcasting House. He was a BBC TV network announcer in the mid to late-1970s and early 1980s.
…McNab, Bernard
Bernard was a relief BBC TV network announcer (1952).
Berrington, Ceri
Ceri was a BBC Wales radio and TV announcer (1985 – 2001). She was later in charge of the BBC Radio Wales announcing team. She retired in early 2001.
Price, Gary
Gary was a continuity director/announcer with BBC Wales TV (late-1980s). He’s a former CBC and Red Dragon Radio presenter. He went on to become a specialist music producer for BBC Radio Wales.
Porter, Gillian
Gillian spent a brief spell on the BBC Northern Ireland TV announcing staff in 1992. She then moved to UTV, to take up a similar role there.
…Coyne, Tom
Tom was born in South Shields. In his 20s, he was a presenter of BBC Radio’s Children’s Hour. He made his first TV appearance in 1958, interviewing a miner on Tyne Tees TV. He was a member of the original announcing team in 1959.
…Imray, June
June was born in Aberdeen. She graduated with an MA arts degree from the University of Aberdeen and taught for two years in Aberdeen and Somerset.
…Kozak, Halyna
Halyna was a BBC TV network announcer (1992 – TBC).
Trevor, John
John was a BBC TV network announcer for 22 years (1960 – 1982) – senior announcer from 1966. After retiring he appeared on Showcable, the BBC’s London cable service for Visionhire Ltd.
…Hutton, Alasdair
Alasdair was born in London, during the bombing which destroyed his home. His mother gathered up what was left, including him, and returned to Scotland.
…(Lucas) Maskell, Trevor
Trevor Maskell worked as a freelance BBC TV voice-only announcer from 1962 to 1963.
…Brock, Douglas
Douglas is a former BBC Scotland TV announcer.
Factor, Ilisa
Ilisa presented for Swansea Sound and Red Dragon FM (late-1980s/early 1990s) before joining AA Roadwatch, then BBC Radio Sheffield (October 1991 – October 1994). She later moved to BBC TV News in Norwich and Cambridge (October 1994 – September 1999), working across local TV production for the region – vision mixing, directing live news programmes, floor managing, live studio sound mixing.
Ilisa joined BBC Wales TV presentation as a continuity director/announcer (September 1999 – May 2003). Since then, she’s held various roles within post-production/graphic design – more recently (May 2014 – present), post-production lead.
Macmillan, Rosanne
Rosanne was a BBC TV announcer from 1987 until 1992, and again since 1996. She’s married to former BBC TV weatherman Rob McElwee.
Monteath, Alec
Alec was born in Doune, Perthshire. He was an actor, who later worked as an announcer for Scottish TV (1964 – 1969) and also for BBC Scotland TV.
…Stephen, Mark
Mark was a BBC Scotland TV announcer (early 1980s – early 1990s). He had a particularly warm, distinctive voice and made the occasional off-the-cuff remark which meant he stood out from the crowd a little – at least amongst people who appreciate these things.
…Roberts, Deloni
Deloni joined BBC Wales in 1980, and was an announcer on radio and TV. She retired in March 1999.
Maude, Roger
Roger was born in 1937. He was a long-serving BBC TV network announcer, whose quietly reassuring voice was heard for 29 years on both BBC One and BBC Two (1966 – 1995).
…Ward, Sarah
Born Sarah Corbett Ward around 1941 in Kenya, Ward attended boarding school in the UK while her stepfather, a major in the army, was stationed abroad.
…Clayton, David
David was born in Marske, Yorkshire. He began his broadcasting career on hospital radio in Norwich, which he helped launch in November 1974.
…Healey, Gavin
The ex-Cool FM and Citybeat DJ joined the BBC Northern Ireland TV continuity announcing rota in 1999.
…Sanders, Reg
Reg joined the BBC in January 1988, working at BBC Radio Stoke on Trent. He moved to London to take up a job as a BBC TV network announcer in November 1989. He voiced his first junction – on BBC Two – on 13th November.
…Wyn-Jones, Nia
Nia was a radio and TV continuity director/announcer with BBC Wales TV (1980s – 2001). Latterly, she was in charge of the BBC Radio Cymru announcing team. Nia moved into educational programming. As of June 2005, she’s a freelance writer. Since January 2013, she’s been working for Boom Pictures as an assistant producer and producer.
Gourd, Peter
Peter was a children’s producer at Super Channel. He worked behind the microphone as a BBC TV network announcer in the late-1990s and was later head of presentation, BBC Scotland, based in Glasgow.
Denning, Chris
Chris was a BBC Two network announcer in the mid-1960s.
Cavendish, Kay
Kay was a BBC TV in-vision announcer in 1939 and a BBC Radio announcer in 1940. She was also a famous stage, radio and TV pianist.
Kay died on 21st January 2000.
Lawrence, Sally
Sally Lawrence enjoyed a busy and varied broadcasting career spanning the late 1980s to the early 2000s.
…Kay, Chris
Chris is a former Granada announcer. He joined BBC North West and BBC North (Leeds) for a short time when they had in-vision announcers.
Gay, Jennifer
Jennifer is the daughter of Molly Gay (actress) and Hugo Rignold (composer).
…De Stains, Ian
Ian was born in Yorkshire. He was a student of RADA in 1968, alongside Leigh Lawson, David Bradley, Timothy Dalton and Jonathan Meades.
…Tucker, Tegwen
In October 2007, Tegwen took up a position as the sole announcer for BBC Four. She also works as an actress and voiceover artist, doing corporate voice work and providing voices for popular children’s TV show, Fireman Sam.
Gillies, James
In the 1970s, James trained at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire. He taught speech and drama at Bankhead Academy (July 1978 – June 1980) and was head of speech and drama at Mintlaw Academy (July 1980 – May 1986).
In May 1986, James moved into freelance voiceover work, with clients including radio stations in Scotland and the north of England and video production companies. In August 1991, he moved to the BBC as a continuity announcer/director, working on BBC One Scotland, BBC Two Scotland and BBC Alba. He became a familiar voice on TV and radio, where he also narrated programmes, read the news and even got to read the shipping forecast.
He left the BBC in 2013 to focus on the performance side of voice work – in particular, storytelling. He has since recorded many audio books, for clients on both sides of the Atlantic.
Rosser, Matthew
Matthew was a BBC Wales TV continuity director/announcer (1990 – TBC). Previously, he was an ILR presenter with Gwent Broadcasting and Red Dragon Radio. He became a senior channel director but was still occasionally heard on air. He oversaw the design and installation of digital transmission equipment into BBC Wales and was responsible for its subsequent development. He was both the first and last voice (the latter in-vision) on BBC Choice Wales.
Benson, John
John was born in 1928 (date unknown). He was one of ITV’s legendary, long-serving announcers.
…Lines, Verity
Verity was a continuity announcer and newsreader with Anglia TV (1980s – early 1990s). She left to get married and is now known as Verity Spencer.
…David-Caine, Richard
Richard is an actor and children’s TV presenter.
…Nesbitt, Mike
Mike’s journalistic career began within the BBC’s sports department in the mid-1980s. In 1986, he became one of the regular presenters on BBC Radio Ulster’s breakfast news and current affairs offering, Good Morning Ulster.
In 1990, he moved to PR company Anderson Kenny. By 1992 he had shifted back into regular TV presenting, becoming one of the main anchors on UTV’s regional news programme, Six Tonight. He quickly established himself as one of the key figures within the station’s news department.
However, in February 2006 came the shock announcement that Mike was not renewing his contract with UTV. Speaking at the time, he said: “I have decided to leave because I just feel very strongly that the time has come to move on.
“I believe it is time for a new challenge and I have several projects in the pipeline.
“I will be sorry to leave behind a very fine bunch of journalists, and above all, will miss working with my wife Lynda, who is a key factor in UTV’s success story.”
Other TV credits: Sunday Morning (ITV, 1999 2001), a religious affairs programme, co-presented with his wife Lynda Bryans; Counterpoint, and its successor Insight (UTV, 1992 – early 2000s), a current affairs programme; Home Sweet Home (UTV, 2004 – 2006), a home and garden series, co-presented with wife Lynda.
When he stepped away from on-screen roles, Nesbitt and his wife set up their own independent media services company.
In January 2008, Mike was confirmed as the Victims Commissioners for Northern Ireland – a role established by the Northern Ireland Assembly to highlight the interests of victims of The Troubles. He left that post in February 2010 to stand as a candidate for the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists in the Strangford constituency in the 2010 General Election. He lost out to the Democratic Unionist Party’s Jim Shannon. A year later, Nesbitt stood in the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election, again in Strangford. He was elected, along with 5 other MLAs in that constituency. On 31st March 2012, he was elected leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. He remained in that role until 2017.
Larmour, Roy
Roy worked at BBC Northern Ireland (1978 – 1988) as a newsreader on TV and radio. He also spent a while working in TV continuity (early to mid-1980s). In 1988, he moved to the BBC World Service as a newsreader. He left the BBC in 2018.
Wray, Linda
Linda was born in Bangor, Co Down, and attended the Bangor Central Primary School and Glenlola Collegiate School, Bangor. She started out as an actress, before taking up a news presenting role at BBC Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Although the majority of her time with the BBC was in radio, she did also present the news on screen in the 1970s and 1980s. She was also a TV continuity announcer in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Linda retired from broadcasting in 2010. She read her final news bulletin on BBC Radio Ulster on Saturday 13th March 2010.
At the time of her retirement, colleagues paid tribute. Kathleen Carragher, editor radio news, BBC Radio Ulster, said: “Linda has one of the best voices in broadcasting. She has been a wonderful person to work with over the years and has always been a valued member of the BBC Radio Ulster news team.
“She has worked on some of the busiest news days in Northern Ireland covering the Troubles, the peace process and the return of devolution.
“Throughout this she has delivered her bulletins with an unwavering warmth and clarity. She has become a very familiar voice to our listeners over the years and I’m sure they will miss Linda every bit as much as we will. We wish her every success and happiness in the future.”
Peter Johnston, controller BBC Northern Ireland, commented: “For many, Linda’s voice has been one of the most enduring and familiar on BBC Radio Ulster. She has been on air for many of the pivotal events in Northern Ireland and has always kept her calm and her professionalism. She has played a key role in BBC Radio Ulster’s history and I wish her all the best for the future.”
Mason, Alex
Alex was a BBC TV network announcer (1995 – 1996).
Bruce, Ken
Yes, the BBC Radio 2 favourite was once a BBC Scotland announcer. Ken started off doing the Scottish opt outs on BBC Radio 4 in the mid-1970s and later became a staff announcer. He mostly worked on radio, but his warm, rich, friendly voice was heard from time-to-time behind the BBC One Scotland globe.
Austin, Dan
Dan was an announcer on BBC One and BBC Two network from the mid-1990s. He also worked on BBC Prime and BBC Knowledge. He left BBC TV in early 2002, turning up soon afterwards on BBC Radio 2, announcing and reading the news.
He moved to BBC Wales TV in August 2002, taking up a continuity director/announcer position there.
Bailey, Roger
Roger attended Cardiff High School for Boys and Harrow County Grammar School. He studied Welsh for seven years.
…Hearle, Duncan
Duncan’s broadcasting career began in Singapore just before World War II. When the colony fell, he was imprisoned and made to work on the notorious Burma railway. In 1946 he applied to the BBC for an announcing job. He got it and was posted to Belfast in January, where he remained for the next thirty years.
Duncan worked mainly on radio during his time with BBC Northern Ireland, becoming known as the ‘Voice of Radio Ulster’. He presented over 20,000 local news bulletins. He read his last news script during the 8.55am bulletin on BBC Radio Ulster on 21st September 1976.
Duncan then retired from broadcasting and moved to Wales.
During his time with BBC Northern Ireland, Duncan also performed some television announcing duties.
Straker, Richard
Richard Straker was born in November 1943.
…Scott, Anne
Anne was a Grampian TV reporter, newsreader and co-presenter of North Tonight in the 1990s. She then joined BBC Scotland as a TV continuity director/announcer. She also announced and read the news on BBC Radio Scotland (until c. 2006).
Stuart, Arlene
Arlene was a popular Grampian in-vision announcer (1980s and early 1990s). She moved to the BBC Scotland TV as a continuity director/announcer. She later presented the mid-morning show on Forth 2. Arlene continued with television work as presenter of The River – a Grampian programme which followed the River Dee from its source to the sea traversing Braemar, Lochnagar, Balmoral, Glen Tanar and Banchory. She has also guest-presented for Scottish Passport.