Jon Briggs is a London-born broadcaster and voiceover artist whose career has spanned radio, television and digital media over four decades.
…Schafernaker, Tomasz
Tomasz was born in Gdansk, Poland. He attended school both in the UK and his home country, where he developed a keen interest in the weather and natural sciences at a young age.
…Pyrah, Gill
Gill was born in Yorkshire in 1951 (date unknown). She has a degree in psychology.
…Haycocks, Paddy
Paddy was born in Portsmouth. He worked at BFBS radio (British Forces Broadcasting Service) in Cyprus (1966 – 1968). He performed various roles including tape editing, reporting, presenting and studio management (1966 – 1968).
…Warm tributes to Jon Snow as he bids farewell to Channel 4 News
Veteran journalist Jon Snow signed off for the final time tonight on Channel 4 News – a programme he has presented since 1989.
…Carter, Jilly
Jilly was born in Widnes. She graduated from London University with a degree in English, French and history of art.
…Everard, Martin
Martin’s first on-air role was as a relief announcer with BBC Northern Ireland in the 1960s. From there he moved to London and gradually moved up through the ranks of TV presentation, before moving into programme production. He took some time out from his BBC job to participate in the British America’s Cup Challenge (Lionheart) (1979 – 1980).
…Peters, Sylvia
Born Sylvia Lucia Petronzio, she was a former musical actress who appeared in revues including one at The Coliseum marking VE Day.
…Carlton, Amanda
Amanda has voiced English language audio courses (e.g. Linguaphone, Pearsons, Hugo, Longmans, de Agostini) since 1986. From 1988, she voiced trails for Anglia TV, Living, Granada Plus, Disney and TVS. Amanda got an attachment as a BBC TV network announcer (1988 – 1990) and was one of the voices on BBC TV’s Points of View (1987 – 1990). She also voiced BBC TV programme trails (1991).
…Walker, Patrick
Patrick was born in London in June 1967. His broadcasting career began in hospital/local radio. He then moved to television, working as a network continuity announcer on BBC One and BBC Two (August 1994 – November 1998).
…Walsh, Kate
Kate is a native Lancastrian with a husky, lilting quality to her voice. She studied at the Central School of Speech and graduated from the University of Birmingham with a bachelor’s in psychology.
…Peters, Andi
Born in Chelsea to Vincentian parents, Andi initially presented CITV’s Free Time (16th September – 23rd December 1988) and briefly provided the continuity links on CITV in summer 1988.
…Ball, Johnny
Johnny made major contributions to children’s TV over 25 years including Play School (545 editions, 1967 – 1984, and occasional appearances until 1987) and Play Away (1972 to 1980), during which time he was the principle comedy writer for the show.
…Singleton, Valerie
Valerie trained as a dancer at the Arts Education School. She studied for two years at RADA (winning a one-term scholarship) and spent a year at Bromley Repertory as an assistant stage manager, playing small parts.
…Scott, Jack
Jack was a popular BBC TV forecaster (17th May 1969 – 4th May 1983) and for many years was the senior forecaster. He also presented forecasts on BBC Radio. He was a Met Office employee (1941 – 1983), working on RAF stations (1941 – 1968).
…Young, Muriel
Muriel was born in Bishop Middleham, near Sedgefield, Co Durham. On leaving school, she worked briefly as a librarian. She attended art college, before deciding to embark on a career as an actress. She joined a repertory theatre in Henley-on-Thames, where her uncle was directing. She subsequently performed at the Gateway Theatre, London and the Theatre Royal in Chatham. Trying to get into the film industry, she did modelling for advertising agencies, including promoting products such as toothpaste. She also studied to be a dental nurse and used her artistic talents to paint glassware. Starting out as an actress, she starred with Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall in The Constant Husband (1955) and also featured in The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953) in a segment featuring The Mikado.
…Finighan, Adrian
Adrian is a Welsh journalist. He joined the BBC in 1988, working in local radio as a reporter and producer.
…Jaque, Natalie
Natalie gained a degree in journalism with distinction and then backpacked around the world for a while (before the days of e-mail, iPad or mobile phone). She worked as a staff announcer with the BBC from 1997 until 2004, mainly live on BBC Two. Since March 2015, she has been a freelancing voice on both BBC One and BBC Two. Natalie was also the first female voice on BBC Knowledge and BBC Choice, and went on to become the BBC’s first freelance announcer.
…Foulkes, Jerry
Jerry was a Children’s ITV presenter who provided the continuity links, alongside Scally the puppet dog, from 28th March until 22nd December 1989. On the first day that Jeanne Downs took over from him (on 2nd January 1990), they had a mop and a bucket in the studio, and a name tag with “Foulkes” on it. During the links both she and Scally made some amusing comments about it.
…Terzza, Gary
Gary graduated from Keele University. He began his voiceover career at ITV Central (based in the Midlands), in 1982, as an in-vision announcer.
…Neil, Andrew
Andrew was born in Paisley and attended Glasgow University, where he edited the student newspaper, the Glasgow University Guardian; he also dabbled in student television.
…Kendall, Kenneth
Born in India, Kenneth was educated at Felsted School and Oxford, where he gained a degree in modern languages. He was a school master and later captain in the Coldstream Guards during World War II. He was injured on D-Day.
…Guru-Murthy, Krishnan
Liverpool-born and educated at Oxford University, Krishnan’s broadcasting career began in 1988, when he presented discussion programme Open to Question (BBC Two, 1988 – 1989); he was also a reporter on youth current affairs programme Reportage (BBC Two, 1988 – 1989).
…Coia, Paul
Born in Glasgow, Paul’s ambition was to become a dentist but as his exam results were, as he puts it “underwhelming”, he instead attended the University of Glasgow and Paisley College of Technology to do a BSc degree course.
…Bingham, Bill
Bill is a former Channel 4 announcer.
Fleming, Arlene
Arlene Fleming was born around 1965 in Paisley, in the west of Scotland.
…Griffiths, Tracey-Anne
Now Tracey-Anne McCoy. Tracey-Anne started off with Downtown Radio as a newsreader (late-1980s – 1992). She then moved into television, becoming a continuity announcer and newsreader on Ulster Television (1992 – 1996).
Tracey-Anne moved to London in 1997 to take up an announcing role with Channel 4; she is also heard on E4 and regularly voices Film4 programme trails. She remained at Channel 4 until 2015.
Tracey-Anne has also worked for Sky News, Living TV and Discovery.
Badawi, Zeinab
Zeinab’s broadcasting career began as an ITN newscaster, working on Channel 4 News (1989 – 1998). She also presented on the ITV Morning News in the 1990s and on the Channel 4 Daily in 1990.
In 1998, she joined the BBC and spent five years working on live political programmes based at Westminster. She then moved to radio, where she presented The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4 and Newshour on the BBC World Service.
In April 2005, Zeinab was announced as the new presenter of BBC Four’s news programme, The World. The programme – also broadcast on BBC World News – was rebranded as World News Today in May 2007. She continued to present the programme until 2013.
…Watson, Jane
Jane was a Channel 4 announcer (c. 1995 – TBC); she joined from BBC Radio 4. She later returned to her old BBC job.
Bolger, Sean
Sean was a Channel 4 announcer (1993 – TBC).
Edwards, Ben
Ben was a BBC TV network announcer (1994 – 1996). He then moved to an announcing role at Channel 4 (1996 – c. 1998).
Wood, Hayden
Hayden was a Channel 4 announcer (1990s).
Harrison, Keith
Keith worked at BBC Radio Cleveland in the late-1970s, including presenting the early morning show On the Move (1978).
…Copland, Jane
Jane was a continuity announcer with BBC Scotland TV (1986) and could also be seen reading the news in-vision at lunchtime. She then moved to Channel 4, where she worked on the announcing rota in the late-1980s and during the 1990s. In more recent times, as well as being the voice of Orange, Jane also provides continuity announcements for UKTV History.
Bolt, Carol
Carol was a long-serving Channel 4 announcer (dates TBC).
Buchanan, Martin
Martin was an occasional Channel 4 announcer in the 1990s (dates TBC).
Nichols, Trevor
Trevor started out as an actor. He was a long-serving Channel 4 announce (dates TBC). He departed the station to pursue freelance voiceover work.
Leeson, John
He was born John Ducker in Leicester. He is an actor who is best known as the much-loved voice of computer dog K9, trusty sidekick to Doctor Who (1977 – 1981, 1983, 2006 and 2008).
…Thomas, Linda
Olumide was born in London. Her name derives from the Yoruba tribe in West Africa and roughly translates as ‘child of God’.
…Ngqobougwana, Vuyiswa
Vuyiswa was a Channel 4 announcer (1995 – TBC). She also announced on E4.
Longdon, Erica
Erica was a Carlton Television (London) announcer (January 2000 – 2002). She also announced at Channel 4 (1988 – 1992), The Family Channel (1993 – 1996) and The Disney Channel (1997 – TBC).
Nottage, Pete
Pete joined Channel 4 as an announcer in autumn 2005 for the launch of More4. He has also been heard on Channel 4 itself as well as E4.
McLeod, David
David is an announcer with Channel 4 (3rd August 1993 – present). He is also heard occasionally on E4.
Rippon, Angela
Angela was born in Plymouth. On leaving school at 17, she began her journalistic career in newspapers in Devon.
…Paton, Isla
Isla was a BBC TV network announcer (mid-1990s). She then moved to Channel 4 (January 1999 – present) where she’s been an announcer on Channel 4, E4 (she was also the launch voice for the channel), 4Music and More4.
Mitchley, Richard
Richard is a narrator and actor, who has been freelancing as an announcer with S4C (early 1990s – TBC). Has also worked as an announcer at Channel 4 (dates TBC).
Miles, David
David was born in 1954. He joined the BBC in 1975, working initially as a studio manager in Bush House.
…Young, Lynsey
Lynsey graduated from the University of Manchester. She began her broadcasting career co-presenting and producing the Breakfast Show for Heart 106.2 (January 1997 – February 1997). She then became a national reporter (October 1997 – December 1999), fronting travel news on Kiss 100, Virgin Radio, TalkSport, Magic 105.4 and GMTV.
…Hubiczka, Olga
Olga was a BBC TV network announcer for a short time in the 1980s. She then moved to Independent Radio News. She was also one of the original members of the Channel 4 announcing team in 1982.
Vickery, David
David is an experienced television announcer and voiceover artist. He was one of the initial presenters of Late Night Late on TVS. He has worked as an announcer on many TV channels, including Meridian, LWT, Carlton (London), BBC One, BBC Two, Channel 4, Discovery Channel and Biography Channel.
…O’Shea, Dominic
Dominic graduated in English from University of Liverpool (1995). He worked at the House of Lords (1996 – 1998) and later at Channel 4 in the Duty Office dealing with viewers’ complaints.
…Rogers, Graham
Graham was a staff ITV network announcer (October 2002 – TBC). He is a former Radio 210 disc jockey who fronted TVS’ overnight service, Late Night Late. He joined Meridian from TVS to present the overnight service Nightime. He went on to become one of Meridian’s four duty announcers, also providing continuity for Anglia and HTV West. Graham has also announced for Channel 4.
Additionally, Graham continues to freelance as a presenter and voiceover on programmes for Sky, Channel 5 and ITV 2. He also produced and presented the Exercise Helping Hand documentaries in Zimbabwe and Zambia.