Gordon Clyde was born in St Andrews, Scotland.
…Judd, Lesley
Born in London, Lesley Judd trained at the Arts Educational School of Ballet and Drama.
…Lukha, Manali
Manali, also known as Mona, developed a passion for meteorology whilst studying geology and geography at Keele University.
…Chataway, Christopher
Born in Chelsea, Christopher Chataway spent his childhood in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, where his father served in the Sudan Political Service.
…Thompson, Eric
Born in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, Eric Thompson established himself as a distinguished actor and stage director whose career spanned theatre, television and film.
…Mills, Ivor
Ivor Mills received his education at Stranmillis College and Queen’s University, Belfast.
…Ewart, Tim
Tim Ewart was born in Suffolk and began his journalistic career in 1967 at the Bury Free Press, his local newspaper.
…Nelson, Wendy
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.
…Lawley, Sue
Sue was born in Dudley in the West Midlands. She graduated with a BA Hons in modern languages from the University of Bristol.
…Serle, Chris
Chris was born in Bristol. He was a former actor with the Bristol Old Vic (joining in 1966).
…Buchanan, Neil
Neil is an internationally acclaimed artist and photographer. He was born in Aintree, Sefton.
…James, Aline
Aline was born in Maryport, Cumberland. She attended Cheltenham Ladies’ College.
…Trethowan, Ian
Sir Ian was born in High Wycombe. He left at school at 16 and joined the Daily Sketch as an office boy. He began his career as a journalist and parliamentary lobby correspondent.
…Trueman, Brian
Brian was born in Manchester. In 1946, he made his acting debut in Plover Patrol for BBC Radio in Manchester.
…Jones, Gareth
Gareth was born in St Asaph, Wales and is a Welsh speaker. His nickname – ‘Gaz Top’ – was earned whilst working as a roadie for The Alarm (1979 – 1985).
…Jones, Kathy
Kathy was born in Crewe. She is an actress/singer, who is best remembered for her role as Tricia Hopkins in 123 episodes of Coronation Street (ITV, 24th – 26th September 1973; 8th July 1974 – 28th April 1975 and 23rd June 1975 – 9th June 1976).
…Harris, Fred
Fred is a former schoolteacher. He is an actor, who became a popular Play School presenter, making his debut on 16th July 1973 (earning £45 a programme). This began a 15-year association with the programme, which would see Fred appear in 382 editions.
…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).
…Twining, Sasha
Sasha was born in Yorkshire. She is a presenter, journalist, conference host and facilitator. She began her career in radio and worked as a DJ for several years at various local and regional radio stations, including BBC Radio Solent.
…Dickson, Peter
Peter was born in Belfast. His name and face may not be as familiar as his voice, which has featured in some of the biggest UK TV entertainment shows.
…Jarvis, Chris
Chris was born in Romford. He began his entertainment career as a presenter on Radio Orwell in Ipswich hosting a Saturday morning children’s show. He also performed in cabaret and at Butlins.
…Carter, Jilly
Jilly was born in Widnes. She graduated from London University with a degree in English, French and history of art.
…Arthur, Toni
Toni was born Antoinette Alice Priscilla, in Oxford. She won a music scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music at the age of nine and gave a concert at the Wigmore Hall in the same year. She trained as a nurse at University College Hospital. She was a folk music singer and was married to fellow musician Dave Arthur (1963 – 1977). They released several folk music albums (1964 – 1975).
…Hewer, John
John was born in Leyton, Essex. He was an actor/writer, who was a long-time member of the London’s Players Theatre.
…Scott-Joynt, Hannah
Hannah’s love of radio began in her teenage years. She gained a degree in radio, film and TV at Canterbury Christ Church University. Her first broadcasting job was with BBC Radio in Herts, Beds and Bucks. She moved into television as a network announcer on BBC One and BBC Two (1997 – 2000). She was the launch announcer on BBC Choice. In 2000, she appeared on BBC One’s daytime show Talking TV and showed presenter Vanessa Feltz behind-the-scenes of network control – and Vanessa even did two short daytime BBC One links.
…Macintosh, Alex
Alex was born in Fulham. He was a former actor. His voice was heard on the very first advert for Gibbs SR Toothpaste shown at 8.12pm on the opening night of ITV on 22nd September 1955.
…Buchan, Josephine
Josephine was born in London in 1955. She presented various programmes for the BBC, including: Take Two (BBC One, 1984 – 1985); Pebble Mill at One (BBC One, 1984 – 1986); Rock Around the Clock (BBC Two, 25th August 1984); A Song for Christmas (BBC One, 1985). She was a reporter for Did You See…? (BBC Two, 1985) and Off the Record (BBC Two, 1985), and guest-supported on Best of Brass (BBC Two, 1986). She also appeared on Canned Carrot (BBC One, 1990).
…Courtie, Simeon
Simeon was born in Swindon and grew up in Liverpool. His father was a vicar. He left school in 1986, aged 16, and became a City & Guilds-qualified mechanical and electrical engineer, completing a four-year apprenticeship at Timsons, a printing press manufacturer in Kettering. During this time, he joined the local hospital radio station KHBA and started volunteering at BBC Radio Northampton. In 1990, he began a full-time broadcasting career as a radio car reporter and presenter at BBC Radio Northampton.
…Bryans, Lynda
Lynda’s first foray into the world of broadcasting came in 1981, when she took up a role as a copy typist for Ulster Television. In the early days of her television career, Lynda spent a brief period as a television announcer with BBC Northern Ireland (c. 1987). She went on to become one of the regular presenters of the BBC’s local news programme in Northern Ireland, Inside Ulster (1986 – 1994).
…Chalmers, Judith
Judith was born in Stockport, Cheshire. She began broadcasting for the BBC when she was only 13, after being selected for BBC Northern Children’s Hour by producer Trevor Hill.
…Stevens, Julie
Julie is an actress and former ABC contract artist. She was a great children’s favourite on both Play School (1964 – 1978) and Play Away (1971 – 1979) and is remembered for her zany appearances.
…Malcolm, Mary
Mary was bought up in Poltalloch, Argyll and was the granddaughter of Victorian socialite Lillie Langley, mistress of King Edward VII.
…Hill, Alex
Alex joined the Met Office in 1974 as an observer at Glasgow Airport and after training as a forecaster, he worked as an operational aviation forecaster at various defence sites and airports.
…Bower, Stephanie
Stephanie was born in Dundee and went to the University of Glasgow. She initially worked in TV magazines in Glasgow (1996 – 1997) before moving into broadcasting with Granada Sky Broadcasting (1997 – 1999) as an announcer. She moved to a similar role with BBC TV network in 1999. Her time at the BBC included an attachment to BBC London 94.9 (October 2001 – May 2002). She then remained on the BBC TV continuity team until 2006.
…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.
…Kyle, Redvers
Redvers is regarded as one of ITV’s announcing greats. He was born in Germiston, South Africa and named after General Sir Redvers Buller, British military commander in the Anglo-Boer War. He began his broadcasting career as a student at Johannesburg University, where he presented for SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation).
…Hayes, Geoffrey
Geoffrey was born in Stockport and attended drama school in Manchester. For generations of pre-school viewers, he was the popular presenter known to viewers as ‘Geoffrey’. He appeared in over 1,000 editions of Thames TV’s long-running children’s series Rainbow (1973 – 1991). He joined after the original presenter, actor/writer David Cook, decided to leave to concentrate on other work. He tipped off Hayes, having performed alongside him in repertory theatre. Geoffrey would remain with the show for the next two decades. He also wrote for the programme and appeared on The Sooty Show (ITV, 1977) and Altogether (ITV, 1981).
…McCaskill, Ian
Ian was born John Robertson McCaskill in Glasgow. His national service took him into the RAF and in 1959, he joined the Meteorological Corps. He left in 1961 to join the Met Office and later postings included Prestwick Airport, Malta and the Manchester Weather Centre.
…Akua, Nana
Nana was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in July 1971 (as Nana Akua Amotemaa-Appiah), after her parents came over from Ghana in the 1960s. She relocated to the US with her parents, aged 11, but would later return to the UK and study business and finance at university.
…Parkin, Leonard
Born in Thurnscoe, West Riding of Yorkshire, Leonard began his career as a reporter on the Wakefield Express series of weekly papers, then Yorkshire Observer, Bradford Telegraph and Argus and Yorkshire Evening Post. He was one of the BBC’s early television news reporters in the BBC News division (1954 – 1960) and was later BBC Radio News Canada correspondent (1960 – 1965) and Washington correspondent (1963 – 1965). In November 1963, as deputy correspondent in Washington, his Radio Newsreel report on the assassination of John F. Kennedy proved to be an historic recording. He also worked as a reporter on BBC TV’s Panorama (1965 – 1967). He was involved in coverage of five general elections: BBC reporter (1966); ITN reporter (1970, February 1974, 1983) and ITN presenter 1979.
…King, Susan
Susan presented various BBC TV children’s series during the 1970s: Country Search (BBC One, 1975 – 1977); Play It Again… (BBC One, 1975); BBC Manchester’s The Sunday Gang (BBC One, 1976); Horses Galore (BBC One, 1977 – 1979); BBC Manchester’s sports series Stopwatch (BBC One, 1978 – 1980). She was also a guest on All-Star Record Breakers (BBC One, 1975 – 1980), a panellist on Star Turn (BBC One, 1976, 1977 and 1979), and a reporter on We’re Going Places (BBC One, 1979).
…Chell, Carol
Carol was born in 1941. An actress, she studied drama at The Royal Academy of Music and was a qualified teacher who presented many schools series for Granada TV and Central TV including: The Messengers and Enough to Eat.
…Lewis, Anthony
Anthony was born in Leeds. He began acting at the age of nine, with roles in television shows including Heartbeat (1994), Cracker (1995), The Detectives (1995) and A Touch of Frost (1996).
…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.
…Downs, Jeanne
Born in Rustington, Jeanne, along with radio presenter Clive Warren, were both hired to present the morning CITV continuity links, which ran from 9.25am to 12.30pm weekdays throughout July and August 1989. The puppet character Scally the Dog often appeared in the mornings with them. During the same period, Jeanne and Clive took turns as stand-ins for fellow Children’s ITV presenter Jerry Foulkes in the afternoons, when he was away on holiday.
…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.
…Allan, David
Born Gordon Allan in Manchester, David is a broadcaster with over 50 years’ experience and, for people of a certain generation, is a very recognisable voice. Certainly one of the great broadcast voices of all time.
…Aspel, Michael
Michael was born in London. He was evacuated during World War II, for four-and-a-half years, to Chard in Somerset. He worked as a tea boy at William Collins publishers and completed his National Service in the ranks of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps (1951 – 1953).
…Mandell, Barbara
Born Allada Barbara Grenville-Wells in London, Barbara moved with her family to South Africa in 1924. She followed her late father into journalism and worked for the Rand Daily Mail, where he had been deputy editor.
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