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).
…Bance, Greg
By passing the 11-Plus, Greg gained entry to his local grammar school in north London, but education seemed to gain little purchase on his mind, which was focussed on tuning around the short wave, discovering the existence of offshore radio and determination to escape as soon as possible.
…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.
…Colvile, Charles
Charles was born into a naval family, in Rochester, Kent. He was educated at Westminster School and joined the BBC as a finance clerk in January 1975. The following year came his ‘lucky break’ when he applied for a job as clerk to Radio 4’s The World at One and PM programmes and ended up presenting a sports round-up on the Saturday edition of PM. His first broadcast was 24th April 24 1976 and he was, in his own words “appalling”!
…Finighan, Adrian
Adrian is a Welsh journalist. He joined the BBC in 1988, working in local radio as a reporter and producer.
…Hammal, Bruce
Bruce was born in 1951. He’s a former studio manager and BBC TV announcer (1975 – 1984). He also appeared in-vision on BBC TV’s Breakfast Time‘ in 1983, in the TV Choice slot and as the out-of-vision commentator on Come Dancing (1980 – 1984).
…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).
…Martin, Keith
Keith was born in Sandwich and was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral. He trained in catering, then joined the Merchant Navy but illness brought him home and he started work in the advertising department of Granada Television in London.
…Bertram, Trish
Born in Royston, Herts, Trish started out as a stage manager in the theatre and was the longest-serving female TV announcer in the UK. She announced live for LWT, ITV, Channel 5, BBC World, BSB Galaxy, Super Channel, TVS, Westcountry TV and The Family Channel.
…Didsbury, Neil
Neil’s broadcasting experience dates back to 1995 when he joined the team at a hospital radio station in Norwich. In 1996, he moved to 103.4 The Beach in Lowestoft; he remained there for a year.
Neil’s voice has also been heard on Pirate FM in Cornwall and on Topshop TV at the clothes store’s main Oxford Street branch. As well as being head of music and producer at his university radio station during his three years study, Neil also has experience of working with the teams at Blue Peter and BBC Radio 1.
Having graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in broadcasting studies, Neil joined Granada TV’s northern transmission centre in March 2001, as a continuity announcer; his voice was heard on Granada, Yorkshire, Tyne Tees and Border Television between March 2001 and October 2002. He also voiced programme promotions across the Granada Media Group, including LWT, Anglia and Meridian.
Neil stayed in Yorkshire for a year after being made redundant in October 2002, presenting radio shows for the Teamtalk group and Magic 828AM.
In 2003 he was approached by Vibe 105-8FM, a regional dance radio station in the east of England, to front their breakfast news. Twelve months after arriving, Neil also became the voice on all of the station’s imaging.
After a company takeover, Vibe 105-8FM was rebranded in September 2006 as Kiss 105-8FM.
Neil also regularly voices commercials on both television and radio across the UK and Europe.
Weston, Colin
Colin was born in London. He left school and joined the press and PR department of ABC Studios in Teddington and stayed for four years. After they lost their ITV franchise, he applied for various announcer jobs across the ITV network.
…Doody, Pat
Pat announced for Border and Tyne Tees Television (1970s) and also voiced ads for Metro Radio (mid-1980s). He also announced for LWT (dates TBC). He was the voiceover for the Border TV version of Mr and Mrs – his inimitable introduction used for each show: “It’s Mr and Mrs – and here’s your host, Derek Batey”. Most of his time from the late-1970s up until his death in 1990 was spent at Border Television and indeed he was announcing on Border on 27th February 1990, the night before his death.