Sarah was a RADA-trained actress. She was best known as a Play School presenter. She made her debut appearance on the programme on 6th September 1971. Producers John Lane, Peter Ridsdale-Scott and pianist Jonathan Cohen all agreed that Sarah wasn’t a good singer. However, she was a lovely actress and was given another chance, and worked well on screen. Their judgement proved right, as she stayed on the presenting team for a further 15 years. The earliest surviving footage within the BBC archives of Sarah on Play School is Friday 10th September 1971 and archivist and author Paul R. Jackson viewed the programme. It was a little odd that when Sarah showed items to be used in the Pop Goes the Weasel song, that she couldn’t make a brown paper bag burst – but this was kept in the final recording.
…Muncaster, Martin
Martin was born in Tillington, near Petworth, Sussex and was educated at Stowe.
…Fox, Everton
Everton was born in Cambridge in 1964. He worked in the Department of Social Security as a civil servant before joining the Met Office in 1991. He spent a year at the Norwich Weather Centre. Having completed the forecaster foundation programme in March 2000, which included on-the-job training at RAF Marham in Norfolk, he went on to become a forecaster at the London Weather Centre where he worked for three months.
…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.
…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.
…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.
…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).
…Whitmore, Richard
Richard was born in Hitchin. He began his professional career in journalism as a reporter for the local newspaper in Hertfordshire.
…Buckley, Bill
Bill was born in Burton-on-Trent. He’s a radio/TV presenter, journalist, songwriter and former actor.
…Stuart, Moira
Moira was born in London to Dominican-Barbadian African-Caribbean parents. She began working for the BBC in 1973 as a production assistant in the Radio Talks and Documentaries department.
…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.
…Foord, Bert
Bert was employed by the Met Office from 1947 until 1990. He was a BBC Radio/TV weatherman from 1963 until December 1973.
…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.
…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.
…Cowling, George
George joined the Met Office in 1939 as a met assistant with No 4 Bomber Group at FAF Yorkshire. From 1942 until 1953, he worked as an RAF forecaster in the UK, Normandy, Belgium, Holland and Germany.
…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.
…McKechnie, Vera
Born in 1929, Vera worked as an actress in the theatre and began her broadcasting career in Children’s Hour on BBC Radio in Manchester (1948 – 1954), working with Violet Carson and Uncle Mac, before going for an audition for BBC Children’s Television in London.
…Baker, Richard
Born and educated in London, Richard graduated from Cambridge University and served in the Royal Navy during World War II, returning to London to work as an actor and teacher.
…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).
…Yates, Alastair
Alastair was a broadcaster whose career spanned four decades. He was born and brought up in Burton-upon-Trent.
…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.
…Brinton, Tim
Tim was educated at Summer Fields, Eton and went to the University of Geneva. After National Service, he trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama and in the early 1950s he joined the BBC as a radio announcer.
…MacGrianna, Aengus
The Dublin native was born in 1964. His Raheny-based family was steeped in the Irish language and it was perhaps no surprise that his education was delivered in his mother tongue. Aengus joined RTÉ in 1987, working initially as a runner before, two years later, moving into radio newsreading. He later took on a similar role on television, reading Nuacht bulletins initially, before making the transition to English-language news output, where he became a regular face on the Six-One News and Nine o’Clock News.
…Maxwell, Raymond
Raymond was an announcer/newsreader with UTV from the late-1960s. He later moved to RTÉ in Dublin, where he was one of the announcers appearing during the opening night of RTÉ 2. He was accompanied at the launch of RTÉ 2 by fellow announcers Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir and
Róisín Harkin.
Finnerty, John
John was an announcer on both RTÉ TV channels from the mid-1980s. In the early 1990s, he moved across to the newsroom to present TV and radio news bulletins. John was one of the main presenters of the RTÉ One One o’Clock News from 2005 until his retirement in June 2017.
Finucane, Marian
Marian was an RTÉ continuity announcer in the mid-1970s before moving on to present many radio and TV programmes at the station.
Dowling, Aoife
Aoife joined RTÉ in the late-1990s, working as a continuity announcer on both television channels, though mainly on RTÉ Network 2. She later went on to present RTÉ weather forecasts – on both channels – from 2002. She left RTÉ in summer 2003.
Andrew, John
John’s broadcasting career began at ILR station Radio Tees. He then joined BBC Newcastle before moving to London as a reporter/presenter on BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat programme. He presented Thames News with Andrew Gardener during the 1980s.
John is currently a correspondent/presenter for BBC Network News. He occasionally presents on the BBC News Channel. During his career at the BBC, he initially specialised in local government, covering the rise and fall of the poll tax and the Westminster gerrymandering scandal. He has since covered general news too, including the Harold Shipman murders and the war in Kosovo.
O’Reilly, Brendan
Brendan joined RTÉ as a continuity announcer in 1961. Previously the Irish high jump and javelin champion, he went on to present Sports Stadium, RTÉ’s long-running Saturday afternoon sports magazine, from the 1970s to the 1990s.
…Sherwin, Jim
Jim was an RTÉ TV continuity announcer in the early 1970s.
He moved into sports broadcasting, where he had a long and successful career as a presenter, commentator and producer. He was RTÉ’s main commentator at eight Olympic Games.
His rugby commentaries on radio and TV began in 1970 and ended at the Rugby World Cup in Sydney Australia in 2003. He commentated for over 20 years on racquet sports for RTÉ TV including Wimbledon and Roland Garros and was RTÉ’s main commentator on all major non-sporting outside broadcasts, including installation of presidents, live transmissions of visiting celebrities and state funerals.
Hall, Terry
Terry appeared with the Lenny the Lion puppet in the 1950s and 1960s.
…Hayden-Smith, Andrew
Andrew is a former CBBC presenter. He’s currently an announcer on ITV.
Austin, Craig
Craig Austin combines roles as a broadcaster, writer and producer. He started his media career in radio and moved on to television, dipping his toes in ink along the way.
Craig is from Uddingston, on the outskirts of Glasgow, and is the youngest of four boys. He started a career in medical laboratory sciences but after three years he returned to student life to study media. He does miss the white coat though!
It was during his final year as a student that he got his first professional broadcasting gigs, writing and presenting travel and traffic reports on a number of Scotland’s radio stations, as well as doing commercial voiceovers. A short spell hosting his own shows on Radio Tay in Dundee followed, before Craig found himself in Carlisle, working as an announcer, presenter and producer for Border Television.
…Baines, Brian
Brian Baines was a regular presenter of Look North bulletins from Leeds during the late-1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In fact, Brian was the first voice to be heard on Look North. He was also one of the main continuity announcers for BBC North TV during the 1970s and early 1980s when BBC English regions had their own continuity. He still provided continuity into local programming on BBC North until the late-1980s.
He retired from BBC Leeds on 25th April 1988. Sadly, Brian passed away on 30th June 2006, aged 75.
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.
…Comyn, Michael
Michael was an announcer on RTÉ One and RTÉ Network 2 from 1994 to 1997. He subsequently moved to RTÉ Radio 1 as an announcer. In May 1999, Michael was the first voice to be heard on the newly launched RTÉ Lyric FM; he hosted the breakfast show there until May 2000. For the next three years, Michael presented the Weekend Supplement on Dublin radio station 102.2 Lite FM.
Michael’s voice can be heard on the DART and at Irish rail stations.
In 2016, he returned to the TV airwaves, where he can still be heard introducing the programmes on RTÉ One and RTÉ 2. Michael also presents Leap of Faith on RTÉ Radio 1.
Michael is the manager of Comyn Communications Ltd and has been delivering courses in communications since 1986; he also presents in media skills, presentation skills and runs a popular life audit course.
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.
Gower, Mike
Mike started his broadcasting career as a radio presenter on Radio Forth in 1974. In 1979, he joined BBC Scotland as a continuity announcer. The following year, he moved over to STV where he was a continuity announcer, newsreader and sub-editor, until 1990. Mike then moved into production for STV, working as a producer/director until 1999, when he went freelance.
Mike also lectures at Napier University and Glasgow Metropolitan College.
Phillips, John
John was a Border TV continuity announcer and newsreader (1990 – 1995). He has also worked as a freelance continuity announcer for BBC Scotland TV in Glasgow (1997 – TBC). John has presented for Radio Borders and combines his broadcasting work with a full-time job as a mathematics lecturer.
Bower, Colin
Colin Bower was born in Cheltenham Spa, and took his first steps in broadcasting as a disc jockey with radio stations in Africa before embarking on a television career that would span decades.
…Lines, Judi
Judi was born in Lincoln. She is a former Anglia Television announcer (1973 – 1976). She moved to BBC TV in Norwich, where she worked as an announcer and newsreader/reporter on Look East.
…Cassin, Anne
Anne’s broadcasting career began in 1982 as a researcher and reporter, and later news presenter, on pirate station Radio Nova. She joined RTÉ as a continuity announcer in 1987 and became a newsreader and reporter in 1990. She was the presenter of Capital D, an RTÉ magazine series for Dublin residents. She also presented the monthly Crimecall programme. Currently, she co-presents the thrice-weekly Nationwide programme, alongside Mary Kennedy.
Brydon, Rob
Rob was a continuity director/announcer with BBC Wales TV (late-1980s). He also presented The Chart Show and Rave on BBC Radio Wales into the early 1990s. Rob also voiced network BBC TV programme trails (late-1980s/early 1990s). These days, Rob is better known for his stand-up, presenting and acting roles: Human Remains (BBC); Marion and Geoff (BBC); Gavin and Stacey (BBC); presenter, Would I Lie to You? (BBC); Live from the Apollo (BBC).
Webber, Christine
Born in Redhill, Christine Webber was a musical child and learned the piano from the age of seven.
…