Gordon Clyde was born in St Andrews, Scotland.
…Wellings, Bob
Bob Wellings was born in Jerusalem.
…Nelson, Wendy
Wendy Nelson was born in Birmingham and began her journalistic career in 1968 through the IPC training scheme in Devon.
…Briggs, Jon
Jon Briggs is a London-born broadcaster and voiceover artist whose career has spanned radio, television and digital media over four decades.
…Langley, Bob
Bob was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland. He worked in insurance and served in the RAF, before travelling around America, He later worked as a lumberjack in Canada.
…Hart, Tony
Tony was born Norman Antony in Maidstone, Kent. He was interested in drawing from an early age.
…Masters, Ian
Ian was born in 1940 in Goffs Oak, Herts. He worked at BBC Radio Sheffield at its launch in 1967 and at BBC TV North West in the early 1970s. He was a regional compére on Come Dancing (1972 – 1973) and joined BBC TV’s Look East, where he was a popular presenter for a decade (1973 – 1983).
…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).
…O’Keeffe, Meryl
Meryl was born in Nairobi, Kenya and educated in South Africa. In 1950, she began her radio career in the South African Broadcasting Corporation, based in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
…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.
…Clover, Crispin
Crispin began his broadcasting career as a sports reporter and presenter for BBC Radio Norfolk. He went on to become one of the few younger male announcers on BBC One: announcing everything from the news to Strictly Come Dancing (1998 – 2001). He moved to BBC Radio 1 as a producer, working on the following programmes: the Scott Mills early morning show; The Jamie Theakston Show (Saturday mornings); Dance Anthems with Dave Pearce (2001 – 2003).
…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.
…Edwards, Tom
Tom was born in Norwich. He began his career as a newspaper journalist on the Eastern Evening News and when Anglia TV opened, he worked on in-house commercials and even had a small role in one of their dramas. He compered a weekly live pop show, Beat on the Border, from Border TV in Carlisle and returned years later to the ITV regional company as an announcer/newsreader.
…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.
…Peters, Sylvia
Born Sylvia Lucia Petronzio, she was a former musical actress who appeared in revues including one at The Coliseum marking VE Day.
…Hobley, McDonald
McDonald was born in Stanley, Falkland Islands. He began his acting career in repertory theatre, under the stage names Val Blanchard and Robert Blanchard, using his mother’s maiden name.
…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.
…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).
…Winton, Nan
Born Nancy Wigginton, Nan was co-presenter on BBC TV’s Information Desk (1955 – 1956) and Mainly for Women (1957).
…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).
…Mitchell, Leslie
Leslie was a BBC radio announcer (1934 – 1936) and was the first BBC TV in-vision announcer, based at Alexandra Palace (1936 – 1938). During the war, he was a regular narrator for the British Movietone News newsreel, shown in cinemas across the UK. When BBC Television opened up again after World War II, he was preoccupied with prospects in the film business. He became an interviewer on BBC TV’s Picture Parade (1946 and 1948 – 1951) and also presented Come Dancing (1950).
…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.
…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.
…Muncaster, Martin
Martin was born in Tillington, near Petworth, Sussex and was educated at Stowe.
…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.
…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).
…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.
…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).
…Roslin, Clive
Born in Zimbabwe, Clive began broadcasting on Rhodesian radio at the age of seven, on schools and children’s programmes. He listened to the BBC Overseas Service as a child.
…Polhill-Thomas, Siân
Born on The Wirral, Siân is an ex-international sprint hurdler. She gained a BA (hons) in acting from LIPA.
…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.
…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).
…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.
…Hall, Terry
Terry appeared with the Lenny the Lion puppet in the 1950s and 1960s.
…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.
…Maguire, Maurice
Maurice was a TV and radio continuity announcer/director with BBC Northern Ireland in the late-1970s and early 1980s. He then moved into television news where he was a programme director. Later he was chief producer (entertainment) in Belfast and producer/director on Songs of Praise.
…Webber, Christine
Born in Redhill, Christine Webber was a musical child and learned the piano from the age of seven.
…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.
Mansfield, Thelma
Thelma was one of the early RTÉ TV announcers. She was a TV announcer from 1964 until September 1986 when she moved into daytime television presenting, with the popular afternoon show, Live at 3, which ran until May 1997. Thelma subsequently returned to TV presentation, voicing RTÉ One programme promotions until c. 2003.
Batey, Derek
Born in Brampton, Cumberland, Derek Batey won a scholarship and, aged 12, began appearing in clubs as a ventriloquist with a “cheeky boy” called Alfie.
…Marshall, Peter
Peter was a continuity announcer in various ITV regions: Ulster TV (1967 – 1969); Anglia TV (1970 – 1973); Southern (dates TBC); Thames Television (dates TBC); ATV (Midlands) (dates TBC); HTV West (dates TBC). He was also the national host of the TV Times Awards and Miss United Kingdom on the ITV network (1970s and 1980s). He also presented the BBC’s Come Dancing (1980 – 1983), and regularly reported for ITV’s Wish You Were Here? Marshall originally trained as a teacher, and then an actor with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before joining a Bournemouth rep company.