Peter was born in Romford, Essex. He began in print journalism writing for the Yorkshire Post, Daily Mail and Daily Mirror, with only a break for military service as a commissioned officer in the Royal Horse Guards.
…Lithgoe, Lynette
Lynette started her television career as an in-vision announcer at Granada Television. She then moved to the BBC in the East Midlands as a presenter (1989) and later became a national BBC TV newsreader (February 1990 – October 1991), mostly on weekend bulletins and for BBC Two’s News View. She also presented the charity appeal programme Lifeline in the late-1980s. She left to join BBC World as a newsreader in 1991.
…Austin, Wendy
Wendy joined BBC Northern Ireland in November 1976, fresh from her presenting duties on Downtown Radio. She joined the commercial radio station earlier in 1976, following four years as a newspaper journalist: initially with the East Antrim Times (1972 – 1974) and then the Belfast Telegraph (1974 – 1976). Wendy’s BBC career began as a TV reporter but by the 1980s, she was also presenting on Scene Around Six and later, Inside Ulster. She co-presented the BBC NI opt-outs during Children in Need and was also the face of a local supermarket chain’s advertising campaign in the 1980s.
As well as appearing on screen, Wendy was also involved with BBC Radio Ulster’s breakfast programme Good Morning Ulster, from the early 1980s. Since the late-1980s, Wendy has mostly stayed with radio. She has been one of the main presenters on BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster and between 1988 and 1998, she presented nationally on BBC Radio 4, on programmes such as PM, Pick of the Week and Woman’s Hour. However, she did pop up on TV screens occasionally – she took over from former colleague Sean Rafferty as presenter of The DIY Show.
…Ford, Anna
Anna joined Granada TV in 1974 for a job on the company’s news desk. She was a presenter on BBC TV’s Man Alive and Tomorrow’s World (1977). She was a newscaster with ITN (March 1978 – March 1981), and also their medical correspondent in 1980. She left ITN to help set up TV-am, as one of the original ‘Famous Five’, but left in April 1983 after a bitter boardroom battle shortly after the company’s on-air debut.
She was a BBC TV newsreader from February 1989, working mainly on the Six o’Clock News, with occasional appearances on the One o’Clock News. She was a regular presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Today (1993 – 1998). She became the main anchor of the relaunched BBC TV One o’Clock News programme, from May 1999.
Anna retired from news presenting in April 2006.
Baird, Brian
Long-serving Ulster Television announcer and newsreader. Brian was a regular face on the station during the 1970s and well into the 1980s. He retired from this role c. 1986. He was also a teacher and lecturer at Stranmillis Teacher Training College and a former president of the Ulster Society of Rugby Football Referees.
Brian died in December 1998 after a long illness. He was 69.
Bagguley, John
Southern Television presenter and in-vision continuity announcer in the 1960s.
…Hookey, Russell
Russell moved to Channel TV from the Chrysalis Group in London where he had been newsreading on London radio stations Heart 106.2 and LBC 97.3 (often heard as a regular member of Sandi Toksvig’s team) and also presenting on LBC News 1152. Prior to that he worked in commercial and BBC radio in the regions for more than twelve years as a newsreader, producer and reporter and occasionally popped up covering stories for television with BBC South Today.
At Channel TV, Russell was initially a stand-in presenter on Channel Report; he later became one of the programme’s regular presenters. He also provided continuity announcements at Channel TV.
Russell later moved to ITV Border, where he presented bulletins and filled in on the main Lookaround programme.
Stuart, Vivien
Vivien was born in 1957. Following university, she accepted a place on the Broadcast Journalist Training Scheme in 1975, which led to several years working as a studio manager.
…Austin, Mark
Mark was a BBC TV sports reporter (1985 – 1986) before joining ITN in October 1986 as a sports correspondent. His first assignments for ITN were to cover England’s successful Ashes tour of Australia, as well as the America’s Cup.
He stayed for four months in Australia and unexpectedly found himself reporting on the extraordinary Spycatcher trial.
He has covered all the major sporting events for ITN, including the Olympics, Wimbledon, the British Open and Rugby internationals.
In 1995 he was seconded to ITV to report from South Africa on the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Since joining ITN he has specialised in covering foreign events, travelling all around the globe. Based in Hong Kong in 1993 as Asia correspondent, he returned in 1996 (until 1998), reporting on major events in the region, including the handover of the island to the Chinese in July 1997.
From 1994 until 1996 he was based in Johannesburg as Africa correspondent. He returned to London in mid-1998 and from 1999 he was a special/senior correspondent. He was an occasional newscaster of weekend news bulletins on ITV and the ITN News Channel in August 1998 and again from October 1999.
In May 2001 he presented ITV’s reality game show Survivor.
In 2004, Mark became a regular face in the newscaster’s chair. He took over from Sir Trevor McDonald as the main anchor of the late-night weekday news programme on ITV in December 2005.
Armah, Claudia-Liza
Claudia-Liza is a TV news presenter. She has worked for Sky News and the BBC (60 Seconds, BBC Three). Since 2014, she has worked for the London Live television channel, where she hosts Headline London.
…Cunningham, Linda
Linda was a Central TV continuity announcer, often seen presenting Central Morning Supplement along with announcer colleagues Helen Lloyd, Simon Willis and Gary Terzza.
Baker, Peter
During the 1980s, Peter worked at BBC West in Bristol, presenting news bulletins and filling in as co-host on the main Points West programme alongside Viv Creegor and Graham Purches.
In 1988 he moved to Granada TV In Manchester where he hosted the nightly Granada Action social information programme. He also presented the breakfast show on Key 103 radio.
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