John was born in Chelsea and educated at Winchester College and Pembroke College, Oxford where he obtained a law degree. Having applied to join the British Broadcasting Company Limited in 1924 – and in the absence of a reply from the BBC – Snagge’s father, the redoubtable judge Sir Mordaunt Snagge, called on Reith’s deputy, Admiral Charles Car-Pendale, at Savoy Hill to ask what was happening. The admiral explained that a great number of people had written to the BBC, and he was having to go through 1,500 applications. “I am not interested in the other 1,499,” said Sir Mordaunt loftily. Snagge was engaged and in 1924 sent to be the assistant director of the newly opened local radio station at Stoke-on-Trent. He broadcast his first sports commentary in January 1927 (Hull City v Stoke City football match). In 1928, he moved to Savoy Hill in London to work as one of BBC Radio’s announcers, alongside Stuart Hibberd. Listeners heard his distinctive resonant voice on the Home Service (1928 – 1933, 1940 and 1944).
…Trace, Christopher
Chris – a former actor – was born in Hambledon, Surrey. After working as a farm labourer, he joined the British Army and trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and in 1953 received a commission in the Royal Regiment of Artillery of the British Army. He was promoted to lieutenant in February 1955, but resigned his commission in September 1956. He had a relatively undistinguished acting career – his greatest screen role being Charlton Heston’s body double in Ben-Hur (1959). He later appeared as an interviewer in Ask Mr Pastry (1961) and as himself in Mr Pastry’s Pet Shop (1962).
…Neville, Mike
Mike began his career as a newspaper journalist. He would later move into acting before joining Tyne Tees TV first as an announcer then as a reporter (1962 – 1964). He then switched to the ‘other side’ to present the BBC TV’s Look North programme from Newcastle for a staggering 32 years. He also became quite well-known nationally for his regular appearances on BBC TV’s Nationwide in the 1970s. In 1989, Neville was caught by TV prankster Noel Edmonds with a ‘Gotcha’ on his BBC One programme Noel’s Saturday Roadshow. He was tricked into thinking he was filling seven minutes of airtime because there was a technical fault.
…Raworth, Sophie
Born in Surrey and after completing a degree in French and German at the University of Manchester, Sophie spent a year teaching English to teenagers in Toulouse before studying for a postgraduate course in broadcasting and journalism at City University, London.
…Edwards, Huw
Huw was born in Bridgend, Glamorgan and graduated from University College, Cardiff with a first-class degree in French. He joined the BBC as a news trainee in 1984 and originally worked for BBC Wales and S4C, but then moved to become a reporter for BBC TV’s Panorama (1993). Some of Huw’s later roles: parliamentary correspondent, BBC Wales (1986 – 1988); political correspondent, BBC TV News (1988 – 1997); chief political correspondent, BBC News 24 (1997 – 1999).
…Winton, Nan
Born Nancy Wigginton, Nan was co-presenter on BBC TV’s Information Desk (1955 – 1956) and Mainly for Women (1957).
…Pitts, Valerie
Valerie was an actress. She was RADA-trained (1955 – 1957) and worked in the theatre initially.
…Finighan, Adrian
Adrian is a Welsh journalist. He joined the BBC in 1988, working in local radio as a reporter and producer.
…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).
…Muncaster, Martin
Martin was born in Tillington, near Petworth, Sussex and was educated at Stowe.
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