Mundy, John

John was born in Manchester on 27th September, year unknown.  He worked as a stage-hand at the Opera House in Manchester and then trained as an actor.

After three years in rep, he joined Tyne Tees TV as an out-of-vision continuity announcer. He would later move to HTV, in the same role.

In 1974, he joined BBC Television in Manchester and was a long-serving presenter on North West Tonight. He left in 1995.

After leaving the BBC, John’s voice was still heard introducing the regional news on BBC One North West.

He was the ‘image’ voice of several BBC local radio stations including Merseyside, Solent and Jersey and for independent radio. He also featured on a national campaign for a sat-nav company.

Comments from John in a BBC press release: “During my years at the BBC, I was also running a parallel career as a voiceover artist, narrating documentaries, corporate videos, educational DVDs, trailers and commercials and it was to this aspect of my British broadcasting career that I returned in 1999.

“But I also have a much wider audience. I can be heard, well, almost everywhere; from supermarket in-store radio systems, to banks and even on board aircraft.

“In the days before technology made possible the transmission of broadcast-quality audio over broadband, I regularly travelled forty thousand miles a year to visit recording studios up and down the country.

“I now operate from a home studio in North Wales. Because I’m able to work from anywhere there are phone lines, it’d be nice to be back in sunnier climes!”

Other TV roles include contributing as a reporter on children’s series We’re Going Places (BBC One, 1979 – 1980) and Get Set for Summer (BBC One, 1982).

He presented:

• On Location…with God’s Wonderful Railway (BBC One, 1980);
• Lifelines (BBC One North, Leeds, 1982);
• That Was the Year (BBC Two, 1983 and BBC One, 1984);
• Yes (BBC One North West, 1984);
• The Phil at the Albert (BBC Two, 1988);
• Christmas Crackers (BBC One, 1990 repeat);
• Open Air (BBC One, 1990).

He played a newscaster in BBC Two’s Screen Two: Coast to Coast, starring Lenny Henry (BBC Two, 1987).

He narrated:

• World in Action – The Hunt for Dr Mengele (ITV, 1978);
• See For Yourself (BBC One);
• A Gambol on Steam (1985);
• Metal Shredder (National Geographic);
• Muay Thai Ring Warriors (Sky Sports);
• Rally UK (Channel 5);
• Hoover Bridge (National Geographic);
• Secrets and Sins (CNN);
• The Mistake that Killed Hitler (2023);
• Britain’s Most Haunted Pubs (2023);
• Gerrard: Born to Lead (2024);
• Operation Valkyrie – The Plot to Kill Hitler (2024);
• The Royal Four: Stronger Together (2024).

On radio, he presented Mundy on Saturday (BBC Radio 2, July – August 1990).

In February 2014, he was chosen as the station, promotion and imaging voice of talk station, LBC (with the slogan “Leading Britain’s Conversation”) and its sister station, LBC News.

In 1995, John left broadcasting and the UK to move to America, where he developed a successful property business, owning and operating two hotels in Fort Lauderdale.

He returned to the UK and in 1999 settled in North Wales and still does voice work.

Correspondence

Paul R. Jackson corresponded with John, in July 2024, about his career:

Where did you train as an actor?

“Oldham Repertory Theatre in 1970 – one of the best provincial theatres in the country.”

How did you get into television?

“When I left Oldham Rep in early 1973, I sent demo tapes to all the ITV companies for continuity announcing. Tyne Tees was the only company to reply at that time (early 1973) and invited me to, what turned out to be, a live, on-air audition.

“I freelanced there for a few months, before HTV offered me a full-time job (November 1973 – June 1974). I was based in the Cardiff Master Control room but announcing for the West of England.

“My announcing colleagues at Tyne Tees were Bill Steel and Chris Kay and at HTV, Patrick Anthony and Michael Alexander St John.

“The BBC North West vacancy was mentioned in a small Manchester Evening News article, which I just happened to see, while visiting Manchester from Cardiff.”

When you joined the BBC in Manchester, was it as an announcer/newsreader?

“Yes – the role involved some continuity/trails and a closedown news bulletin.”

When did you start presenting North West Tonight and did you ever go out of the studio and do reporting?

“I believe it must have been around 1979 – as I did some stand-in presenting before we left Old Broadcasting House.

“Not until much later (1980s).”

In April 1976, the BBC English regions introduced regional continuity, on weekday evenings on BBC One. Who worked with you?

“The shifts were split between Christine Burn and me – with freelancers doing the odd shift to cover leave. I presented the final one from Studio P on the 12th September 1980.”

Would you also do major dates like Christmas Day or was that only from London?

“Only from London over Xmas – although we did work Good Friday and Easter Monday.”

Did you announce any major events/programmes?

“The Pope’s visit to Manchester in May 1982. This was a ‘self-op’ opt out (we operated a vision/sound mixer and did the live continuity) and shown on BBC Two in the North West only.”

Any anecdotes/notable memories from your TV career?

“As you may know, the nightly regional closedown news bulletins on BBC One were self-operated by the presenter pushing buttons and faders, to remove the network from screens and replace it with ourselves.

“On one occasion, both Christine Burn and I took a few days off. I was at home (in North Manchester), watching a late-night movie when, to my horror, Chris Kay, a freelance presenter, appeared on my TV gazing off camera, combing his hair!

“He had pressed what he thought was a preview button on the vision mixer when, in fact, it was a button which took control of the main Winter Hill transmitter!

“An engineer’s voice could be heard on talkback in the background shouting: ‘Chris…you’re on the air’, which elicited from Chris a smile, a thumbs up, a look of confusion, then horror, followed by a swift cut back to the late film.”

Any memories of significant anniversaries whilst at BBC Manchester?

“I took part in a series of pre-recorded items for Northwest Tonight, about the history of New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road to mark the closing of the building, in November 2011.”

I notice you only worked briefly at Radio 2 – would you have liked to do more or were you concentrating more on the TV work?

“A Manchester-based radio producer of my acquaintance had been tasked by the bosses of Radio 2 with identifying new talent.

“Having had my own fairly successful live Saturday morning show on BBC Radio Manchester, he thought I should be given a ‘try-out’.

“This Radio 2 show was pre-recorded. It lacked all the usual spontaneity and fun features that made my Saturday morning show a success.

“So six weeks was the sum total of my BBC Radio 2 career!”

Was it an easy decision to leave broadcasting to move to America?

“We moved in 1995, but it had been planned since 1993. It wasn’t a difficult decision at all.

“BBC output was changing as it approached Charter Renewal (it’s the licence with the government to broadcast), due in 1997.

“The output of North West Tonight became increasingly serious and, in my opinion, worthy and boring.

“From a viewing figure high of almost 2 million for a single edition of North West Tonight just before one Xmas, viewing figures plummeted.

“I was glad to be free of what felt like artistic strangulation – especially as I was destined for America’s Sunshine State, Florida.

“I arrived back in the UK, the day Jill Dando was shot dead, on 26th April 1999.”

 

Personal information

Clips of John on The TV Room

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Online presence

Acknowledgements