John was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He moved to London and joined the BBC on a short-term contract as a relief BBC TV newsreader (June – November 1963).
He was famously on duty on 22nd November 1963, the night President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The US President was shot at 12.30pm local time (Texas, USA) – 6.30pm UK time.
The first newsflash was transmitted at 7.05pm, reporting that President Kennedy had been shot. Topical current affairs programme Tonight went ahead but was interrupted at 7.26pm to recap that Kennedy had been shot and seriously wounded.
At 7.27pm, John picked up the phone on the desk and moments later reported: “We regret to announce that President Kennedy is dead.”
Tonight did not resume and the network went to the new spinning globe symbol (introduced in September), accompanied by sombre music – occasionally interrupted by updates from John.
Following a special programme, aired at 11pm by both BBC Television and BBC Radio – with tributes by Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home and Labour’s leader Harold Wilson – Roberts ended his momentous shift with a special news programme at 11.30pm.
John was duty newsreader, only because his senior colleagues (Baker, Dougall and Kendall) were attending the Society of Film and Television Arts (SAFTA) Ball at The Dorchester Hotel.
He later received high praise from both colleagues and viewers for the calm way he handled the important announcement.
Waldo Maguire, BBC TV news editor, sent John a letter, dated 26th November 1963:
“May I offer my sincere thanks and congratulations on the magnificent way you read the news of Kennedy’s death on Friday night. Many viewers rang to say how much they had appreciated the calm and dignified announcement, thrust on you at such short notice.
“May I also say that I thought your reading of the 9 o’Clock News and News Extra was excellent, and that your unflappability was a considerable comfort to the harassed editorial and production staff. Many thanks and best wishes Waldo.”
John was a BBC Radio Home Service announcer (1964 – 1966) and presented Personal View (BBC Third Programme, 1964).
He was a presenter on the BBC Light Programme (1964 – 1965), including Family Fare (1964), the first edition of Breakfast Special (October 1965 – 1966), Playtime (1965), Morning Music (1965), Saturday Bandstand (1966 – 1967) and Cavalcade (1967).
John appeared on all the new networks, but mainly BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 (Morning Melody), between September and December 1967.
He later worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.
Paul R. Jackson met John in 1983 in London. He was given his four news scripts (7.05pm, 7.26pm, 7.45pm, 8.15pm), from that famous broadcast regarding the assassination of President Kennedy, which he signed, along with memos and viewers’ letters praising his performance.
Personal information
Clips of John on The TV Room
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Acknowledgements
SUPPLIED BY: Paul R. Jackson. COPYRIGHT: BBC.
From my memory, following John Roberts’ announcement of Kennedy’s assassination, the BBC initially continued with the next scheduled programme which was an episode of the comedy series starring Harry Worth, However, after a short time someone must have realised how inappropriate this was in the circumstances and took the programme off air.