Glover, Jon

Jon completed his training at the Central School of Speech and Drama between 1968 and 1971, subsequently embarking on a distinguished career across radio, television, and theatrical platforms.

Joining the ranks as the fifty-fifth presenter of Play School, he first appeared on 11th June 1973 alongside Chloë Ashcroft.

His tenure with the programme concluded on 22nd December 1976, again partnering with Chloë Ashcroft.

Throughout this period, he contributed to 112 editions of the programme, made a single guest appearance in April 1976, and served as storyteller on six occasions between 1976 and 1977.

Jon lent his vocal talents to Michael Cole’s animated children’s series Ludwig, broadcast on BBC One in 1977.

During the early 2020s, the programme received renewed attention through a live presentation featuring Jon’s narration accompanied by music performed by students from the Guildhall School of Music.

His television appearances include a single episode of Play Away on BBC Two, broadcast on 12th January 1980.

Throughout much of the 1980s and into the 1990s, Jon served as one of the principal voice performers on Spitting Image, contributing to Central Television’s satirical puppet series from 1984 to 1989 and returning in 1994.

His television acting portfolio encompasses the following productions:

• Death or Glory Boy (1974);
• Survivors (BBC One, 1977);
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1981);
• Chish ‘n’ Fips (1984);
• Miss Marple: A Pocketful of Rye (BBC One, 1985);
• Casualty (BBC One, 1986 and 2011);
• Troublemakers (1990);
• Mr Cholmondley-Warner in Harry Enfield and Chums (BBC One, 1990 and 1992);
• Keeping Up Appearances (BBC One, 1992);
• Bodger and Badger (BBC One, 1993);
• Peak Practice (ITV, 1994 – 1995);
• Goodnight Sweetheart (BBC One. 1995 and 1996);
• Crocodile Shoes (BBC One, 1996);
• Kavanagh QC (ITV, 1998);
• The Blonde Bombshell (1999);
• Doctors (BBC One, 2003, 2008 and 2013);
• The Sarah Jane Adventures (CBBC, 2010).

Voice work credits include:

• Alice in Wonderland (1985);
• Round the Bend (1989 – 1990);
• Staggering Stories of Ferdinand De Bargos (1989);
• Animals of Farthing Wood (1994);
• Mr Bean: The Animated Series (2002 – 2004 and 2015 – 2016);
• King George V in Downton Abbey (ITV, 2014).

As an accomplished voice artist, Jon has maintained a substantial presence on BBC Radio since the mid-1970s.

He became a permanent fixture on BBC Radio 4’s satirical programme Week Ending, participating from 1980 through 1998.

For two decades, he has portrayed Maurice in A Charles Paris Mystery, appearing opposite Bill Nighy in the title role on BBC Radio 4 from 2006 onwards.

From 2009, he has undertaken the role of Martyn Gibson in BBC Radio 4’s long-running serial The Archers.

Additional radio credits include:

• Afternoon Theatre (BBC Radio 4, 1973 and 1978);
• Dr Finlay’s Casebook (BBC Radio 4, 1976);
• Jim the Great (BBC Radio 2, 1977 and 1979);
• Morning Story (BBC Radio 4, 1978 – 1979 and 1981);
• Just Before Midnight: The Dissolution of Dominic Boot (BBC Radio 4, 1978);
• Poetry Now (BBC Radio 3, 1979 and 1981 – 1985);
• We All Begin in a Little Magazine (BBC Radio 4, 1979);
• Would the Last Businessman… (BBC Radio 2, 1979);
• Short Story (BBC Radio 4, 1979 – 1980);
• Double Act (BBC Radio 4, 1979);
• Give or Take (BBC Radio 4, 1979 – 1980);
• Just Before Midnight (BBC Radio 4, 1980);
• The Jason Explanation (BBC Radio 4, 1980 – 1981);
• The 27-Year Itch (BBC Radio 4, 1980);
• The Living Daylight (BBC Radio 4, 1980);
• Never Too Late (BBC Radio 4, 1980);
• A Murder of Quality (BBC Radio 4, 1981);
• Oh Mother! (BBC Radio 2, 1981);
• Know Your Place (BBC Radio 2, 1982);
• It Makes Mt Laugh (BBC Radio 4, 1982);
• Men of Property (BBC Radio 4, 1982);
• The Monday Play: Class (BBC Radio 4, 1983);
• Thirty-Minute Theaatre (BBC Radio 4, 1984);
• The Jason Explanation of the 60s (BBC Radio 4, 1984);
• Mooney’s Monday Magazine (BBC Radio 4, 1984 and 1986);
• It Sticks Out Half a Mile (BBC Radio 2, 1984);
• Anythong Legal (BBC Radio 4, 1984);
• King Street Junior (BBC Radio 4, 1985);
• Pirate Radio 4 (BBC Radio 4, 1985);
• Franglais (BBC Radio 4, 1985);
• The Colour Supplement (BBC Radio 4, 1985);
• The Never Again Show (BBC Radio 4, 1985);
• Brogue Male (BBC Radio 4, 1986);
• Take Me To Your Reader: The Old Man and the Sea (BBC Radio 4, 1986);
• Radio Times Comedy Parade (BBC Radio 4, 1986);
• Peter Dickson Presents Nightcap (BBC Radio 2, 1987);
• Fallen Arches (BBC Radio 4, 1988);
• Inside Sasha (BBC Radio 2, 1992);
• Jacobowsky and the Colonel (BBC Radio 4, 1992);
• The Light Entertainemtn Show (BBC Radio 2, 1992);
• The Queen of Romance (BBC Radio 2, 1992 – 1993);
• Les and Robert (BBC Radio 4, 1993);
• You Heard It Here First (BBC Radio 4, 1993);
• An Actor’s Life For Me (BBC Radio 2, 1993);
• Mr Finchley Takes the Road (BBC Radio 2, 1993 – 1994);
• Kelly’s Heroes (BBC Radio 4, 1993);
• The Odlest Member (BBC Radio 4, 1994 – 1995);
• What on Earth? (BBC Radio 2, 1998);
• Our Man at Wembley (BBC Radio 4, 1999);
• Smelling of Roses (BBC Radio 4, 2001 – 2002);
• Bristow (BBC Radio 4, 2001);
• Goon Again: The 50th Anniversary Cardboard Replica Goon Show (2001);
• Radio Roots (BBC Radio 4, 2001 – 2002);
• Afternoon Play: The Story of Tracy Beaker (BBC Radio 4, 2002);
• The Odyssey (BBC Radio 4, 2004);
• Footlight Fairies (BBC Radio 4, 2005);
• Mort (BBC Radio 4, 2005);
• Ed Reardon’s Week (BBC Radio 4, 2007);
• Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (BBC Radio 4, 2007);
• Fame and Fortune (BBC Radio 4, 2007);
• No Commitments (BBC Radio 4, 2008);
• Tomorrow Today! (BBC Radio 4, 2008).

His theatrical work includes Maggie & Ted, performed in Guildford before transferring to The Garrick Theatre in London’s West End in 2021.

The production explored the two-decade rivalry between Margaret Thatcher and Edward Heath, with Jon portraying multiple characters including Alderman Roberts (Thatcher’s father), Denis Thatcher (her husband), Winston Churchill, Harold Wilson, Boris Johnson and Michael Heseltine.

Conversation

Paul R. Jackson met Jon in 1989 and asked how he got involved with Play School.

“I was working at the Fringe Theatre in a Christmas show when some of the Play School team came to watch and I was invited to an audition that I did with Toni Arthur.

“I later did an outside broadcast concerning bees and was dressed up in a bees costume and the insects became restless which seemed funny.

“Play School was important, within my career, as it taught me camera technique and gave me experience of studio work.

“It was my decision to leave after three years, as I felt that I had done everything I wanted to do as a presenter.

“I later made a pilot (Anyway) with Fred Harris and Maggie Henderson, produced by Michael Cole that was never broadcast.”

Fred Harris told Paul about the pilot: “Michael Cole wanted to keep the same group of presenters and musicians from Ragtime and suggested Jon join us.

“It was a review sketch show and had huge letters spelling out the programme name in the studio.

“On the day of recording, there was a BBC strike and the set wasn’t complete, so this may have been a reason it wasn’t taken up.”

Paul met up again with Jon in October 2024.

Did you receive any advice, as an actor, on being a children’s TV presenter?

“I met Eric Thompson through my tutor at The Central School – John Roberts, who had been at the Old Vic School with Eric and his wife Phyllida Law – when I got Play School.

“He advised me to do it like Z Cars – be real.

“In the Thompson kitchen were the two Thompson girls – just back from school. I later worked with Sophie in Phil Cool’s live TV show from The Belgrade in Coventry.”

Paul asked for other memories of Play School.

“All the presenters were lovely, but I enjoyed working with Chloë Ashcroft the most.

“I worked with director Christine Secombe (niece of Sir Harry) on a number of shows – she was a lovely lady.

“Geoff Posner was an AFM on Play School – he was the best at doing the makes.

“His father was a doctor in Muswell Hill, like my father, and we attended Norfolk House Prep School together.

“We later worked together again when he produced the Harry Enfield series.”

What are your memories of the Play School outside broadcasts you co-presented?

August 1975 – Chloë Ashcroft and Jon visited the seashore at Charlestown, St Austell, Cornwall and Chloë’s husband, David Hargreaves, made an appearance.

“It was directed by Barbara Deehan, who later married Franc Roddam, creator of MasterChef.

“Also on that trip was my great mate Avril Price as floor manager (and was later a director).

“We travelled to Cornwall in her MGB GT ‘Roy’ and she let me drive!

“We still go to Charlestown, even though it’s now a Poldark theme Park. The Charlotte Rhodes ship from The Onedin Line was in the harbour for many years.”

April 1976 (with Julie Stevens), July and December 1976 (with Chloë Ashcroft) from Stockeld Lodge Farm, Wetherby.

“The programme depicted a year in the life of a farm and in December it began snowing as we finished filming, which was rather magical.”

What are your memories of Ludwig and did you get that through presenting Play School?

“Ludwig came through producer Michael Cole, who was in the children’s department.

“The concert was a lovely surprise and it was great to meet the original cartoonist’s son, who came over from the Czech Republic for the event.”

What were the main voices you did on Spitting Image?

“Prince Philip.

“Harry Enfield and I met on the second series and we would replicate the Sunday afternoon black and white movies of our childhood – hence Harry as Grayson and me as Cholmondely Warner – were born!”

 

Personal information

Clips of Jon on The TV Room

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Online presence

Acknowledgements