Bastable, Tony

Born in Hexham, Northumberland, Tony Bastable began his working life juggling two vocations: reporting for local newspapers while also teaching British history part-time at Buckingham College in Harrow, working as a freelance journalist alongside his classroom duties.

His television ambitions crystallised in the early 1960s when he applied for a news reporter’s position at Southern Television – only to be told he was too young for the role.

Rather than showing him the door entirely, the company offered him an alternative: presenting the children’s programme Three Go Round. It proved the foothold he needed.

Within eighteen months he had moved to ATV, working as a programme associate on Sport — You Are Tomorrow (1966 – 1967) and contributing news desk spots to the youth programme Action, compered by Pete Murray.

He was also a contributor to and presenter of Junior Sportsweek – including a presenting appearance on 19th July 1967 – and took on a range of other children’s shows, sports magazines and schools’ programming during this period.

The next significant step came in 1968, when Bastable joined Thames Television and from 30th July began co-presenting Magpie alongside Susan Stranks and Pete Brady.

Pitched as a livelier, more contemporary alternative to the BBC’s Blue Peter, the programme would become the defining chapter of his presenting career.

He brought his own touch to it with a regular slot entitled A Date with Tony. Each instalment focused on a notable historical figure. He also presented the Magpie special My Brother David on 6th July 1971.

His final programme as presenter was broadcast in 1972, after which he stepped behind the camera as the show’s producer from 1972 to 1973 – and was later seen on film in Magpie‘s closing edition, broadcast on 6th June 1980.

In 1973, he made a cameo appearance as himself in the children’s comedy Pardon My Genie.

Bastable was a presenter on Thames TV’s Good Afternoon (c. 1974) and anchored the channel’s consumer protection series Money-Go-Round, alongside Joan Shenton, for nine years.

Throughout his career he produced and presented a wide variety of one-off programmes, spanning historical documentaries, current affairs and outside broadcasts.

His other presenting credits included:

• Drive-in;
• Mind Over Matter, which he devised with Dr Kit Pedler – co-creator of Doctor Who’s Cybermen – a series that explored paranormal phenomena;
• Computing series Database (1984);
• 4 Computer Buffs (1985).

He was a regular panellist on radio programmes and supplied narration for the Channel 4 nature series Profiles of Nature.

Moving into independent production, Bastable produced training and promotional films for a roster of major clients including the Ford Motor Company, the National Bus Company, the Royal Navy, the Department of Transport and the Institute of Advanced Motorists.

He was the co-author of two children’s books and wrote biographies of the explorers John Cabot and Ferdinand Magellan, both published in 2003.

His passion for cricket ran equally deep: he was a qualified umpire and founded the Institute of Cricket Umpires and Scorers.

In 1972 – the same year he stepped back from presenting Magpie – he established The Magpies, a wandering cricket club that borrowed the programme’s name.

His cultural footprint extended into music: Half Man Half Biscuit referenced him in their song I Love You Because (You Look Like Jim Reeves) from the album Back in the DHSS, and he features in Tony Bastable v John Noakes by The Dentists, from the album Some People Are on the Pitch They Think It’s All Over It Is Now.

Bastable married three times.

In his later years he suffered from emphysema, and died from pneumonia at East Surrey Hospital, Redhill, Surrey, at the age of 62.

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