Allan, David

Born Gordon Allan in Manchester, David is a broadcaster with over 50 years’ experience and, for people of a certain generation, is a very recognisable voice.  Certainly one of the great broadcast voices of all time. 

His first job was as assistant stage manager at Manchester Library Theatre and for the next nine years he worked at various theatres around the country, culminating with a stint in the West End, employed on the hit musical Funny Girl.

His broadcasting career started at Pirate Radio 390 in June 1966 where he presented a country music programme called Country Style until 1968.  There was another Gordon on the fort, so they made him change his name to David.

David moved into TV in 1967, initially at Anglia TV and then at the BBC for 26 years (freelance 1968 – 1972 and staff 1972 – 1994), where his distinctive voice was heard announcing programmes on BBC One and BBC Two.

The role involved research, scripting, vision/audio-mixing and voicing live continuity links for BBC One and BBC Two, including the early morning and late-night junctions for The Open University.

He also presented promotional interviews for BBC Two, with a wide range of subjects, including Percy Thrower and Morecambe and Wise!  He also presented BBC TV’s annual Wembley Country Music Festival (1974 – 1989), provided voiceovers on Points of View (BBC One, 1987) and was also a BBC World Service TV announcer (1992).

David was later heard on ITV as a relief announcer for Carlton TV in London (1995, 1996 – December 2000, May 2001 and February 2002).

From October 2002, he was a member of the national ITV announcing team for a couple of years, working as a freelancer covering overnight shifts. He left in July 2004.

He was one of the main announcers on the satellite History Channel in the UK, along with Charles Nove and David Miles and in 2013, David voiced the BBC Two night dedicated to The 1970s.

David was also to be heard on BBC Radio 2, where he was a presenter (1968 – August 1999) on shows including Country Club with Wally Whyton. He stood in for various regular presenters.  He later presented on Melody FM (1996 – 1999), London’s Ritz 1035 Radio (1999 – 2002) and SAGA Primetime Radio (2002 – 2008).

David met his wife Meg (neé Humphries), when she worked as a network assistant in Presentation (1968 – 1978). They married, and in 2013 celebrated their ruby wedding anniversary. They both appeared on the south steps of Television Centre in the TV Centre and Me film shown on The One Show in March 2013.

In December 2021, he appeared on BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show in a special edition about TV announcers. He explained to presenter Katie Razell how he began: “I worked on pirate radio and then did a stint on TV continuity for Anglia TV. I then saw an advert in The Stage for BBC Two announcers and incredibly I heard later they only had 20 applicants.

“I think I got the job there, namely I had worked with Harold Pinter at the Arts Theatre and he very kindly put in a reference for me. They gave me 3 or 4 weeks trial and we took it from there. It was a long time before I was put on any permanent basis.

“There were technical things to learn at the BBC, which totally floored me and a number of my colleagues.

“I had no idea, when I went there it wouldn’t just be talking, but part of the day, a considerable part of the day, all the output for the channel went through the continuity desk, so you had to line up the programmes, cue in the programmes, talk at the same time, fade them in and out. Yes, super technical. No-one explained that before.

“Luckily I had experience in the theatre which helped. During the evening we had network directors to help, but during the day it was a solo effort to pull everything together and it certainly sharpened the mind.”

Katie asked if he had been on shift for any big TV moments: “I was on when man stepped on to the moon for the first time (20th July 1969). I can’t recall saying anything terribly clever but just being there was wonderful. And when BBC One went colour – I was on that night.”

Correspondence

Paul R. Jackson corresponded with David in December 2017:

“I knew Clem Shaw very well as we were on Pirate Radio 390 together.  We lost touch when he left the Centre – he had a really terrific voice and style.  It might be of interest to add that I am still finding occasional voice work on internet sites like Fiverr and Voices and I also write a monthly column for the journal Country Music People.”

Paul caught up with David again in December 2021:

How did you land the Anglia TV and BBC TV announcing jobs?

“I joined on a short-term contract around August 1967, when Pirate Radio 390 was about to close and it was in response to an advert for in-vision continuity announcers.

“David Hamilton was one of my colleagues. I left Anglia around February or March 1968 to concentrate on the Radio 2 country music show I’d landed. Around the middle of 1968 I saw the advert in The Stage for BBC Two continuity announcers and applied and was later taken on for around 9 months on a freelance basis.

“Around 1962, I was a stage manager at the Arts Theatre in London and worked with Harold Pinter when he directed his play The Lover. We got on well and I was honoured when he agreed to give me a reference for the BBC Two job. Certainly did no harm!

“Clem Shaw was already part of that BBC Two team and John Braban was also on board together with Michael Birley and Arthur Adair. The big “stars” were Mel Oxley and Clive Roslin.

“I can’t recall Rosemary Brooks. Around the start of 1969 I was put on a short-term contract basis until a staff contract arrived in 1972. My last announcement was in March 1994 and it was into the lunchtime news on BBC One.”

What are your memories of the official launch of colour on BBC One?

“The wonderful Colin Ward-Lewis was indeed the main announcer and I was his ‘stand-by’. On major occasions like this and Christmas Day (The Queen’s speech), it was in those heady times the norm to have a spare announcer officially on hand in case of emergencies. I recall I got to do a couple of links whilst Colin took a short ‘refreshment’ break. He was, in my opinion, the ultimate BBC One voice.”

Personal information

Clips of David on The TV Room

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Online presence

Acknowledgements