Cartledge, Andy

Andy joined the BBC as a studio manager in the early 1960s and was a continuity announcer on both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 (October 1968 – April 1969) before he moved over to TV Centre and became a familiar voice on BBC One and BBC Two.

He returned briefly to the radio in 1977, when he was given a tryout on both Europe 77 and European Pop Jury following the departure of regular host David Gell.

Andy is one of the longest-serving announcers, with 32 years’ service.  He took early retirement from the BBC in spring 2001.  Two other long-serving BBC TV announcers, Malcolm Eynon and Peter Brook also retired from the BBC that year.

In 1992, Andy also worked as an announcer on the recently launched BBC World Service TV.

Andy’s TV announcing role was out-of-vision but he did make some in-vision appearances:

• 11th April 1983: presenting BBC Two’s Springtime – a short preview of forthcoming programmes.
• Mid-1980s: on the daytime programme, Noticeboard.
• Late-1980s/early 1990s: an early evening BBC One link (possibly for the 6pm news) saw the announcer appear in-vision – by accident. We think the announcer may have been Andy. CBBC used Network 1’s continuity suite for in-vision programme links back in those days. The BBC One clock shared the same fader as the con suite’s camera. Someone may have forgotten to switch the fader’s input back to the clock.

Andy generally name checked himself on air (usually at closedown) as “Andy Cartledge”. But on a handful of occasions (that we’re aware of) – such as early hours of Boxing Day 1979 (BBC Two), early hours of 3rd March 1986 (BBC Two) and early hours of 27th April 1987 (BBC One) – he referred to himself as “Andrew Cartledge”.

In the early hours of Saturday 16th February 1991, Andy had the privilege of being the last announcer to use the ‘TWO’ channel symbol (introduced in March 1986).

During his closedown routine that night, he deviated slightly from the norm and treated viewers to a final airing of the symbol:

“And as we close for the night now on BBC Two, we also bid farewell to this particular channel identity.  And away it goes forever [as it animated off screen before the matching clock was shown for the final time].

“Time now coming up to seven minutes past one.  And it’s time for me, Andy Cartledge, on behalf of all my colleagues on BBC Two to wish you, wherever you are, a very goodnight.”

Andy died, following a heart attack, aged 67, in December 2008.

Interview

In 1982, Andy was interviewed for a piece about television presentation. He was asked if he regretted not appearing on screen?

“As a performer it would be more gratifying to appear occasionally, but you would also be more exposed and subject to criticism,” he says.

The emphasis on “performing” nightly might seem odd, coming from one of television’s faceless voices, but Andy says it is an important aspect of the job. “Before you arrive here, you need to have done some kind of performing — radio or TV or something — because having the voice and being able to project it properly are only the raw materials of the job.

“You’ve also got to be able to perform while you’re under stress — when you’ve got a producer talking to you through the headphones at the same time as you are talking into the microphone and responding to visual cues.”

Some actors have tried their hand at the job, but Andy says most are unsuitable, because their delivery is too declamatory.

“The vocal part of the skill required is in cultivating a technique, which enables you to sound as if you are talking to people in their own living rooms while in fact you’re doing nothing of the kind — you’re synthesising that effect.

“It’s not 100 per cent conversational, you have to heighten it a bit and give your very best just to sound normal.”

Presentation announcers are supposed to be at the microphone throughout their periods of duty, ready for anything.

“You get your knuckles rapped if you’re not available. But of course you have to answer the calls of nature. A lot of the job is putting ends together when things are only threatening to go wrong. You just keep a correcting hand on the tiller.”

The list of things that can go wrong sounds formidable.

“The equipment can let you down, or you can make bloomers of your own, putting your fingers in the wrong place at the wrong time, and programmes might not materialise when you announce them.

“A live programme is most vulnerable — they may not be ready or might break down in the middle.”

Announcers keep a record on the turntable at all times in readiness for things going wrong. But it’s not just any old record – they select one to suit the programme being transmitted. Andy remembers one time when he thought he had come unstuck.

“I didn’t have a record lined up and Top of the Pops broke down. Obviously the only thing I could play was pop music and the first thing that came to hand was Yellow Submarine, played in some strange arrangement for moog synthesiser.

“It was so weird, that I thought it would go down like a lead balloon, but people started ringing up to ask ‘what was this ‘wonderful music?’ In the end there was such a huge response that the record company issued the track as a single.”

Presentation announcers are ready for anything. But it’s probably fair to say that they’re happier when things don’t go wrong.

“When you see a blank screen your heart rate doubles. At times like that, you’re really earning your money.”

 

Personal information

Clips of Andy on The TV Room

Andy may be featured in video/audio clips on our other websites. Click the links below to display a listing (a 404 error will appear if no clips are found):

Rewind | Clean Feed

Online presence

Acknowledgements