Alford, Sally

Sally was born in Weston-super-Mare, in November 1940. She is a former actress, who went on to become an in-vision continuity announcer for TWW in the 1960s and its successor, HTV West (spring 1968 – c. 1985).

Whilst at HTV, in the late-1970s, Sally presented a Saturday morning programme called Ten on Saturday which opted out of Tiswas for 30 minutes.

Sally is the widow of golfer George Irlam.

In 2011 she was appointed president of Somerset Ladies’ County Golf Association. Her mother, the late Ruth Alford, was also county president, the only mother/daughter combination from Weston Golf Club to hold this role.

Interview

Paul R. Jackson, spoke to Sally in February 2018 about her career:

“I was a member of the Weston-super-Mare dramatic society. Jeffrey Archer joined the group. He was an early boyfriend. 25 years later, I was invited on to his This Is Your Life. We hadn’t seen each other in all those years, but thankfully he remembered me.

“At the age of seventeen, I auditioned with 1,000 applicants and was one of only 30 chosen to train at the Bristol Old Vic for two years (1958 – 1960), alongside pupils including Patrick Stewart and Stephanie Cole.

“I did repertory theatre and by chance met a TWW executive at a function who asked me to join the publicity department, with the possibility of perhaps later going on-screen.

“In summer 1961, just before I was 21, someone was ill and I was asked to step in and read the news in Bristol. I had watched Guy Thomas read the news many a time and knew I could do it, but coping with the technical side at the same time was a different matter.

“For a start, the news studio then was outside the main building in a glorified garage with a remote controlled camera, so you were completely on your own.

“In those days, the news was split between the West Country and South Wales – hence TWW (Television Wales and the West). Our script came over from Cardiff via fax machine and was printed out on flimsy paper and I still have nightmares about crossing the car park to the studio and a wind blowing all my script away!

“I somehow got through that first live broadcast and ‘the powers that be’ thought I did a good enough job and asked me to stay and join Guy, Bruce Hockin and Alan Taylor for the West Country, with Bruce Lewis, Maureen Staffer and Christine Godwin on the Welsh side.

“As well as reading the news, I was still involved in the publicity department. One of my jobs was to organize young dancers on Discs a Go-Go hosted by Kent Walton – similar to BBC TV’s Top of the Pops.

“On the first programme, I bumped into a very charismatic black-haired Welshman, none other than Tom Jones, who was just starting his career. I met many others including Cilla Black, Adam Faith and the Dave Clark Five.

“During the big freeze of 1962/1963, when heavy snow stayed on the ground for weeks, the national newspapers were tired of all the snow stories, so the powers that be at TWW dreamt up a story to hit the headlines.

“They took all the women newscasters off air for supposedly being too glamorous and too emotionally involved when reading a sad item – well of course we were going to burst into tears on air! The publicity plan worked and all the papers covered the story.

“I was then transferred into continuity announcing driving from Weston to the Pontcanna Studios in Cardiff and did that for a couple of years.

“I was on duty on 22nd November 1963, when the dreadful news came in that President Kennedy had been assassinated. My programme controller told me to announce that we were breaking into the programme to go over to ITN for an urgent bulletin.

“After a while, the winter story about the over-glamorous news women had been forgotten and within my continuity shifts, I was then asked to present with Guy Thomas on TWW Reports (from Bristol) – the half-hour magazine programme – and stayed on the staff until 1966.

“We became local personalities and were asked to open fetes, compére shows and attend functions – one was opening a new garage in Clifton in Bristol. On arrival I was greeted by the owner who said ‘May I introduce a friend of mine who is visiting his home city of Bristol – Cary Grant’. I nearly went weak at the knees and I said he should be opening the event and he replied ‘You are the star of the day’ which was so sweet of him.

“At the end of 1966, I married an army officer and we moved away from the region and were posted around the UK. During this time, I did some freelance work on commercials and as an announcer at both Anglia TV and Thames TV.

“In 1976, he left the army and we moved back to Weston and I rejoined the Weston Dramatic Society and was thrilled to get a call from HTV offering me some work including continuity where I trained Annie St John.

“I was also one of the hostesses on Mr and Mrs with Alan Taylor and did reports on Women Only, which was presented by Jan Leeming.

“I retired in the mid-1980s. I loved every minute of my career and was in the right place at the right time. In 1998, there was a 30th anniversary programme from Bristol which I, Guy Thomas and Bruce Hockin all contributed too.”

Personal information

Clips of Sally on The TV Room

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Online presence

Acknowledgements