Gregg, Anne

Anne was born in Belfast. In October 1959, aged 19, she joined Ulster TV at its launch, as an announcer. She later presented the local news magazine programme Roundabout.

She moved to England to work at an advertising agency, before returning to television at Anglia TV, where she worked on its evening news magazine programme, About Anglia (1962).

Anne joined the BBC in London, where she was an in-vision announcer (1963 – 1964).

She introduced the Royal Variety Performance in-vision on 8th November 1964. A recording of Anne’s link is one of the last surviving clips of BBC TV in-vision continuity from this era, before announcers went fully out-of-vision on BBC One, c. 1965.

Her first radio broadcast was on Woman’s Hour (Home Service, 1965). She later contributed to Today and World at One.

She was a guest announcer on BBC Radio 4 (1982) and a presenter on BBC Radio 2 (1990).

She also presented:

• Weekend Woman’s Hour (BBC Radio 4, 1973 – 1974 and 1977 – 1978);
• Weekend (BBC Radio 4, 1977);
• Rags to Riches (BBC Radio 4, 1981);
• In the Air (BBC Radio 4, 1982);
• Breakaway (BBC Radio 4, 1996 – 1997).

In 1966, Anne moved into print journalism working as features editor and later deputy editor on Good Housekeeping and editor of Woman’s Journal (1978 – 1980).

Anne returned to broadcasting and became a popular presenter on the Holiday programme (1980 – 1991).

She resigned from the programme when her main presenting role was handed to Anneka Rice. The BBC received hundreds of complaints from viewers accusing the Corporation of ageism.

Anne rejected the suggestion of ageism, pointing to high-profile presenting roles held by Esther Rantzen and Sue Lawley: “Simply, there were changes and I didn’t fit in with them, so I decided to walk away and let them get on with it.”

Other TV credits include:

• It’s Your Image (BBC East, 1985)
• Holiday Outings (BBC Two, 1990 – 1992);
• Co-presented the annual Chelsea Flower Show (BBC Two, 1991 – 1993);
• The Garden Party (BBC One, 1991);
• Homewise (BBC One, 1991).
• Going Going Gone – antiques game show (BBC Two, 1992 and 1996);
• Reporter on Never Too Late (BBC One, 1994);
• Reporter on National Lottery Live (BBC One, 1997 – 1998);
• The Way We Travelled (BBC Two, 2003).

She presented two series, mixing travel and religion, for Anglia TV – Annie Across America (1992) and Package Pilgrims (1993).

For BBC Northern Ireland, she presented a ten-part series, Places Apart (1996 – 1997).

She made guest appearances on the following:

• The Clothes Show (BBC One, 1987);
• Blankety Blank (BBC One, 1989);
• A Word in Your Ear (BBC One, 1993);
• Call My Bluff (BBC Two, 1997);
• Countdown (Channel 4).

Anne lost her battle with cancer on 6th September 2006. She was 66.

Personal information

Clips of Anne on The TV Room

Anne 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