O’Keeffe, Meryl

Meryl was born in Nairobi, Kenya and educated in South Africa. In 1950, she began her radio career in the South African Broadcasting Corporation, based in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Meryl was the first woman newsreader and gained a good deal of experience: announcing, editing, commentating and acting as disc jockey. She left to join the BBC in London where she gained wider experience, first as a production team member on Woman’s Hour and a year working on women’s programmes for ITV’s Rediffusion.

Meryl worked in radio (including the BBC’s General Overseas Service and World Service) and television in Britain for 20 years, as a reporter, presenter, disc jockey and newsreader.

During her career, she was thrown from a bolting horse in Brighton’s traffic; washed ashore at Southsea in a Navy diver’s suit two sizes too big; strapped to a dock harbour; hauled to the top of a TV mast and photographed among the passing clouds.

She considered travel a vital part of life, hence why she found the international atmosphere of the World Service so enjoyable.

She was one of the three original announcers/newscasters at Southern TV (1958 – 1960), working alongside Martin Muncaster and Julian Pettifer in Southampton. Hers was the first face viewers saw at 5.30pm on 30th August 1958.

She moved to London taking up a role as a BBC TV announcer, working both in-vision (1960 – 1965) and out-of-vision (c. 1966 – 1967). In 1967, she co-presented Let Me Tell You (BBC TV West), with Frank Henning. Each week they visited a different town in the South West.

She voiced presentation trails for BBC Television (1975). In November 1986, Meryl reappeared as an in-vision announcer on BBC Two to celebrate TV50, the 50th anniversary of BBC Television.

Meryl was a long-standing announcer on the BBC World Service (1974 – 1992) and in the 1980s presented Waveguide on the network.

Meryl was featured in Working in Television written by Barbara Brandenburger and published by Bodley Head in 1965. The Vision Announcer at Work article explained her work:

“As we compile our own scripts at the BBC, we have to know what is going on in the world, else we might make some terrible gaffes, so every morning I comb through one newspaper and read quickly through another.

“When I am on duty, I start work in the Television Centre at about two in the afternoon, preparing my script for the evening’s transmission. I am told at what times I shall be on the air, exactly how many minutes will be allocated to me, down to the last second, and am given a general indication of what I have to say either about that evening’s programmes, or forthcoming attractions.

“I then have to get hold of the necessary information, often from producers, the Reference Library and so on, and then write a script in a form that is accurate, arresting and has a personal slant. Sometimes we have to compress a great deal of information into a thirty-second spot. All this takes the major part of the afternoon.

“At about six o’clock, I go to the make-up studio and change and at 7.30pm I am on the air. From that time, however few the occasions that I appear, I must be on the alert in case something unexpected happens and I have to fill in or perhaps explain a last-minute change. This can be frustrating, but its fatal to let one’s attention slip.”

She was asked if she enjoyed being a celebrity and replied: “Yes, I do. After all, its part of the job.”

In her spare time she liked music, theatre, skiing and camping around Europe in an old motor caravan.

Television credits include:

• Science and Life (BBC Television, 1962);
• Chairman of Meeting Point (BBC Television, 1962);
• Compère on Come Dancing (BBC Television, 1963 – 1965);
• Llangollen (BBC Television, 1963);
• Seeing and Believing: Action and Interaction (BBC One, 1964);
• Dance Date (BBC One, 1965);
• Outlook for Wednesday (BBC One, 1966);
• The Springs of Learning (BBC One 1966);
• Our World (BBC One, 25th June 1967);
• Narrator on Marc Chagall (BBC Two, 1969);
• Viewpoint (BBC One, 1970);
• Inside Medicine (BBC Two, 1973);
• Narrator on Chronicle (BBC Two, 1980).

Radio credits include:

• Compère on Home for the Day (BBC Light Programme, 1955);
• Speak Low (BBC Light Programme, 1962);
• South-East (BBC Radio 4, 1969);
• News Desk (BBC Radio 4, 1970 – 1971);
• The Evening (BBC Radio 3, 1973);
• Maria Callas (BBC Radio 3, 1973);
• World History (BBC Radio 4, 1973);
• Quote…Unquote (BBC Radio 4, 2001 – 2004).

Meryl passed away in 2019, aged 89.

Personal information

Clips of Meryl on The TV Room

Meryl 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):

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Online presence

Acknowledgements