Miles, David

David was born in 1954. He joined the BBC in 1975, working initially as a studio manager in Bush House.

He moved to BBC Radio 4 as a producer on Today and went behind the microphone as a trainee announcer (May 1980 – July 1980).

He had an attachment as a BBC TV network announcer (April 1983 – February 1984). He then joined the team on a permanent basis, until 1987. After another attachment, he returned in 1988 and remained until 12th June 1995.

He was on daytime duty for BBC One’s new daytime schedule on Monday 27th October 1986 and introduced the first edition of the One o’clock News (presented by Martyn Lewis).

He was on duty on BBC One for Christmas Day to introduce HM The Queen six times, including 1985, 1987 and 1990.

He presented Noticeboard (BBC One, 1986 – 1987) and was a relief in-vision newsreader on BBC South (December 1991).

In 1990, he voiced BBC TV presentation trails and was a presentation director/assistant editor.

Just before 1.10am on 12th June 1995, David bowed out of BBC TV continuity, closing down BBC One with these words:

“…but as I say, BBC One has come to an end for another night and I’ve come to the end of this channel for the present.

“Many thanks for your company now and in the past. And on behalf of everyone working at Television Centre, this is David Miles wishing you a very peaceful night. Goodnight.”

And upon closer inspection, the words “…the end of this channel for the present…” sounded very much like “the end of this channel 4 the present…” – undoubtedly an intentional reference to his new job.

He moved to Channel 4, taking on a similar out-of-vision announcing role (1995 – 1996) – minus the vision mixing which he would’ve been used to in his BBC role.

Incidentally, at the time of his departure from the BBC, the network control areas had just been replaced and the new regime meant that continuity announcers no longer performed any vision mixing.

Under the new arrangements, from a technical perspective, fading up/down the microphone in the announcing booth or cueing breakdown music was about as complex as it got.

David left Channel 4 to return to BBC Radio 4 as an announcer (1996 – late-2018). He continued to feature in pre-recorded continuity for BBC Radio 4 Extra after he left BBC Radio 4. He has also announced on BBC Radio 5.

David has announced on the UK versions of the History Channel and Military History (dates TBC) and has also narrated documentaries for the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic and Biography.

David has a great love of boats and has been a compére at the Admiral’s Cup Ball at Cowes in the presence of HRH The Prince Edward.

Personal information

Clips of David on The TV Room

David 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