Ross-Barnard, John

John was born in October 1939. He received his education at Wellington College, Crowthorne (1953- 1958).

John worked as a news presenter on offshore radio stations, including Radio Invicta and Radio 390, broadcasting under the on-air name JRB (1964 – 1966).

John served as a voice-only BBC TV network announcer between 1966 and 1968, working across BBC One and BBC Two.

Other roles:

• Network presentation director and assistant presentation editor (1968 – 1973);
• Manager, Foreign (later International) Recordings (1973 – 1978);
• Head of BBC Video (1978 – 1984);
• Chief executive of Coventry Cable TV (1984 – 1987);
• Henley College (1988);
• CEO Satellite Media Services (Capital Radio) (1987 – 1993);
• Assigned to Peace Initiative in Bosnia (1993 – 2000) – specialising in pirate radio and TV.

Between 1990 and 2015, John welcomed visitors to the extended Shakespeare country, particularly those arriving from the USA and Australasia.

In Keith Skues’ acclaimed book on pirate radio history, Pop Went the Pirates, published in 1994, John described his recruitment to BBC TV Presentation:

“Dave Cash’s agent Chris Peers had contacts in BBC TV. He got me an audition.

“I wrote scripts, recorded announcements, read a news script. I read in the style of BBC One: short and precise – and in the style of BBC Two: rambling but worthy.

“Another announcer Tim Nichols, guarded my ego and prompted me. At that point I was extremely nervous and not a little worried.

“I was offered a month’s trial contract.”

His grandson shared on Facebook that John was receiving end of life care at Coventry University Hospital, following complications from a kidney infection.

He died on 2nd November 2022.

Correspondence

Paul R. Jackson corresponded with John in August 2017.

“I am fully involved this week with the 50-year anniversary of the Marine Offences Act 1967 when we all came ashore from Radio Caroline and her half-sisters/390/Radio England/Britain Radio etc.

“Most of my colleagues went to Radio 1 while I began my presentation life as a BBC Two ‘narrator’ (1966 – 1968) and then moved to Manchester and worked on Look North (1968 – 1970).

“I recall as a BBC One announcer in Manchester in 1968, we could only opt-out for a regional announcement by arrangement with the Daily Mirror, as they used the line to print its Northern Ireland edition.

“I returned to TVC as assistant presentation editor (1970 – 1974) and in 1973 had a spell as a newsreader on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2.

“I went back to BBC Enterprises to start and head up BBC Video. A joint venture, followed with British Telecom cable now BTTV, then on to Capital Radio to launch the independent programme distribution service Satellite Media Services.

“The Magistracy followed and a secondment to work with the EU in Bosnia helping the civil war peace process, confronting the use of pirate radio and legitimate radio and television in Sarajevo and elsewhere in the Balkans. Scary stuff that.”

Personal information

Clips of John on The TV Room

John 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