He was born John Ducker in Leicester. He is an actor who is best known as the much-loved voice of computer dog K9, trusty sidekick to Doctor Who (1977 – 1981, 1983, 2006 and 2008).
He later reprised the voice of K9 in K9 and Company (1981), Sarah Jane Adventures (2007 and 2009 – 2010) and K9 (2009 – 2010).
He also made guest appearances in character:
- Blue Peter (1977 and 2006);
- Weakest Link (2007);
- Stargazing Live: Back to Earth (2013 – 2014);
- Pointless Celebrities (2013 and 2017).
He left school and worked in a bookshop and then as a porter in the Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital.
He joined the Leicester Dramatic Society and ultimately applied for and won a place at RADA, alongside Anthony Ainley and Jacqueline Pearce.
He has been an actor since 1964, working in both repertory and West End productions, including As You Like It (Open Air Theatre, 1965), Toad of Toad Hall, Plaza Suite (1969), Flint (1970), and Don’t Start Without Me (1971).
He later had his own one-man show A Dog’s Life.
He was the original Bungle the bear in Thames TV’s children’s lunchtime show Rainbow (1972) and appeared as Jigg and voiced Biggum in BBC Children’s Jigsaw (1979 – 1983).
He appeared in the film Tarka the Otter (1979).
When not acting, John also worked as a freelance out-of-vision announcer for BBC North in the late-1960s and in London.
He introduced the memorable edition of Blue Peter (BBC One) on 22nd February 1971, when the girl guides sang If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands whilst standing around a camp fire in the studio and the flames got somewhat out of control, before being extinguished.
John voiced BBC Presentation trails for network BBC TV in London (1972 – c. 1977) and in the 1990s, he was a freelance announcer at Channel 4.
He had a short-term contract working for BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service)/BAOR (British Army on the Rhine), based in Celle, under the direction of former BBC TV announcer/director Colin Ward-Lewis.
He voiced letters on Points of View (1980) and for the Dalek Battle Computer (1988).
In the 1980s, he became a freelance question setter for long-running BBC One quiz series Mastermind.
His other acting credits include:
- Crossroads (1967 – 1968);
- Dad’s Army (1969);
- Crown Court (1977);
- Blake’s 7 (1978 and 1979);
- Rings on Their Fingers (1979);
- Victor in Sorry! (1981);
- Tucker’s Luck (1985);
- Beadle’s About (1986 – 1987);
- Shadow of the Noose (1989);
- ‘Allo ‘Allo! (1989);
- The Bill (1993);
- Minder (1994);
- Bugs (1995);
- Longitude (2000);
- Doctors (2001).
A lively interest in both classical music and particularly wine, led John to develop a longstanding parallel career as a wine educator and in his birth name (John Ducker), he trained at the Wine and Spirit Education Trust.
He is a member of both the Association of Wine Educators and the Circle of Wine Writers.
He’s a freelance lecturer in wine and a regular tutor for The Wine Education Service Ltd. He is also an occasional wine lecturer to captive audiences on luxury cruises.
John is an enthusiastic cook and contributed a chapter on teaching wine tasting (as John Ducker) to Educated Tastes: Food, Drink and Connoisseur Culture, edited by Jeremy Strong and published by the University of Nebraska Press.
John served as a local Justice of the Peace for over 25 years, having served as deputy chairman of his local Bench (Ealing) for six years.
In 2002 and 2010, he stood as a candidate for the Liberal Democrats in the district of Perivale in the local council elections for Ealing London Borough Council, but failed to be elected.
His autobiography Flight of the Budgerigar was published by Hirst in October 2011 and was superseded by an updated and expanded version, Tweaking the Tail, published in July 2013 by Fantom Films.
A book of favourite recipes collected across the years, Dog’s Dinners (the title referencing his work as the voice of K9) was published by Fantom in May 2014.
He married Judy on 2nd August 1969. At this time she was working as a production assistant on Blue Peter.
Correspondence
Paul R. Jackson corresponded with John in August 2017.
John recalled how he got into announcing:
“The origins of my announcing career are due to a close friend of my wife, Kate Willmott, who had just married her husband David. He was presentation organiser north at BBC Manchester, in 1965.
“He suggested I come up at weekends to cover ‘graveyard shifts’. There were new skills to learn – the ability to write and deliver concise ‘sound bites’ and handle exacting time constraints.
“After 9.30pm we took calls to the Duty Office. One call came from a noisy pub and someone hummed something I recognised.
“He thought it was from Handel’s Messiah, but I told him it was the Trumpet Voluntary by Jeremiah Clarke.
“The next day I was gently carpeted for not having cleared composer attributions properly to accord with current BBC guidelines.”
“I have no memory of female announcers at TVC, though later with Pam Masters in charge I’m sure there must have been one or two. There was certainly a better gender balance at Channel 4 in the nineties however, under Cherry Cole.”
“The only anecdote of the early days in Pres is secondhand, alas, via my wife Judy who, for a short time in her own BBC career was a PA in Pres.
“At that time the weather forecast map of the UK was on a large metal board upon which the forecaster could attach either magnetic lettering or flexible magnetic strips indicating isobars etc.
“On one live forecast the letter ‘F’ in the word ‘FOG’ fell off the board onto the studio floor. The weather presenter, having noticed this and feeling he ought to apologise for the magnetic failure on air said in closing – ‘Oh, and by the way, we apologise for the F in FOG.’
“Enough said!”
Personal information
Clips of John on The TV Room
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Online presence
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: John Leeson. SUPPLIED BY: Paul R. Jackson. COPYRIGHT: Unknown.
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