Glass, Katie

Katie was born in Lusaka, Zambia.  Her father was in the army.

The family moved back to the UK when she was 9 months old. They lived in Yorkshire and later Sussex. Her father retired and became a fruit farmer. Katie had an idyllic childhood living on the farm.

During the mid-1970s, she was a regular voice on Radio Orwell, working with Greg Bance and Andy Archer. However, she is best remembered as a long-serving Anglia TV continuity announcer and presenter, from September 1977 until 1999.

She presented The Next Week Show (she was the first person to interview pop star Shakin Stevens on television) and appeared with the puppet cat BC, reading birthday requests.

Katie remained with the station after the switch to voice-only continuity, when Meridian Broadcasting took over continuity for Anglia TV.

Katie also presented The Magic and Mystery Show, with Eamonn Holmes and an arts show with Dale Winton. She worked for a short-lived youth satellite TV channel, Rapture TV, until its closure in 2002.

She later worked under her married name, Dr Tremain, and took up a new role as a media studies lecturer at Norwich City College.

A brush with cancer led Katie to reevaluate her life. She decided to go to university and study history at the University of East Anglia.

After treatment, she went to university at the same time as her children, graduating with a first and going on to do an MA after being awarded a scholarship and then a PhD in masculinity in the 18th century.

Diagnosed with crippling rheumatoid arthritis after her studies, within six months, Katie was confined to a wheelchair. It took doctors two years to bring the condition under control, through a regimen of drugs and treatments.

A keen genealogist, Katie took a job with Norfolk County Council in the registration office (“I’d spent a lot of time in registration offices and so being about to work in one was a real dream for me”) and in 2012, trained as a peripatetic registrar, conducting weddings across Norfolk.

She taught history at the University of East Anglia and had a lively extracurricular job as an extra, appearing in pop videos with Paloma Faith and Tom Hardy’s gritty drama Taboo.

In 2018, Katie appeared on BBC TV’s Wedding Day Winners in her registrar role.  In 2021, she beat 100 others to the role of ‘You’re History’, on The Ranganation (BBC Two), presented by comedian Romesh Ranganathan.

On 27th July 2024, news that Katie had passed away the previous night was announced on Facebook via former colleagues Andy Archer and David Clayton.  She had been unwell for some time.

Correspondence

Paul R. Jackson spoke with Katie in April 2024.

Tell us about your early career and how you joined Radio Orwell

“I left school aged 18 and went to act at the National Youth Theatre and then became a model.

“I then saw an advert in The Times and got a job as a DJ, on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean for a few years.

“When Capital Radio and the local ILR stations launched in 1973, I wrote to all the stations begging to get work and got an interview at Radio Orwell.

“I loved my radio days. I first encountered Keith Martin there, who became my roving reporter on my Saturday lunchtime show.”

How did you join Anglia TV?

“I applied a few times without success. Eventually they took me on and I shadowed Keith Martin, who trained me in the continuity booth.

“He called me ‘Katiepooh’ and I always called him ‘Keithiepooh’.

Personal information

Clips of Katie on The TV Room

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Rewind | Clean Feed

Online presence

Acknowledgements