The Custodian of Our Network

As successive controllers of BBC Radio 4 can testify, when tinkering with the programme schedule you do so at your own peril. It's almost as if the schedule has been passed down on tablets of stone from John Reith himself. As a listener once wrote to former network controller Michael Green: "You are simply the custodian of our network."

From April 1970 the main news and current affairs were Today with Jack de Manio , The World at One, with
William Hardcastle,  the newly introduced PM, again with Hardcastle, News Desk  with
Gerald Priestland (dropped in 1976) and The World Tonight  with Douglas Stuart

Tony Whitby (controller 1969 until his untimely death in 1975) was tasked with re-shaping the network in response to the Broadcasting in the Seventies policy. The schedule inherited from the Home Service was a bit of a dog's dinner: cross-network repeats (with both Radio 2 and Radio 3), schools programmes blocking out huge chunks of the mid-morning and mid-afternoon in term-time, music programmes and concerts (in 1968 these accounted for 21% of Radio 4's output), talks, bits of sports coverage and loads of regional variations. From April 1970 news and current affairs was to be the backbone of the revised Radio 4 schedule. The far-reaching Broadcasting in the Seventies policy naturally enough caused a public outcry, letters to The Times, questions in Parliament and union unrest within the BBC. But the result, at least as far as Radio 4 was concerned, provided a number of significant and long-lasting programmes: Start the Week, Week Ending, PM and Analysis. During Whitby's tenure we also got You and Yours, Sunday, It's Your Line, Stop the Week, Kaleidoscope, Checkpoint and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.   

Ian McIntyre (controller 1976-78) wasn't happy with the way current affairs was serving Radio 4 so in May 1977 he took an axe to it, chopping Today in two and, later that same year, hacking 15 minutes off PM thus earning himself the sobriquet 'Mac the Knife'. Today was now prefaced and separated by two sequences called Up to the Hour that offered the news headlines, sport, weather, paper reviews and Thought for the Day mixed with programme previews plus bits of comedy and music all linked by a staff announcer. The Today production team were unimpressed, "absolute crap, the floor-sweepings" according to editor Mike Chaney, who didn't mince his words. The announcers were not happy, with Peter Donaldson earning a slap on the wrists for introducing one edition as 'Donald Peterson' sending you "round the dial to Radio 3" and "if you're staying, you're very brave, and welcome to Up to the Hour". The full-length Today was re-instated in July 1978.   

The Radio Times billing for the first edition
of Rollercoaster 5 April 1984

Steeped in BBC history as he was, David Hatch (controller 1983-86) a former radio producer, Head of Light Entertainment and Controller of Radio 2, felt he had to tackle the problem zone of the mid-morning dip, i.e. between Today and You and Yours, when listening figures fell off. In April 1984 he introduced, for just one morning a week, Rollercoaster, a programme sequence linked by that safe pair of hands, Richard Baker, and built up of programme fragments such as news, chat, topical phone-ins, traffic reports, features, a cut-down Daily Service, a Morning Story read by Peter Adamson, a radio strip-cartoon called Able Seagull Herring and link-ups with local radio stations. This looser style of scheduling actually pulled in respectable audience figures but was a critical failure and after the six-month experiment it was pulled, never to be repeated.      

When James Boyle was appointed controller in 1997 he was determined to avoid the station becoming a "museum piece" and sought a root and branch review of the programme schedule. He took a more scientific approach by travelling around the country speaking to listeners and by analysing every bit of data he could lay his hands on about listeners habits. A laudable approach but one that was criticised as putting Radio 4 in thrall of "ratings or computer-driven commissioning, more interested in form than in content, neglectful of intuition or serendipity."

The Guardian covers the Radio 4 changes  in the Media supplement
16 March 1998

When the broadsheets got wind of Boyle's "strategic scheduling" they whipped up a storm. "Favourites face axe in revamp of Radio 4." MPs got involved when it was floated that Yesterday in Parliament was to be dropped - it wasn't.  

Boyle's revamped schedule was introduced in April 1998. Out went Kaleidoscope (replaced by Front Row), Week Ending, The Afternoon Shift, Science Now, Medicine Now, Sport on 4, Mediumwave, Breakaway and Does He Take Sugar? Today and You and Yours were extended, Woman's Hour and The Archers retimed but with an extra visit to Ambridge added on Sunday evening. The World at One was docked by 10 minutes and a series of daily lunchtime quizzes introduced, some old (Round Britain Quiz) some new (Full Orchestra). The afternoon dramas, a mixture of new plays and in-week repeats of varying running times, were tidied up. It was a shock to the system and one which the listeners - and Radio 4 listeners love their routine - found hard to take as initially audience figures dipped with Boyle admitting they were "very disappointing".

The 1998 changes at Radio 4 are the subject of this BBC2 documentary from the Close-Up series. A more typical bunch of middle-class listeners you couldn't hope to find: a PR agent, a retired civil servant, an Open University lecturer and an office administrator plus the musings of Daily Telegraph radio critic Gillian Reynolds. James Boyle talks about the schedule shake-up to Feedback's Chris Dunkley. Added to this are some fascinating glimpses behind the scenes at Broadcasting House and look out for an in-vision appearance from chief announcer Peter Donaldson.

Close-Up: Radio Heads was first broadcast on BBC2 on 14 October 1998. Incidentally does anyone know what happened to Douglas Bolger and his tape collection?

As any gardener will tell up a good hard pruning will rejuvenate a plant and so it was with 1998 changes. Listening figures eventually bounced back and although some of the new shows did inevitably fall by the wayside the legacy included Home Truths, Broadcasting House, Saturday Review  and The Archive Hour and most of the timeslots remain pretty much unchanged to this day.

I can't leave the subject without mentioning the furore surrounding the decision of Mark Damazer (controller 2004-2010) to drop the UK Theme. Cue letters from irate listeners, a national petition and an early Day Motion "that this House deplores the decision by the BBC to axe the UK Theme which signals the switchover from the World Service to Radio 4 and symbolises the unity of the UK; and calls on the BBC to reinstate it." After 28 years it got its last play on 23 April 2006. I have a forlorn hope that Radio 4 will give it one last airing on the occasion of their 50th birthday. Heaven help the controller that drops Sailing By.    

Radio 3 at 50 - Part 2

Radio 3 enjoyed a classical music monopoly for the first quarter of a century of its existence until the arrival of Classic FM in 1992.

You could, of course, hear drama and talks over on Radio 4. Radio 3 even covered current affairs on programmes such as Six Continents (1979-87). There was a smattering of classical music elsewhere on the dial on Radio 2 and Radio 4 on These You Have Loved, Baker's Dozen and Melodies for You. Even some of the new ILR stations got in on the act - Capital sponsored the Wren Orchestra of London - but it amounted to no more than an hour or so a week. So when Classic FM came along Radio 3 had to up is game.    

Ahead of Classic FM's September 1992 launch, in June the BBC announced 'BBC Radio 3 FM's New Look' with controller Nicholas Kenyon explaining he wanted to create "access points" for new listeners, whatever that meant. They appointed Saatchi and Saatchi as advertising agents and in the Autumn launched the glossy BBC Music Magazine.

The morning sequence of records linked by a staff announcer, Morning Concert, was dropped in favour of On Air, while the teatime Mainly for Pleasure would become In Tune. The BBC described the new programmes as "two weekday programmes with named presenters, of mostly popular classical music with new headlines, weather, traffic information, previews, news of the music world". The main loss for listeners was a reduction in drama on the station. "Music Plus" was the strapline, but one critic described this as a euphemism for "Drama Less".

This is how On Air sounded when its first edition was heard on the morning of Monday 13 July 1992. Piers Burton-Page, a music presenter and producer and previously a continuity announcer and newsreader on both Radio 3 and Radio 4.
 



Those news headlines that Piers reads every 20 minutes were an unwelcome addition with Kenyon later admitting "our presenters talked too much" Adding "I now tell them to be economical with words. I also accept that perhaps we went slightly too far and threw out too many well-known programme labels." 

In 1993 the BBC produced this glossy 24-page booklet promoting Radio 3's wares. The quote on the back cover from composer Harrison Birtwistle hints that this was the BBC firing its big guns at Classic FM: "Radio 3 is in danger of becoming the last refuge of the serious music-lover. In times when concert programmes show a remarkable similarity, and classical music through the popular media is reduced to a mere cosmetic continuum to our lives, its excellence is increasingly more important". 

Radio 3 at 50 - Part 1

When the Third Network - the umbrella title for the Music Programme, the Third Programme, the Sports Service and the Study Session - became Radio 3 on 30 September 1967, listeners won't have noticed any difference. It was very much business as usual. All the component parts retained their own names, controllership of the Third remained under Howard Newby and the Music Programme continued to be the responsibility of the Controller of the Home Service, which became Radio 4 of course, Gerard Mansell.  

Here's the final Saturday schedule for the Third Network for 23 September 1967, the start of the 21st anniversary week for the Third Programme.

And here's the Radio Times listings a week later under the Radio 3 banner for 30 September 1967.

Daytime on the Third Network was given over to the Music Programme that had been introduced in August 1964; prior to that the channel was mostly silent during the day. About 99% of the daytime music was classical, but during the week there was the odd programme devoted to light music, brass bands and jazz. On weekdays the service ran from 7.00 am to 6.30 pm with an hour's Study Session acting as a buffer before the evening's listening on the Third Programme.

You'll no doubt spot a couple of programmes that still crop up on Radio 3's Saturday schedule. Jazz Record Requests dates from 1964 when Humphrey Lyttelton was the first presenter, from April 1967 Steve Race took over the role. The other is Record Review which had first appeared back in 1957.

Occupying the afternoon slot between 12.30 pm and 6.00 pm was the Sports Service. This had originally started as a summer fixture in 1961 but became an all year programme from, yes you've guessed it 1964. It incorporated Sports Report that had started out on the Light Programme. Note that the presenter for both afternoons is staff announcer Michael de Morgan. This is typical of that period; sports journalists didn't really take over the role until Peter Jones joined the team in 1968.

The evening was given over to the Third Programme offering its mix of classical music, drama and talks. For the opening night under the new network the prime offering was a concert from the Berlin Festival featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez. 

The network didn't fully shift over to its new name for another two and a half years when the policies of the internal review Broadcasting in the Seventies were formally adopted. By 1969 an internal working party had already concluded: "We recommend dropping the names 'Third Programme' and 'Music Programme' and uniting the whole network and programme service under the single title 'Radio 3'. The Third Programme in particular has made a great name for itself and the loss of this title will be depreciated by some but it undoubtedly has connotations which discourage a large number who might have enjoyed many of its programmes from tuning into it. A new title will help to emphasise that we are making changes and that we intend to be free from  past commitments".  

D-Day for the first phase of the network realignment was Saturday 4 April 1970. Here's the Radio 3 line-up, and it's now music all the way from 8.00 am to 11.30 pm with three evening talks, one on Bertrand Russell, the second from economics historian Robert Skidelsky and the third on Frank Lloyd Wright.  There's no drama, that's over on Radio 4's Saturday Night Theatre, but on Sunday there's Marva from Russian playwright Isaac Babel with a cast that includes Paul Eddington and Fenella Fielding. As for the sport that had now shifted over to Radio 2 as Sport on 2.   

On Radio 3's 40th anniversary Tom Service traced the changes in the station's sound and its cultural impact. This edition of Music Matters was heard on Saturday 6 October 2007 and includes contributions from Lord Asa Briggs, Georgina Born, Robert Ponsonby, Harrison Birtwistle, Ned Chaillet, Paul Gambaccini, Nicholas Kenyon and Roger Wright. 




Read more about Network Three and the Study Session at The University of the Air: Network Three and the Study Session

Jingles on 4

Jingles on Radio 4? Surely not. Well, yes. At least twice to my knowledge.

According to David Hendy's Life On Air in 1968 station controller Gerard Mansell oversaw the introduction of "musical jingles during some awkward gaps between programmes and during the run up to bulletins". I've no idea who composed them and I've never heard any recordings of these mystery jingles. Do any copies exist I wonder?

The next set were introduced in late 1977, and I know this for a fact as I recorded them. Arranged by Fritz Spiegl they were a series a short instrumental tracks plus a full two and a half minute theme inspired by Dances from Terpsichore composed by 17th century German composer Michael Praetorius. As far as I'm aware these 'jingles' were in use in late 1977 and most of 1978 and the full Praetorius Dance Tune was used to open up the network. This replaced the Spiegl arranged Skipping Tune, first used in 1973, and in turn was replaced in November 1978 by what would eventually be called the UK Theme.  This corrects the impression I gave in a 2011 blog post which suggested that the UK Theme replaced the Skipping Tune.

Here's a selection of those jingles plus the full theme used to start the day on Radio 4. They conjure up an image of a dance at the Elizabethan court. Welcome to Ye Olde Radio 4 perhaps.

Hendy goes on to mention that "a limited number of Radio 4 jingles are also introduced" in 1978 at the same time as the November wavelength changes, only to be dropped the following year. Now I've been racking my brain about this. Did they use variations on the UK Theme? If they did I don't think I recorded any. Can you offer any assistance here?  

Put Out the Light

Fifty years ago this month, on Friday 29 September 1967, the BBC Light Programme closed down, in name if not entirely in spirit, to be replaced by Radio 2. Regular listeners to the Light wouldn't have been too disturbed by the changes brought about by that young pop upstart Radio 1. Sure Music While You Work and Housewives' Choice had been dropped but you could still get you fill of Max Jaffa, The Dales and the Frank Chacksfield Orchestra.

So how what was offered up on the final day on the Light? Well I've dug out my Radio Times  back issue and taken a look.

I can't be certain if the Light Programme was still using the Oranges and Lemons theme to gently usher in the day, but if it did it may have sounded a little like this. 

The broadcasting day started at 5.30 a.m. (you'll notice a few programmes starting at half past or a quarter past the hour; drawing up the schedule was a considerably more complex task back then) with Breakfast Special. This was always presented by one of the staff announcers, today the turn of Peter Latham. Whilst there are off-air recordings of Breakfast Special with Paul Hollingdale, Ray Moore and John Dunn I've heard nothing of Peter. So instead here he is reading the news on Radio 1 and Radio 2.

David Hamilton once wrote that "my BBC bosses gave me the job of burying the Light Programme". And sure enough he features at either end of the day. "I wondered if the BBC were trying to tell me something".  David had been appearing on the Light since The Beat Show in 1963 ("the band with the beat that's reet") but on the final day "I was tucked away in the basement hosting the very last week of Housewives' Choice... Everybody who was anybody had presented that programme, but it looked as though I would be the only one to do so and then be instantly forgotten."  No recordings of David on Housewives' Choice exist but  we can hear how David sounded in September 1967 thanks to this recording from Friday 8th of Music Through Midnight (more of which below).

One BBC radio stalwart that played out for the final time was Music While You Work. Introduced in 1940 "specially for factory workers to listen to as they work" the Corporation had decided it'd run its course. Featuring on that final show was a musician who'd appeared on the first day too, Jimmy Leach.  A composer, pianist and organist, just before the war Leach had joined forces with the trio Organola, who a year later would become The Organolists. The group went on to appear in 256 editions of Music While You Work. Remarkably that final edition has survived and comes from the archive of Brian Reynolds. You can download it from this page on his Masters of Melody website. Amongst all the traditional tunes the one nod to pop is Penny Lane. The opening announcer is Brian Hudson and rounding things off is Paul Hollingdale.       

Orchestral music was still the order of the day, from light music to the more 'poppy' end of the musical scale, with the BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra, the BBC Midland Light Orchestra, the Joe Loss Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra all featuring at different time of the day. The Midland Light Orchestra was one of the BBC's most prolific in-house orchestras, broadcasting every week, sometimes two or three times a week, from 1947 until the late 1960s - it was eventually disbanded in 1973. On 29 September they were part of the Music in the Air programme under the direction of their regular conductor Gilbert Vintner. This is how they sounded in 1963 performing one of their regular morning sequences of music.  

Some of the former pirate DJs had already come back to dry land before the start of Radio 1 and got a try-out on the Light Programme. That list included Tony Blackburn and Dave Cash plus, and appearing here, Pete Brady with Midday Spin and Keith Skues on Swingalong. 

The cast of The Dales after the final recording in 1969 (Getty Images) 

The Dales, Roundabout - this week with Desmond Carrington - and News Time would transfer to Radio 2. Newly Pressed would become What's New on Radio 1. There's a rather curious programme at 7.30 pm called Movietime. This was a long-running series, it started in 1961 though there'd been similar programmes before that, which provided adapted film soundtracks for a radio audience. One can only imagine how Gordon Gow managed to cut down the nearly two-hour action-packed You Only Live Twice to a meaningful 30 minutes of radio.  

Friday evening sees two programmes that still grace the airwaves five decades on: Any Questions? which would shift over to Radio 4 in 1970 and Friday Night is Music Night, then in its 14th year. The recording of Friday Night is Music Night I can offer nearest to this date is from 25 July 1969. The setting is The Assembly Hall in Worthing. Many of the participants are the same as you'd have heard in September 1967: the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Sidney Torch, William Davies at the piano, The Friday Knights directed by John McCarthy and the announcer Jimmy Kingsbury.  

Diddy David was back in the evening for Music Through Midnight, which would become Late Night Extra on Radios 1 and 2, though, initially at least, without David. By the time midnight arrived it was party time in the rather packed studio. In the nine minutes of off-air audio that survives the DJs who pop in, and most seem to have consumed a fair amount of BBC plonk, include Johnny Moran, Miranda Ward, Duncan Johnson, Tony Blackburn, Chris Denning, Roger Moffat, Bruce Wyndham, Mike Lennox and Bill Crozier plus Cindy Kent of The Settlers.

The task of closing the Light Programme after 22 years fell to staff announcer Roger Moffat with It's One O'Clock. In this clip you'll hear an off-air recording of Roger chatting to his old Make Way for Music chum, the singer Sheila Buxton. We then get the final 2 am news bulletin and closedown which the BBC did keep: "There we end broadcasting in the Light Programme, not just for today but, as it seems, forever..."

Later that morning witnessed, in the words of station controller Robin Scott, "the strident birth-pangs of a much-heralded and rather bouncy new radio network - or, rather, the emergence of two new programmes, one resembling in many respects the old Light (but with a number of new features), the other brand new in style (but sharing some of the most popular features of the other)". It was welcome to the world BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2.

In the summer of 2015 I wrote about the Light Programme. You can read the first in a series of nine posts here.    

BBC Radio 2 remembers the days of the Light Programme in the two-part documentary The Story of the Light the first of which airs this evening. The series is produced by Made in Manchester.  

The World this Weekend

'The Sunday newspaper of the air' was how BBC Home Service controller Gerard Mansell described The World this Weekend when it launched on 17 September 1967. A spin-off of the successful The World at One that had been on-air since October 1965, the Sunday lunchtime version shared the same DNA as its weekday stable mate, with the formidable team of presenter William Hardcastle and editor Andrew Boyle.

Mansell, writing in the Radio Times, explained further: "Sunday journalism has long been a prominent feature of the British scene. In fact, more Sunday papers are published and read in this country than elsewhere in the Western world. Yet, oddly enough, radio has not up till now provided its own 'Sunday newspaper of the air'. At the weekend, with the exception of News Bulletins and Radio Newsreel, it has tended to 'soft pedal' Current Affairs. Now the gap is to be filled with the new Home Service programme The World This Weekend..."

Writing in the same issue William Hardcastle (see article reproduced above) assured listeners that the new programme would not be a "radio rissole - a warm-up material from previous programmes. Like its parent it will be based firmly on the essential and up-to-the minute service of the one o'clock news, and will be wholly composed of brand-new material designed to explain and interpret that news".

From the start, and for many years, The World this Weekend had a full hour which, according to Hardcastle, together with "the more relaxed and spacious atmosphere of the weekend, should give us new opportunities to try some of our less-than-orthodox approaches to the news. It will also enable us to treat some subjects more thoroughly; to look forward more piercingly; to sum up more trenchantly."  

For listeners in the 1970s and 80s the voice most associated with The World this Weekend was Gordon Clough, indeed he was the programmes sole presenter for nearly a decade from 1976. The earliest recording I can track down is from 16 September 1984 with Clough at the helm, the news read by Eugene Fraser - leading on the naming of Prince Harry and the ongoing miners' dispute - and an interview with Energy Secretary Peter Walker.

The regular presenters over the five decades have been: William Hardcastle (1967-69), Anthony Howard (1969-71), David Jessel (1970-71), Nicholas Woolley (1971-75), Gordon Clough (1972-91), John Sergeant (1987-88), Nick Clarke (1989-94), Roger Hearing (1991-92), Susannah Simons (1991-92), James Cox (1992-2005), Shaun Ley (2005 to present), Brian Hanrahan (2006-10) and Mark Mardell (2014 to present).

And Now on Radio 4 - Part 2

BBC Radio 4 offers its listeners, in the words of its one-time controller Tony Whitby, "the tide of the familiar bringing in the unfamiliar." Guiding listeners through that tide are the station's announcers who smooth over "any awkward clashes between new programmes and old, between the traditional and the experimental, between the serious and the frivolous, the uplifting and the downbeat, between the highbrow and the lowbrow". (David Hendy in Life on Air).

This is the second of two posts listing the announcers that have worked on Radio 4 during its 50-year history. In this post I present surnames J to Y. The first post looked at A to I.

Again I express my thanks to David Mitchell who provided the bulk of these names and to those announcers both past and present who responded to my email requests.

Both these posts are dedicated to the memories of Peter Donaldson, Rory Morrison and Howard Philpott. 

Peter Donaldson (aka Lord Donaldson of the Rolls) sports the Slanket of Con. The slanket was a gift to 

Kathy Clugston following complaints about a chilly draught in the continuity studio. 

Announcers, Radio 4 presenters and anyone passing through the studios were photographed in the slanket. 

It was raffled off for Comic Relief in 2012 and found a good home in Belfast. 

(Photo courtesy of Corrie Corfield.) 

Peter Jefferson

Career started with the BBC World Service, initially as a clerk in the Tape Library, then studio manager and announcer. On Radio 2 1970-72 and presented Night Ride. A Radio 4 announcer between 1974 and 2009, retiring in 2001 but continuing as a freelance after that.

Astley Jones

Originally on Radio 4 from 1972 when he was known as Denis Jones. Subsequently he also appeared on BBC Radio London, Radios 1, 2 & 3, the BBC World Service and BFBS. Appeared regularly on Radio 4 until August 1994 but was still doing occasional shifts until 2006.

Geriant Jones

BBC Wales announcer 1970s-1990s. Also did snooker commentary and read classified football results on Wales on Saturday. Occasional shifts on Radio 4 in 1995 and 1996.

John Jones

Brief appearance in September 1986.

Matt Jones

On Radio 4 between December 2001 and May 2002.

Jimmy Kingsbury

Announcer on BBC Radio from the 1950s whose broadcasting career had started on the British Forces Network in Hamburg. Long-running presenter of Friday Night is Music Night in the 1960s. Also on Tonight at Six, Brass and Strings and Night Ride. Occasional newsreading duties in the early days of Radio 4. Became Presentation Editor for Radio 1 and 2 in 1972. Only occasionally on air in the late 70s working final shifts in January 1980. Retired to Cornwall where he died in the 1990s.

Sean Kelly

Although mainly associated with the Light Programme/Radio 2, Sean was reading the news on Radio 4 as late as April 1973, and worked only on Radio 4 between April and September 1972. Joined the BBC in 1964 as newsreader/announcer and presented Morning Music, Sounds of the Night, Breakfast Special, The Late Live Show, Starlight Serenade, The Sound of Strings, It’s One O’Clock, Music All the Way, Night Ride and Star Sound.

Former actor in films and the occasional tv series between 1957 and 1964 (633 Squadron amongst his credits). Later joined Capital Radio as one of the hosts of Night Flight.

Zeba Khan

Broadcaster and producer on Radio 2 and Radio 4 in mid-90s with continuity shifts around 1996-98. SubsEquently worked for the FA Premier League and the House of Commons as a Parliamentary Assistant. Now a freelance writer.

Jonathan Lampon

Radio 4 announcer for six months from September 2001. Later presenter/producer on BBC London. Currently on BBC Radio Leicester.

Jenny Lane

Joined the BBC as a studio manager in 1984, became trainee announcer in 1986 and permanent announcer in 1988 until 1997. 

Peter Latham

Born in Lancashire but educated in New Zealand where he worked as announcer on NZBC 1953-1963. Joined the BBC Light Programme in 1964. Presented Morning Music, Breakfast Special and Melody Hour. Continued on Radio 2 1967 until 1974 hosting Breakfast Special, Night Ride, Late Night Extra, Melody Fair and Star Sound. Occasional shifts on Radio 4 including overnight newsreading. Returned to New Zealand in the mid-70s where he became a priest.

Pennie Latin

Radio producer mainly on BBC Scotland including The Kitchen Cafe. Radio 4 announcer for 5 years.

Douglas Leach

On Radio 4 from June 1968 to November 1969, though mainly on Radio 3 in 1969.

Jim Lee

Got into broadcasting at hospital radio in Coventrty before joining Mercia Sound. Joined the BBC in 1989 at CWR later working at Pebble Mill. Moved to Radio 4 in May 1997. Also on Radio 4 Extra and the World Service.

Peter Lee

On Radio 4 between May 1973 and June 1974.

Paul Leighton

Started as trainee reporter on Birmingham Post. First broadcast as newsreader on the university programme Campus on BBC Radio Nottingham in 1971. Radio Derby’s Political Affairs Producer. Announcer on Radio 4 1979-81 and presented Morning Has Broken before joining Radio 2 1981-2000. Now Chairman of Broadcasting Division of the Chartered Institute of Journalists

James Leighton-Gray

Appeared on Radio 4 from February to July 1987. 

Jackie Leonard

Some newsreading shifts on Radio 4 in July 1997. I have presumed that this is the same Jackie Leonard that presents The Newsroom on the BBC World Service.

Alvar Lidell

Made some of the most historic radio announcements ever including abdication of Edwatd VIII and outbreak of Second World War. Joined the BBC in 1932 and became Deputy Chief Announcer in 1937. One of the main announcers when the Third Programme started in 1946. Continued to appear on the radio until his retirement in 1969. Died in 1981. Listen to Alvar on Desert Island Discs here.

John Livesey

Long-time Channel 4 announcer he had been a member of the BBC radio Drama Repertory Company. On Radio 4 in the late 80s. Now an author. 

Fiona MacDonald

Presenter and newsreader on BBC World Service since 1987. On Radio 4 in 1994.

Sarah MacDonald

BBC Scotland announcer. Radio 4 announcer March to August 2002 fulfilling a "lifelong wish to read the shipping forecast". Now a professional photographer.

Deborah MacKenzie

Presenter on the BBC News Channel and BBC World until 2013. Previously a Studio Manager and then newsreader and presenter on BBC World Service and on Radio 4 (November 1985 to January 1986). Now freelance presenter and trainer.

Laurie MacMillan

Joined the BBC in 1968 as a Trainee Programme Operations Assistant. Studio Manager from October 1973 and then announcer on Radio 4 from June 1975 to March 2001. Died in October 2001.

Roseanne Macmillan

On Radio 4 January to July 1987. BBC TV announcer 1987-93 & 1996.Recently Director of Media at KiSH. Married to weatherman Rob McElwee

Steve Madden

On the BBC World Service and Radio 4 1982-83 before joining Radio 2 in 1983 (though he was still doing an occasional shift on Radio 4 in 1985). Regular presenter of Night Ride and The Early Show and then the overnight show 1995-98 alternating with Charles Nove. Later on BBC Eastern Counties with the evening show. Currently on BBC Radio Berkshire in the early morning.

Sean Maffett

A Squadron Leader in the RAF who first got involved in radio on a civilian attachment to BBC Radio Oxford where he ended up broadcasting with Libby Purves and Timmy Mallett. Progressed to work on BBC World Service's Outlook, was a reporter and producer on Today and appeared on Going Places. Radio 4 announcer August 1987 to January 1988. Has made numerous documentaries and broadcasts usually on an aviation theme. Now provides live airshow commentaries most recently as part of Airsound with former BBC producer Jonathan Ruffle. One of his most memorable moments was taking part in a flypast of Buckingham Palace in a Lancaster bomber reporting live into Radio 4.  

John Marsh

Broadcasting career started in TV as a cameraman and then technical operator and studio management. Announcer on BBC World Service 1970 and Radio 4 from 1973. Transferred to Radio 2 in 1982. Presented Marching and Waltzing. Retired in 2007 but on-air until 2010. Latterly was regular newsreader on Terry Wogan's Radio 2 Breakfast Show and featured in the Janet & John stories. 

Lucy Marshall

Continuity shifts in March to June 2001.

Bryan Martin

Was a child acctor in drama productions for Children's Hour. After working as a medical photographer at Manchester Royal Infirmary he joined the BBC in 1957 as a studio manager. Various announcing shifts in the Regions and on the General Overseas Service before being taken on as full-time announcer in May 1963. Worked on Home, Light and Third and would eventually join the Radio 4 presentation team, becoming senior newsreader in the 1980s. Retired in 1992. Died in 2009 aged 73.

Edgar Martin

Mainly worked as a TV announcer in Northern Ireland, initally at UTV then for the BBC. Radio 4 announcer from March 1978 until 1981. Retired from the BBC in 2006.

Matt McDougall

Only recorded appearance is 31 March 1994.

Maurice McGuire

Radio and TV announcer who was on Radio 4 between September and December 1979. Then a TV news director and TV producer in Belfast and on Songs of Praise. Now Membership Secretary for the BBC Pensioners' Society. 

Annie McKie

After leaving drama school worked in repertory theatre for eight years. She began her career in broadcasting as an in vision continuity announcer on HTV West and eighteen months later she moved to the BBC's Points West. After presenting programmes on BBC Radios Bristol and Gloucestershire she became a Radio 4 announcer in 1998 and started to read the news for Radio 4 in 2004. Left the station in 2012. Now a fiction writer and coaches and mentors other writers.

David Miles

Joined the BBC in 1975 as a Studio Manager. Trainee announcer on Radio 4 appearing on-air May to July 1980. BBC TV continuity announcer 1981-1995. On Channel 4 before returning to Radio 4 in 1996.  Has also announced on a number of Sky documentary channels.

Simon Milner

Joined the BBC in 1981 as a studio manager. Radio 4 announcer Nov 1985-Apr 1986 then on Radio 3 Oct 1987-June 1990. Left the BBC to work for the British Council. 

Roger Moffat

BBC announcer in the 1950s long associated with the Northern Dance Orchestra show Make Way for Music. In the 60s he also presented It’s One O’Clock, Music Through Midnight, Startime, Stay Late and Midday Spin. Continued with Radio 2 on Night Ride and Things Are Swingin’. Appeared on Radio 4 in the late 1960s. Left the BBC and was next heard on Radio Hallam in the mid-70s. Died in 1986

Kate Moon

Previously a Studio Manager and Station Assistant before becoming an announcer on Radio 4 (1980-86) and then Channel 4. Now runs Kate Moon Management Ltd talent agency.

Ray Moore

Best known for hosting shows on Radio 2 in the late 60s and early 70s Ray was still reading the news and announcing across the networks until early 1972. A former TV announcer he presented on the Light Programme from 1966. Became a regular on Breakfast Special and for many years Radio 2's Early Show. Died in 1989. 

Rory Morrison

Presenter at Beacon Radio and WABC 1987-1990. Joined BBC working in local radio - Leeds, York & Cleveland - then BFBS and finally Radio 4  as announcer then newsreader from 1994. Died in 2013.

Allis Moss

BBC TV and radio announcer working for Radio 4 (between April and September 1997) and the World Service. BBC local stations include Sussex and Kent. Appeared with Danny Baker on his Radio 1 and Radio 5 shows. Also on LBC, Viking Radio and Radio France International. In 2016 & 2017 was the official announcer at Wimbledon. 

Alexander Moyes

BBC radio announcer and newsreader from late 40s. Also presented The Golden Treasury of Music and Song and Pick of the Week on Home Service and Melody Hour, Music We Love and Limelight on Light Programme and Morning Melody on Radio 4. Worked for the station until 1969. Also on Radio 3. 

Patrick Muirhead

Worked as a journalist and broadcaster at LBC/IRN, Radio 1, BBC World Service, BSB, ITV in London, the South east and Channel islands. Radio 4 announcer and newsreader from December 1997 until August 2004, when he left the BBC. In recent years he was running a menswear shop in Sussex before retraining as a commercial helicopter pilot and moving first to the Seychelles and then Antigua. Now back in the Seychelles working for the country's Broadcasting Corporation (Photo is taken in Mahe beach). Audio includes news of the Twin Towers disaster that Patrick considers his "undoubted broadcasting career highlight". 

Martin Muncaster

Long-running presenter of South at Six on BBC TV during the 60s, he'd previously worked at Southern TV. Career started with the BBC 's General Oversea's Service in 1956 and the following year an in-vision announcer on BBC TV. Also a compere on Come Dancing and presented music shows on the Light Programme and Today on the Home Service/Radio 4 (1965-69). Introduced Let the Peoples Sing on Network Three/Radio 3. On Radio 4 presented Morning Melody, All Kinds of Music, 4th Dimension, For All Seasons and reporting on The Countryside in... Read the news and announced until 1973. Also presented Songs of Praise on BBC1 and Sunday Half-Hour on Radio 2. 

Katrin Mylor

World Service newsreader and presenter in the 1990s. Some Radio 4 continuity shifts between November 1991 and May 1992 and again in April 1994.

Caroline Nicholls

BBC career started as a journalist and producer at BBC Southern Counties Radio. Has been on Radio 4 since 2004

Colin Nicol

Born in Australia his first job was as radio announcer on 6PM-AM and then 6KY. Travelling to Europe he signed up with Radio Atlanta in 1964 before transferring to Radio Caroline. Radio England, Britain Radio and Radio Luxembourg followed until he became a BBC staff announcer in 1968 mainly on Radio 2 but with some shifts on Radio 4. Moved to BFBS in Malta and Gibraltar before a return down under and back to Radio 6KY. Last reported as running a city centre precinct in Perth

Neil Nunes

Broadcasting career started in Jamaica and the Caribbean. A correspondent for the BBC Caribbean Service. Joined the BBC World Service as current affairs producer and presenter and a newsreader. Joined Radio 4 as an announcer in 2006. 

Sarah Olowe

As a journalist she was very active in the NUJ. Worked at Radio 4 as a reporter and presenter and on BBC World Television. Continuity announcer December 1994 to August 1995 and again in April 1996. Died in 2008 aged just 45.

Jamie Owen

Joined the BBC in 1986 in the Radio 3 music department then Radio 4 as newsreader and announcer from 1990 where he continued to work occasional shifts until September 1997. Moved back to his native Wales as TV announcer and presenter of BBC Wales Today. Has a weekly show on Radio Wales.

Geoff Oxley

Whilst working in education, presented arts shows on BBC Radio Nottingham and news bulletins for BBC East Midlands TV. On Radio 2 from 1989 and occasionally presented Night Ride. Some continuity shifts on Radio 4 in late 1991/early 1992 before joining Look East as a news presenter (1992-96). Became a humanist funeral celebrant and now retired but busy as a crossword setter for The Daily Telegraph (as Firefly) and the village magazine.

Kate Palmer

On Radio 4 in October 1990

Andrew Peach

Presents a morning news and phone-in show on BBC Radio Berkshire and in October 2017 will mark his 25 years at the station. He has also presented network programmes such as PM on BBC Radio 4, The Stephen Nolan Show on BBC Radio 5 Live and Newshour on the BBC World Service. Grew up in Bloxwich in the West Midlands. In 1989, he won a competition to spend a few days in Cologne compiling radio reports about life in Germany. He loved it so much that while reading Modern History at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, he started getting up as early as the rowers to present travel bulletins on BBC Radio Oxford. He has also presented programmes on BBC Radio Solent and BBC WM. Was a Radio 2 announcer and newsreader from 1998-2015 and joined the Radio 4 team for some evening shifts from 2016.      

Brian Perkins

Born in New Zealand his first broadcast was for NZBS in May 1962. In the UK from 1965 working across all networks and hosting shows on the Light Programme. Returned to New Zealand in 1969 before rejoining the BBC in the summer of 1978 as  an announcer on Radio 4. Made guest appearances on Noel Edmond's Radio 1 shows from 'Perkins Grange' in the early 80s. Retired in 2003 but continued as a freelance until 2010. (Thanks to Corrie Corfield for this audio).

Howard Philpott

Born in London and raised in Bexhill-on-Sea. Trained as a quantity surveyor before joining the BBC as a studio manager in 1975. Moved through a series of production and journalism posts until he went freelance and began working as an announcer and newsreader for BBC World Service. Joined Radio 4 in 2003. Died in 2017.

Donald Price

Started on the Home Service in July 1964, appearing on the Third Programme from 1966. Some Radio 4 shifts but was a regular announcer on Radio 3 for many years. 

Iain Purdon

Radio 2 1982-94 where he was Presentation Editor and only occasionally on-air. Previously at BBC Radio Scotland and Radio CWR. Moved to BFBS and then short stint on Radio 4 in 1994 before moving to BBC World Service (from 1995) as newsreader. Read the last ever news bulletin from Bush House in July 2012. Retired in 2016.

Susan Rae

Two stints on Radio 4, first between 1983 and 1986, and again from 2003 to date. First job with the BBC in Aberdeen before moving down to Radio 4. Became a presenter on You and Yours and then BBC1's Open Air. Narrated many documentary series. Moved back to radio in at the World Service in 2000 and then Radio 4. Also on Radio 4 Extra and newsreader on Radio 3. 

Dalya Raphael

Newsreader on commercial stations Heart, Red Rose, Piccadilly, London News Radio and News Direct (1992-98). Channel 5 news then moving to BBC News. Presenter and newsreadr on Radio 5 live 2002-2012. Some shifts on Radio 2 2014-15 and recently in 2015 & 2016 on Radio 4. As voiceover artist and currently the voice of Smooth Radio.

Cormac Rigby

Joined the BBC as a radio announcer in 1965 in response to an ad in the NME. Appeared on Radio 4 in the late 1960s. In 1968 attached as a programme planner for the Third Programme (by then part of Radio 3). Became the Presentation Editor in 1972. Left in 1985 to join the Catholic priesthood. Died in 2007.

Harriet Riley

On Radio 4 from June to December 1988.

John Roberts

A New Zealander who was a relief BBC TV newsreader in the early 60s then a Home Service and Light Programme announcer from 1964. Presented music programmes on the Light including the first edition of Breakfast Special. Appeared on all the new networks, but mainly Radio 3 and Radio 4 between September and December 1967. 

Alison Rooper

Brought up in Hong Kong where her mother, Tina Mickel, was a broadcaster. In UK studied at Central School of Speech and Drama and was a voice and dialect coach before joining the World Service as newsreader. TV announcer on TVS and Channel 4 before going back to the BBC as a newsreader on Radio 4 from 1989 to 2005 then moving over to Radio 3.

Clive Roslin

Best known as a BBC TV announcer 1964-1983 but also on the Light Programme in 1966-4 presenting International Spin and Twelve O'Clock Spin. Part of  launch team on London's LBC hosting The Afternoon Show then in 1974 with Douglas Cameron on AM. Radio 4 announcer from 1983 until July 1991. Was recently on Sunday Jewish Radio prior to its closure.

Claire Runacres

Continuity announcer on Radio 4 from July 2003 to March 2004. Broadcast journalist and newsreader on 6 Music and Radio 2.

Andy Rushton

Former studio manager who was Test Match Special announcer 1998-2007. Also did normal Radio 4 announcing shifts between 1994 and 1997, and again in May 1999. Now a recording engineer for Radio 3.

Tom Sandars

Radio career started on BBC Radio Shropshire in 1998 then Radio WM. Presenter on Midlands Today and Sky News. Newsreader on BBC Radio 5 live (2003-2013) and Radio 2 and 6 Music (2007-2017). Started continuity shifts on Radio 4 from June 2017.

Vaughan Savidge

Broadcasting career started in Hong Kong . Job with BFBS led to a move to Gibraltar and then Germany where he worked in TV. Worked on producing training and corporate films for BFBS in London and then back in Hong Kong. Joined BBC as freelance in 1996 working on the World Service, Radio 4 and Radio 3.

Tanya Schlumm

No information available

Peter Shoesmith

Former actor before moving into TV newsreading in the mid-60s at TWW, Tyne-Tees TV announcer for the BBC, Southern & Anglia. BBC World Service newsreader from 1970 with some work on Radio 4 from October 1972 to May 1973.

Andrea Simmons

Radio 2 newsreader 1992-2009 also working regularly on BBC Radio 5 Live. Appeared on Radio 4 in 1995. TV continuity announcer and voiceover work.

Juliette Skelly

BBC TV announcer, as Juliet Stubbing, from around 1989. Briefly on Radio 4 in 1994 an announcer. Now helps run Ian Skelly & Associates for her husband, Radio 3 broadcaster Ian Skelly.

Chris Slade

Presenter of Spotlight on BBC1 in the south-west. Radio 4 announcer and newsreader from April 1979 to 1989. Now runs number1media consultancy. 

Neil Sleat

Started as a trainee engineer and then studio manager for the BBC World Service. Announcer on BBC for Europe before joining Radio 4 in 1999.

Mary Small

Formerly on BBC Radio Oxford and BBC TV announcer. For many years a World Service presenter and newsreader. On Radio 4 in 1995.

Alan Smith

After a career in business management he moved into broadcasting at BBC Radio Cumbria. Joined Radio 4 in 2002. Also read the news on Radio 2 for a while.

Douglas Smith

Famously the announcer on Beyond Our Ken and Round the Horne. Started with the BBC Overseas Service in 1946, later worked on all the domestic networks. Continued to work on Radios 2 & 4 until 1972.

Zeb Soanes

Trained as an actor. TV announcer on BBC1 & BBC2 from 1998 and BBC Four at launch in 2002. Joined Radio 4 in 2003. Has presented concerts on Radio 3 and BBC TV and narrates documentaries. 

Diana Speed

Trained as an actress. Joined Grampain TV as announcer and newsreader in 1986. Initially joined Radio 4 in 1999 as freelance, becoming full-time in December 2002.

Nick Spilman

Joined the BBC as a studio manager in 1979 before moving into TV and radio continuity. On Radio 4 around 1985. Also TV producer/director.

John Spurling

BBC announcer from 1963. Left in 1966 but returned in 1967 and was on-air until Sept 1968, mainly on Radio 3 but some Radio 4 shifts. Author and playwright.

Jonathan Staples

Started in local radio at BBC Oxford and BBC Cambridgeshire. A 6-month stint at Radio 4 in 1988/89 was followed by BFBS Radio, LBC, News Direct 97.3 and Radio Northampton. Now runs a video production company.

Sara Starling

Radio Studio Manger before moving into announcing and newsreading on Radio 4 (1995-97), World Service and BFBS. Was TV Channel Director for BBC Wales then newsreader on BBC Radio Wales. Now freelance voiceover 

Jane Steel

Originally on Radio 4 as Jane Watson from August 1994 to December 2005 but back on the station as announcer and newsreder. On Channel 4 in the mid-90s.  

CathyStewart

A BBC TV announcer for many years. Also presenter on BBC World Service. Some announcing shifts on Radio 4 in May & June 1985. Also a reader on Feedback and Stop Press.

Richard Straker

Best known as a BBC TV announcer 1971-95. Joined the BBC as a studio manager in 1963 later working for news and current affairs. Radio 4 announcer October 1969-January 1970 before moving to TV.

Moira Stuart

Started at BBC in 1970s as a production assistant. In October 1977 became an announcer on Radio 4 before moving to Radio 2 in March 1980. Left the station in July 1981. Joined BBC TV as newsreader in 1981 before being dropped in 2007. In 2010 re-joined Radio 2 as newsreader on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show and also has a Sunday evening music show.

Robert Sutton

Newsreader on Radio 4 between Oct 1972 and March 1973.

David Symonds

Two stints on Radio 4 1978-79 and 1985-88. Broadcasting career encompases New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, Light Programme, Radio 1, Radio Luxembourg, Capital Radio, Radio Victory, Radio 2, Capital Gold, Coast FM in Cyprus and currently The Roolz, an online station from south west France.

Jonathan Thompson

Radio 4 announcer from September 2001 to February 2002.

Lucy Thorpe

News presenter on GLR and broadcast journalist on Radio 5 live. On Radio 4 in the mid-90s. Has since moved into PR and social media marketing.

Sheila Tracy

First broadcast was as the Tracy Sisters in 1958 on In Town Tonight and then Workers Playtime, Mid-Day Music Hall and Saturday Club. BBC TV announcer from February 1961. On Light Programme in February 1963 presenting Late Choice. Also on Melody Fair, Anything Goes and Music for Late Night People. Presented regional tv programmes such as Spotlight South West and South Today. On Radio 4 as announcer from October 1973. Joined Radio 2 in January 1977 where she hosted The Late Show, You and the Night and the Music, The Early Show and Saturday Night with the BBC Radio Orchestra. Best known for the Truckers’ Hour and Big Band Special from 1979 to 2001. Last regular radio appearances on The Wireless. Died in 2014. 

Philip Trelevan

On Radio 4 for a couple of periods: July to October 1973 and February to August 1974.

Luke Tuddenham

Broadcasting career started at BBC Radio Norfolk. After a period in South Africa and then back in East Anglia he joined Radio 4 in 2011.

Steve Urquhart

Radio documentaries / features producer and sound artist, also working as announcer on Radio 4 and 4 Extra from 2012 to 2016. Previously a promotions producer for Radio 4 and Radio 3. Also worked for the Prison Radio Association and now provides continuity announcements for BBC One and BBC Two Scotland. Radio career began in 1995 at Subcity Radio in Glasgow, followed by Jazz FM, Radio Scotland, Raffles FM and then as presenter/producer at BBC Radio Cumbria and BBC WM.

Simon Vance

Started at Radio Brighton in 1980  as a Station Assistant before joining Radio 4 in 1983 as newsreader/announcer until February 1992. Read Talking Books for RNIB. In 1992 moved to California where he runs a business reading audiobooks. 

Kate Walsh

Actress and voiceover artist. Worked as continuity announcer on Discovery UK channels. Some Radio 4 announcing shifts in late 2016/early 2017 and now regularly heard on BBC TV. 

Humphrey Walwyn

BBC newsreader 1970-71 on Radios 1, 2 & 4 and World Service, working on Radio 4 from June to October 1970. One of the presenters of Night Ride. Head of Popular Music at BBC World Service 1974-85, Head of BBC Records & Tapes 1985-88, CEO Mainstream Records 1990-96, Director of Product Development at Linguaphone 1996-2000

John Webster

BBC announcer from the mid-1940s to 1972. Best remembered for his reading of the classified football results on Sports Report (1948-72). Presented a number of music shows on the Light Programme and Can I Help? and Morning Melody on Radio 4. Last shifts on Radio 4 in October 1970.

Jane Westhorp

On Radio 4 in 1989

Jonathan Wheatley

TV announcer at Meridian and HTV Wales. News presenter on Sky. Radio 4 announcer briefly in April 1996. Presenter and announcer on BBC World Service 2004-2012. Also worked for Monocle 24 2011-15.

Marion White

Scottish TV announcer in 1970s. On Radio 4 February to September 1974.

Dwight Whylie

BBC’s first black announcer joining the BBC in 1965. Previously chief announcer with the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation and then working in the High Commissioner's Office in London.  Presenter on Radio 1 & 2 of Night Ride where he also read the news and announced. Also on Radio 4 in the late 60s. Returned to Jamaica in the early 70s and headed the JBC. Died in 2002

Roy Williams

Continuity announcer in the 40s, 50s and 60s appearing on Radio 4 briefly until his retirement in November 1967.

Roy Williamson

BBC studio manager in 1956 becoming an announcer on the Light Programme in 1957. On the Music Programme in 64-65 with Your Midweek Choice. Newsreader on BBC1's Town and Around.Newsreader on Radio 4 (1967-74)  before moving over to Radio 3.

David Willmott

On Forces Broadcasting Service in Egypt in 1950 before joining the BBC as a studio manager in 1953. Worked in both radio and television as a drama director. For a time at the BBC in Manchester. Announcer and newsreader on Radio 4 and then Radio 3 from 1979. Returned to Radio 4 in the late 80s until 1993.

Bruce Wyndham

Best known as a presenter of Breakfast Special on the Light Programme and Radio 2. Read the first news bulletin on Radio 4 on the morning of 30 September 1967 and read other bulletins until November. "Half wind, half ham" joined the BBC in 1948 as an announcer on the General Overseas Service. Became duty operation assistant in 1959 before moving across to the Light Programme as announcer in 1964.  Continued to appear on Radio 2 until 1975. Freelance from 1976 when he worked for Radio 210 in Reading and made a brief return to Radio 2 in June 1977 for the odd news reading shift. Moved to Radio Hallam in 1978 and died in Sheffield later that year. 

Catriona Young

Studio manager and arts producer before moving to Radio 4 as announcer and newsreader from April 1988 to November 1993. On Radio 3 where she presented On Air, Morning Collection and now Through the Night.