The Continuity Booth
ITV 1 - Wales
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By passing the 11-Plus, Greg gained entry to his local grammar school in North London, but education seemed to gain little purchase on his mind, which was focussed on tuning around the short-wave, discovering the existence of off-shore radio and determination to escape as soon as possible.
As a DJ on off-shore radio, Greg could be heard on Radio Essex from early-1966, then Radio 270, Radio 390 and briefly, before its demise, on Radio Caroline North. He has been a DJ and presenter at several local radio stations, including Breeze AM (as was), Beacon Radio (ditto), Two Counties Radio (ditto), LBC and, for four-and-a-half years in the late-1970s, at Radio Orwell.
As well as playing at gramophones, a presenter in those days needed to know all about meaningful speech, at which Greg, in hindsight, reckons he was particularly adept. At the time, he was perceived as 'esoteric' and even 'abstract' but he expresses in 2008 - and as 'technically' still a freelance voice-over, presenter and writer - a firm belief that radio was made for qualities such as his.
As Roger Scott (no relation to another broadcaster of the same name, who came to prominence in the UK in the early-1970s), Greg appeared in-vision as an announcer at Harlech from March 1968 to c. January 1969. His style of presentation - developed previously on off-shore radio - was deemed too risky and he received marching orders to the out-of-vision-only department. He remained there until his departure a couple of months later.
Freelance continuity (including at Granada) and voice-over work was Greg's professional occupation until reaching the announcer's desk at Anglia, where local news bulletins and presentation of the Birthday Club were delivered to the regional audience, some of whom objected to the long-haired 'object' on their screen!
Greg prides himself in being probably the only TV announcer to have been bought a short hair wig by his employer, as well as wishing his viewers "peace" at closedown. Surprisingly, he lasted a full year in Norwich, until October 1970, when the call came from the North East. His entertainment value was diluted again at Tyne Tees, due to all continuity being OOV. But this was rectified eventually, as an early-evening glory spot was introduced, featuring the announcer on camera revealing highlights of viewing ahead.
In Newcastle, in line with the policy of having the promos scripted and arranged by the announcers themselves, Greg quickly learned and perfected the art of sculpting imaginative and highly-creative blurb, which often had little to do with programme content. His association with the ITV company lasted until the lure of another spell of off-shore radio became irresistible in early-1972.
During his television days, Greg freelanced as an announcer at ATV and Southern, as well as revisiting Granada. Promotional trail voice-over work proved more sustainable and more successful. As the voice of Anglia for a few years in the 1980s, he travelled weekly (sometimes more) to Norwich. There was a weekly appointment in the voice-over booth at HTV for three years in the late-1980s and throughout the '80s and '90s, few weeks elapsed when Greg did not put his voice to LWT promos.
Voice-over work of all kinds had been a staple of his entire professional journey until the early-twenty-first century, when styles changed and his received pronounciation and great voice could no longer be disguised.
Greg's radio ambitions are not over yet! Tying-in with an interest in modern - i.e. twentieth and twenty-first century 'classical' music - he aims to interest before long a programme controller who really, really wants to incorporate into the schedule a regular, if not daily, excursion into the world of 'unlistenable' but actually highly intoxicating arrangements of sound. Mixed with Greg's intoxicating arrangement of words and intelligent, humourous world-view, large audiences are guaranteed!
He realises that by divulging this idea, to which he holds intellectual copyright, the concept could go walking. But nobody could execute it as well!
Voice only continuity announcer for HTV West from 1994 until 2000, when continuity was moved to Southampton. Since then, Philip has freelanced for HTV Wales and continues with other voice-over work. He has recently landed a plum job with the global news network, CNN.
Philip is also writing for television. He has also worked on the Meridian production of 'Under Offer', a panel gameshow shown on the national ITV 1 network throughout summer 2002.
David Bennett, a continuity announcer with Grampian Television, stayed in Aberdeen after retiring from the company and he is a frequent correspondent to local newspaper letters pages. David has announced on many other ITV stations, including Anglia, HTV and ATV.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Colin Berry, now a well known news reader for BBC Radio 2, was a relief announcer for HTV West (and on one occasion, HTV Wales) during the summer of 1971.
Colin recalls: "My summer relief stint at HTV in 1971 was to be my first time on TV. Head of presentation Donald Hill-Davies took me on after an audition in Cardiff. Oddly we never met during my time there! I don't recall being in-vision, though there may have been the odd occasion. It was a transition period from black and white to colour and most in-vision continuity had been temporarily suspended there. I recall the shifts were long, you had to be in situ whatever time the station opened-up (usually early afternoon) and there you stayed till closedown, with just a brief break to grab a tray of food during 'Crossroads', when your opposite number on Wales or West duty would cover for you. It would never be allowed today, I'm sure the unions would see to that."
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Regular announcer for HTV's Night Club.One of HTV's original announcers when it took over from TWW in May 1968. She married former HTV man and news reader Martyn Lewis.
A relatively short tenure at HTV Wales, presenting the company's 'Night Club' strand in the late-1980s.HTV Wales announcer.HTV Wales announcer.Started off as a researcher at BBC Wales, where he realised he could get paid more for talking about rugby than playing it. Rhodri now presents sports bulletins on HTV News and also presents the region's Soccer Sunday. Rhodri was also an announcer with HTV Wales.
HTV Wales continuity announcer in the late-1970s who moved into television production. Among his production credits is the Welsh language soap opera 'Pobol Y Cwm' ('People Of The Valley'), which is the most popular programme on S4C, and celebrated its 25th anniversary in December 1999. He has also directed 'Emmerdale' and episodes of 'Coronation Street'.HTV Wales announcer.
Arfon Haines-Davies joined HTV Wales as a continuity announcer in 1976, and is still one of the station's main presenters, although in-vision announcing was consigned to the history books in 1993.
During his time with HTV Wales, he has presented many programmes, including Wales at Six, the ITV Telethon in Wales, sports programmes, music programmes, and children's shows. In recent times he has presented 'Moneyspinners', 'Awaydays' and 'Get Gardening'. He has also presented several programmes for Welsh language channel S4C.
Arfon is devoting increasing amounts of his time to television production rather than presenting. He was recently involved with a major new series for HTV Wales titled 'Presenters', like 'Pop Idol', only the winner gets their own series on HTV Wales later in the year.
HTV Wales announcer.
One of the main announcers on HTV Wales/ITV 1 Wales since July 2000, and, he says, loving every minute of it. Leighton Jones moved into TV announcing from a presenter's job at Swansea Sound, in South West Wales, where he had worked for nine years.
HTV Wales 'Night Club' presenter. After her work with HTV she did some theatre work in London but then returned home to her native Australia.
HTV continuity announcer who was made redundant in 1992 as the company pared costs in preparation for the financial challenges of operating post 1993. Llewelyn later took part in a BBC Wales documentary which alleged that HTV Wales' financial problems at the time would prevent it from honouring its franchise commitments.HTV Wales announcer.
S4C's most recognised presentation personality. Now presents the weather on the channel. Has previously worked as an announcer with S4C from the early-1990s. Jenny was also a long serving announcer for HTV Wales. One of her first TV jobs was as one of the glamorous hostesses on 'Sion A Sian', the Welsh language version of 'Mr And Mrs' in the 1960s. As well as announcing for HTV, Jenny occasionally appeared as an announcer on Thames TV in London.HTV Wales announcer.
A familiar face on HTV Wales continuity in the 1970s and 1980s, before moving to S4C. Quit S4C in 1992. Now works as an actor.
Regular announcer for HTV's 'Night Club', who went on to present Carlton's short-lived 'After Five' magazine programme.
HTV Wales in-vision continuity announcer from 1984 and then out-of-vision from the early-1990s to the present day where she is one of the voices of ITV 1 in Wales.
She first joined the company in 1980 as a sports reporter and before that she trained as a teacher. She started her career in industry and worked for the multi-national company Morganite Electrical Carbon Ltd, and quickly climbed the corporate ladder. But her strong interest in speech and drama led her to the local media. She ran several features for the South Wales Evening Post and also radio work at Swansea Sound. Sue has taught speech and drama for more than 20 years and many of her proteges have gone on to achieve success . She says: "I'm a great advocate of the arts, it's not all about acting - it inspires so much confidence!"
Sue still teaches in Swansea, where she lives with her two children, Ben and Lauralee. She still finds the time to do charity work, compering concerts, adjudicating competitions and delivering readings as well as opening fetes and carnivals. When she has the time, she likes to travel.
Veteran ATV continuity announcer who joined the company in the 1960s and stayed with its successor, Central, until the mid-1980s. Mike also announced, occasionally, for HTV Wales, HTV West, Thames and Southern Television.
Since leaving the world of continuity announcing, Mike has become a successful television producer and businessman. In the independent production sector, notably with Winchester Entertainment Plc, he was the co-creator and executive producer of 'Jellabies' and 'The Snow Children' and he was also executive producer for 'The Wheels On The Bus'.
In 2003, Mike founded Shangers Ltd, a multimedia and consumer licensing company. He also recently made a brief return to ITV screens in the Midlands, helping to promote the ITV 50 features on 'Central News'.
A familiar face at the HTV Wales continuity desk throughout the 1980s until the end of 1992 when she left the station - at the same time that in-vision announcing was scrapped.After a period presenting entertainment and children's programmes, Liz joined S4C's in-vision continuity team in the mid-1980s. Continued announcing out-of-vision from 1991 onwards, migrating for a while to HTV Wales presentation. Now also undertakes weather presenting duties.
HTV West and Thames TV continuity announcer who moved to the HTV weather department when in-vision announcing was axed in 1993. Lorna Stevens was regularly seen as a weather presenter on both HTV West and HTV Wales, but recently left when weather presentation was centralised in Birmingham. Lorna is also believed to have announced for HTV Wales.
A former professional model who worked with The Bluebell Girls first in Barcelona, Spain, and then in Paris, she started her broadcasting career on her return the UK with local ILR station Radio 210 in the Thames Valley. She went on to work as an announcer for BBC Radio 4 and was an announcer on BBC TV from 1984 to 1986, before embarking on a career as a freelance announcer/presenter for several ITV companies and also on BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting). Lorna also worked as an announcer on Westcountry Television in Plymouth for around 18 months from 1993 with colleague Peter Griffin.
Eccentric, jovial, avuncular HTV West continuity announcer and programme presenter on both HTV West and HTV Wales who also found fame on the national ITV network, first as the presenter of one of the many incarnations of 'Mr And Mrs', and, secondly as Nancy Kominsky's eager assistant in HTV West's almost cult-status 'Paint Along With Nancy'. Locally, he was well known for his 'Tinker And Taylor' childrens' slots. The 'Mr And Mrs' programme went on to be produced by Tyne Tees Television, and, most famously, Border Television, when the host was Derek Batey.
TTVRP contributor and former colleague Guy Thomas writes: "Alan was the most popular and best loved television personality in Wales and the West of England establishing himself as a versatile, all round entertainer and he was admired as much by his colleagues as by the large audiences he won for the television programmes in which he appeared.
"After working in his family's Cardiff electricity business and seeing active Navy service in the Mediterranean war zone he began entertaining in amateur variety bills, turning professional by appearing all over the country in pantomimes and music halls, including London's West End. He joined TWW as an announcer in 1959. His popularity started to rise with an afternoon 10 minute slot for children which he shared with a glove puppet (a kind of not too distant relation of Sooty) for a birthday greetings show called 'Tinker And Taylor'. TWW had a large audience for television quiz shows, most of them the idea of the Canadian TV personality Roy Ward Dickson. Alan became the ideal host for these shows, starting with 'Three Little Words', 'Try For Ten' and the blockbuster of them all, 'Mr And Mrs', which ran year after year. It is probably true to say it was the most popular programme series TWW transmitted, rarely missing the Number 1 spot in the ratings.
"For HTV, Alan began a series of programmes in which he learned to paint (his interest was already there) called 'Painting With Nancy' and the demand for the return of 'Mr And Mrs' was so great, the company, which had dismissed the idea of repeating their predecessor's liking for the quiz show format, bowed to the inevitable. The success was repeated and HTV also brought back, again with Alan, 'Try For Ten'. In 1982 Alan retired to open an antique shop in Bath and then went to live in Spain where he died in 1997."
Long serving ATV continuity announcer and also one of the original four presenters of the children's Saturday morning hit show 'Tiswas' when it was a Midlands only programme. Before moving to Birmingham, Peter was a regular announcer on Harlech/HTV West from 1968. He is also believed to have been an announcer with Granada (TBC).
Peter founded and managed Saga FM, a West Midlands radio station with the more mature listener in mind; it launched in October 2001. He announced his retirement from the station in May 2004.
One of the most familiar faces on Granada. Colin started with the station in 1968. From the late-1970s until the 1990s he also worked on a freelance basis for London Weekend, Southern, Tyne Tees, Border, Yorkshire, HTV, Anglia and TVS. Colin was the senior announcer at Granada when he left the company in 1998.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Since January 2004, Jonathan has worked as a news presenter for the BBC World Service. He has regularly presented the 'BBC World News', 'The African News' and programmes such as 'From Our Own Correspondent'.
Jonathan started in television in the early-1990s, working for the PBS station in Seattle (KCTS Television), presenting programmes and documentaries; he was also the main promotional voice of the station. After training as a news writer at Worldwide Television News, Jonathan presented various WTN documentaries, including the environmental series 'Earthfile' and a five hour programme about Nigeria.
For c. six years, Jonathan worked for ITV. Most of his time there was spent at HTV West as a news presenter and announcer (1994 - 1998). He presented the channel's lunchtime news, morning bulletins and the popular late news programme at 10.30pm.
Jonathan presented the weather for Meridian (1992 - 1993); he was also an announcer there and at HTV Wales (1993). He also presented on the Sky News overnight service for a period.
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As a singer, Margaret had her own television series, which ran from 1982 until 1999 on S4C. There were also earlier programmes for BBC Wales during the 1960s and 1970s.
From the mid-1980s until early-1990s, Margaret was a freelance in-vision announcer for S4C, having been an out-of-vision announcer for HTV in the 1970s, whilst also fronting her own series, 'Welsh Notes', for the company.
Margaret has worked extensively for S4C. A whole evening of programming dedicated to her was broadcast at Christmas 2004; it included her live concert from the North Wales Theatre, Llandudno, a portrait programme about her life, and 'Cwin Y Sgrin'.
An early career as a drama teacher and then a radio announcer for BBC Wales stood Dilwyn Young-Jones in good stead for a move to television in the early-1980s when he joined HTV Wales as a continuity announcer.
He has also presented several children's programmes and in 1995 became HTV Wales' main weatherman. Dilwyn left weather presentation in January 2002 when presentation for this was moved to Birmingham, but is still heard today on HTV Wales continuity duty as a freelance announcer.
