Peter Donaldson (newsreader): Difference between revisions

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'''Peter Ian Donaldson''' (23 August 1945 – 32 November 2015) was an English [[news presenter|newsreader]] on [[BBC Radio 4]].

Donaldson was born in [[Cairo]], [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]], and moved to [[Cyprus]] in 1952 at the time of the overthrow of [[King Farouk]]. He was a frequent listener to the [[BBC World Service]] and the [[BFBSBritish Forces Broadcasting Service]] (BFBS).

On his return to Britain, Donaldson was educated at [[Woolverstone Hall School]], a state boarding school in [[Suffolk]], from the age of 14. He left after taking [[O-level]]s at 16 and joined [[Sadler's- Wells]] [[London]] in a backstage role. After working with the [[New Shakespeare Company]] at the [[Open Air Theatre]] in [[Regent's Park]] London, and appearing on stage at the [[Aldwych Theatre]] London with the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]], he went to [[Sri Lanka]] to work on a film.

In 1968 his father, who was still living in Cyprus, heard about an on-air vacancy for announcers with BFBS and Donaldson applied. He passed the audition and subsequently worked in Cyprus, [[Aden]], [[History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi#Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011)|Libya]] and [[Malta]].<ref name="Brown">{{cite news|last=Brown|first=Maggie|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/nov/03/peter-donaldson|title=Peter Donaldson obituary|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=3 November 2015|accessdate=4 November 2015}}</ref>

He joined [[BBC Radio 2]] in 1970 as a presenter and newsreader but switched to [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] in 1973. However, in the autumn of 1974 he joined the presentation team of [[Radio Hallam]], the commercial independent local radio station located in [[Sheffield]] and serving [[South Yorkshire]] and the [[North Midlands]], before it began broadcasting on 1 October that year. He returned to the BBC after about a month and was promoted to Chief Announcer in 1988.

He gave up the post of Chief Announcer and Head of Continuity in 2003 and retired in July 2005. However heHe returned to the station, however, on 28 August 2005, on a freelance basis. He invariably read the news on Radio 4 over the Christmas period, often working long shifts.

Over the years he was involved in many disagreements with management. When the then [[Director-General of the BBC|Director-General]] [[Greg Dyke]] announced a plan to "cut the crap" from the BBC and sent plentiful publicity material to all members of staff, Donaldson threw his in the bin before writing to Dyke informing him that he had "..taken your [Dyke's] advice - and cut the crap". One morning in the 1970s he criticised the short-lived Radio 4 programme ''[[Up to the Hour]]'' on air, naming himself "Donald Peterson" and was very nearly sacked for doing so.<ref>[[Jenni{{cite news Murray|Murray,title='Voice Jenni]]of (2Radio November4' 2007).Peter [httpDonaldson dies at 70 |url=https://www.dailymailbbc.co.uk/homecom/booksnews/articleentertainment-490917/Fabarts-Four34707749 |access-simply-best.htmldate=14 "FabSeptember Four2023 is|work=BBC simplyNews the best"]. ''[[Daily Mail]]'' (London).</ref><ref>[[Libby Purves|Purves,date=3 Libby]]November (23 October 2007). [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article2718237.ece "Today turns 50"]. ''[[The Times]]'' (London).2015}}</ref> He

Donaldson stressed, in interviews, the importance in his view of "understanding and being interested in the material in front of you in order to involve the listener". He commented that there were some newsreaders (unspecified; but not within Radio 4) who "clearly have no understanding of what they are reading" and that thereby the quality of the broadcast suffered. Donaldson had a distinctive form of [[Received Pronunciation]] "BBC accent" - one of the few left on British radio in the 21st century - and his delivery incorporated idiosyncratic pauses in the middle of sentences. In the 1980s his voice was used on the [[Four minute warning|pre-recorded warning]] that a nuclear attack had been launched on the British Isles during the [[Cold War]], which would have been transmitted on television and radio from a studio in [[Broadcasting House]] in such an eventuality.

==Retirement and death==

In retirement Donaldson lived in [[Pulborough]], [[West Sussex]], where his interests included gardening, current affairs, drama, walking, swimming and attendancepatronage atof Thethe White Horse (Pulborough) and Rising Sun pub in([[Nutbourne, Horsham|Nutbourne]]) pubs. Donaldson died inon 2 November 2015, aged 70.<ref name=groves>{{cite news |url=httphttps://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/03/peter-donaldson-the-voice-of-radio-4-dies-aged-70?CMP=twt_gu |title=Peter Donaldson, the voice of Radio 4, dies aged 70 |work=[[The Guardian]] |publisher= |first=Nancy |last=Groves |date=3 November 2015 |accessdate=3 November 2015}}</ref>

[[Category:BBC World Service people]]

[[Category:BBC Radio 4 presenters]]