Derek McCulloch
Derek McCulloch | |
---|---|
Born | Derek Ivor Breashur McCulloch 18 November 1897 |
Died | 1 June 1967 Haywards Heath, Sussex, England | (aged 69)
Occupation(s) | BBC Radio producer and presenter Head of children's broadcasting for the BBC |
Spouse |
Eileen Barry (m. 1931) |
Children | 2 |
Awards | OBE (1964) |
Derek Ivor Breashur McCulloch OBE (18 November 1897 – 1 June 1967) was a BBC Radio producer and presenter. He became known as "Uncle Mac" on Children's Hour and Children's Favourites. He was the head of children's broadcasting for the BBC from 1933 until 1951.[1][2]
Early life
McCulloch was born in
After the war, he travelled in Europe and South America. He was working for Central Argentine Railway when his health deteriorated, and he returned to England where a bullet was extracted from his lung.[3]
Career
BBC
McCulloch joined the BBC in 1926 as an announcer. He was the commentator on the first radio broadcast of the
The programme included talks, plays, music and drama serials. He was appointed head of children's broadcasting in 1933, serving in that position until 1951.[1] He regarded the department as a microcosm of all broadcasting, stating: "Nothing but the best is good enough for children ... our wish is to stimulate their imaginations, direct their reading, encourage their various interests, widen their outlook and inculcate the Christian virtues of love of God and their neighbours."[5][2] In 1938 he lost a leg as the result of a road accident, and thereafter remained in constant pain.[3]
One of the favourite segments of Children's Hour was
In 1954, McCulloch returned to the BBC to present a music request programme for children, Children's Favourites, on Saturday mornings.
Writing
McCulloch wrote the book Every Child's Pilgrim's Progress in 1956, a simplified version of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, which in McCulloch's words was one of the "greatest stories ever written". He also wrote two children's stories, Cornish Adventure (1941) and Cornish Mystery (1950), and gave his name to a series of Ladybird children's books in the 1950s.[3]
Personal life and death
McCulloch was the subject of the BBC television programme This Is Your Life in February 1964.[8]
He married Eileen Hilda Barry, a BBC secretary, on 13 June 1931. They had two daughters. He was awarded an OBE in 1964, and died at St Francis Hospital, Haywards Heath on 1 June 1967, aged 69. McCulloch was cremated at Bramley, Surrey.[2]
References
- ^ a b c Strinati, D. Come on Down?: The Politics of Popular Media Culture in Post-War Britain, Psychology Press, 1992, pp. 153, 157.
- ^ required.)
- ^ a b c Mckenzie, Jim. Biography by Jim Mackenzie at The Wee Web Archived 15 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 October 2012
- ^ a b The Radio Academy: Derek McCulloch Archived 19 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 October 2012
- ^ BBC Quarterly 1948.
- ^ "BBC Genome". 21 March 1965. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ "Richard Havers". Retrieved 29 December 2014.
- ^ Potter, Dennis (14 February 1964). "Favourite Uncle". Daily Herald. p. 7. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
Further reading
- Children's Hour
- Cahalan, Paul; Jonathan Owen (28 October 2012). "Bitter infighting sweeps the BBC". The Independent. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
- Hartley, Ian. Goodnight Children Everywhere: History of Children's Broadcasting. Midas Books, 1983. ISBN 0-85936-201-9
- Walden, Jeff. "Derek McCulloch", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. September 2004.