Robin Houston
Robin Houston | |
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Years active | 1967–present |
Robin Houston (born London, 1947) is a British voiceover artist and former announcer, radio and television newsreader and quiz show host. After starting his career as an announcer and stage manager, he became one of the pioneers of commercial radio in the United Kingdom. He went on to read the news on television for 15 years and to become one of the most well known announcers in television entertainment. For many years he was a host of television quiz shows, and is now a veteran voiceover artist with over 50 years' experience in the field.
Early career
Voice work as a teenager in
Radio
In October 1973 he became a founding
There he became a newsreader for
While still presenting occasionally for LBC and making early appearances on television, from 1977 to 1979 he became a regular music presenter on the BBC World Service radio channel, broadcasting from Bush House in London, on The Robin Houston Request Show, Sounds International and Anything Goes.[11]
Television news
For over 14 years, from September 1978, he presented the lunchtime bulletins of Thames News on Thames Television, covering the ITV region of London and the home counties. From April 1980 he also presented the nightly late Thames News bulletins, broadcast immediately after News at Ten.
He continued to be seen twice-daily on Thames News until the end of Thames Television's contract in December 1992. He read over 5,500 news bulletins in that time.[12][13]
In the early 1980s he also regularly voiced the nightly United Press International Television News relay from London for television stations around the world.
Television entertainment
He was one of very few broadcasters to work for both the
As an announcer he provided the voiceovers for over 850 ITV television shows:
- All Star Secrets
- An Audience with...
- Aspel & Company
- Bruce Forsyth's Big Night
- BAFTA Awards
- The Cannon and Ball Show
- The Children's Royal Variety Performance
- Child's Play
- The Dame Edna Experience
- Dame Edna Kisses It Better
- Des O'Connor Tonight
- Evening Standard British Film Awards
- Evening Standard Theatre Awards
- The Faith Brown Awards
- The Faith Brown Chat Show
- A Gala Evening With Victor Borge
- Game for a Laugh
- The Goodies
- The Ken Goodwin Show
- The Krankies Klub
- Lena & Bonnie
- The National Television Awards
- Newlyweds
- A Night of 100 Stars
- A Night on Mount Edna
- Play Your Cards Right
- Pot of Gold
- The Prince's TrustGalas
- Punchlines
- The Pyramid Game
- Royal Film Performance
- Royal Variety Performance
- The Russ Abbot Show
- Sale of the Century
- Search For A Star
- The Stanley Baxter Series
- Strike It Lucky
- Surprise Surprise
- Tarby & Friends
- Tell the Truth
- The Unrecorded Jasper Carrot
- We Love TV[14]
For BBC Television he also announced Clive James' New Year specials and Dame Edna Live at the Palace.
From March 1997 as a voice-only presenter he launched the daily half-hour-long quiz show
He also recorded 35 100% specials and 38 late-night versions of the show. He asked over 117,000 questions during the show's run.[18][19][20]
From May 2000 he also took over as in-vision host of an additional daily half-hour
Actor
As an actor he starred with
Other work
As well as his broadcast work, since 1967 he has voiced and presented commercials, conferences and conventions, training and internal communication films, product launches and awards ceremonies. Major clients have included
.He has also narrated over 100 audiobooks for the Talking Book service of the Royal National Institute of Blind People,[25] for Listening Books' Sound Learning educational initiative[26] and for other publishers.
Throughout his life he has written casual articles and occasional obituaries for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, The Independent and The Oldie[27] and five of his audio dramas—A Bark of the Fox, Essay on Betrayal, The Trumpet in the Hall, Peter in the Sky, and an adaptation of Godfrey Smith's novel The Business of Loving—have been produced by BBC Radio 4.[28][29]
He is an alumnus of the
.References
- ^ a b "Graduate Profile". rada.ac.uk.
- ^ 'John Hewer: Icon of TV advertisements', The Independent (London), 20 March 2008.
- ^ "Capital Radio 95.8FM, 19 January 1974". mixcloud.com.
- ^ a b Local Radio Workshop, Capital: Local Radio & Private Profit, Comedia Publishing Group, London, 1983, p27
- ^ 'Extracts of the Kenny Everett Breakfast Show' (recorded 29 November 1974), Robin Houston Collection (0015815), British Library Sound Archive.
- ^ "Capital Radio's 1st Anniversary Record". youtube.com.
- ^ "LBC presenter photos: Robin Houston". lbcirnmemorybox.wordpress.com. 15 January 2015.
- ^ "AM, LBC, summer 1975". geofflumley.org.uk.
- ^ 'Robin Houston's Nightline' (recorded 18 November 1975), Robin Houston Collection (001508-10), British Library Sound Archive.
- '^ Newsbreak interviews' (Recorded various dates in 1976), Robin Houston Collection (0015811-13 and C982/05-10), British Library Sound Archive.
- ^ Listings, London Calling, BBC (London), July 1979.
- ^ "Robin Houston" – via YouTube.
- ^ "Thames". adamnostalgia.wordpress.com. 28 August 2015.
- ^ a b "Robin Houston". ukgameshows.com.
- ^ "TV Announcers". thetvroom.com.
- ^ "ITV announcers". bvws.org.uk.
- ^ a b "100% & One to Win". ukgameshows.com.
- ^ 'Television Review', The Stage (London), 11 September 1997
- ^ '100 Per Cent', The Rough Guide to Cult TV, Rough Guides/Haymarket Customer Publishing, London, 2002.
- ^ "Hidden gems of Channel 5: 100%". mancunian1001.wordpress.com.
- ^ "When the Wind Blows (1986)". bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016.
- ^ Programme and cast list, Angels in America, Royal National Theatre (London), 1993
- ^ "The Ultimate Kenny Everett Sketch Site". muuta.net.
- ^ a b "Robin Houston". IMDb.
- ^ "RNIB Library". rnib.org.uk.
- ^ "Sound Learning Library". soundlearning.org.uk.
- ^ "The Oldie" – via PressReader.
- ^ "Radio Drama". suttonelms.org.uk.
- ^ Robin Houston Collection (0015801-5), British Library Sound Archive.