Derek Batey is a former British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 television presenter and television executive.

Batey was educated at the White House School, Brampton, and after appearing in clubs as a ventriloquist he made his first TV appearance in 1958 as an interviewer for the BBC. In 1961 he moved to the newly established Border Television

Border Television

Border Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria...

, where he became known as "a classless hero who blazed a trail in popular television." He is best known for hosting the original 450-episode run of the game show

Game show

A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 Mr and Mrs

Mr. and Mrs.

Mr. & Mrs. is a television show that originated in Canada in 1963, debuting in Britain shortly afterwards. The Canadian version was produced at CFTO-TV in Toronto and ran on the CTV network for 780 episodes, and was hosted by Roy Ward Dickson, who was also the show's creator...

, which was for a long time the only programme produced by Border Television that was networked nationally. He also hosted the talk show Look Who's Talking. He was officially Assistant Controller of Programmmes for Border Television

Border Television

Border Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria...

, but like some other ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 regional executives, including Jack Hargreaves

Jack Hargreaves

Jack Hargreaves OBE was an author and television presenter in the UK. His enduring interest was to comment without nostalgia or sentimentality on accelerating distortions in relations between the city and the countryside....

 at Southern Television

Southern Television

Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...

, and Brian Connell at Anglia Television

Anglia Television

Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...

, he continued to present programmes.

Try for Ten

Batey also hosted "Try for Ten", a game show from Carlisle, Cumbria. Contestants on the show tried to give ten consecutive correct True or False answers to a series of statements. Contestants were eliminated if they gave three wrong answers in a row, or a total of ten wrong answers. If the game ended early, they won £1 per answer for their best run of correct responses. If they reached their target of ten, they won a rolling jackpot that increased by £25 per failure.

Later work

In 2006, it was confirmed that Batey would be working as a consultant (including writing some of the questions) on the latest version of Mr and Mrs

Mr. and Mrs.

Mr. & Mrs. is a television show that originated in Canada in 1963, debuting in Britain shortly afterwards. The Canadian version was produced at CFTO-TV in Toronto and ran on the CTV network for 780 episodes, and was hosted by Roy Ward Dickson, who was also the show's creator...

on ITV1

ITV1

ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...

.

Personal life

He resides in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 with his wife, Edith, to whom he has been married for 59 years, and has a daughter, Diane.

External links

• Mr and Mrs website
• "Mr and Mrs quiz set for revival", BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...