Martin Ballard
Encyclopedia
Martin Ballard is an English
radio presenter for the BBC
in the East Midlands
with twenty five years of broadcasting experience. He is also a writer, an actor with two decades of theatre work, and voice-over artist.
, He has presented and produced every kind of programme from news & current affairs magazines to a daily phone-in, from light hearted music shows, to a five-hour sports sequence. His career began on Drivetime in the 1980s before moving to mid-morning and then Lunchtime in the 1990s. He returned to drivetime and then sports presentation in 2006.
At BBC Radio Nottingham
he produced a mid-morning magazine programme and at BBC Radio Leeds
as a Senior Programme Editor he produced Chris Ashley
and Kathryn Apanowicz
. A highlight of his time in West Yorkshire
was a record-breaking Children In Need
extravaganza, which he produced with BBC TV, raising £1/2 Million. In 2000 he presented the regional Late Show across the nine midlands BBC local radio stations.
Ballard was a regular on BBC Radio Five Live
presenting the weekly round-up and conducting various interviews each week on the Basketball programme Hoops. He was the courtside commentator for the Leicester Riders
in their 2003 double-winning season, contracted as the host announcer for Leicestershire County Cricket Club
s first season of Twenty20 games and was the announcer for the Leicester Tigers
in their double winning season 2006/7.
In his time as a broadcaster, he’s covered countless elections, budgets, Royal visits and major sporting occasions. Ballard was on-air when the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place and he has covered that and other tragic news stories including the London bombings in 2005, breaking the news in Leicestershire of the death of Jill Dando
and was on-air during the Falklands crisis and both Gulf war's. He covered a terrorist car bomb attack in Spain for Network TV and Radio and has produced features and documentaries for the Networks. He has also appeared on regional and network Television for the BBC and was a contributor to the Granada TV series, Real Crimes.
Ballard has produced and presented a number of documentary specials including a documentary and series of features for BBC Radio Five Live
and BBC World Service
to preview the 1996 olympics as well as other programmes about our pantomime tradition, a preview of the 1996 Olympics from Atlanta, a chronicle of Christmas hit records and interviews with their singers and more recently, a look at 30 years of Leicester’s Haymarket Theatre
.
He has also had the opportunity to do some voice-over work for BBC TV and other organisations including character voices for theme park animatronic figures and museum audio guides.
Many famous names have appeared as guests in chat show one-to-one interviews from Engelbert Humperdinck
to Danny La Rue
, Roseanne Barr
to Sir David Attenborough and Cilla Black
to Norman Wisdom
. He’s also presented special programmes with Sir Cliff Richard, Elaine Paige
, Donny Osmond
and Eric Sykes. He conducted one of the last interviews with both Larry Grayson
and Geoff Hamilton
.
In his spare time, Ballard co-wrote and recorded a CD for Children In Need, which had disappointing sales. He has done some travel writing, scriptwriting and after-dinner speaking.
Ballard is currently presenting the drivetime show and various other programmes at BBC Radio Leicester,after fronting all of the stations sports programming for the last two years.
He has been voted best drivetime presenter 2011 by the users of the Merrykova website.
and gave him a grounding in every aspect of theatre from Greek tragedies to Farce, Shakespeare to Medieval Mystery Plays. He spent some time at the National Theatre
with the director, Michael Bogdanov
- the subject of a dissertation - and at the Oxford Playhouse. He is a member of Equity and has worked with audiences in the theatre, the street, shopping centres, and various large outdoor events. He has hosted everything from Charity Galas, and a Miss United Kingdom Semi-Final to Fashion Show's and Big Band concerts. He is a regular on-stage presenter at major BBC Radio Leicester events like Children In Need. He appeared in a series of shows as the host of An Audience With Danny La Rue. Christmas 2008 is his nineteenth season in pantomime, playing Widow Tawnkey for WISH Theatre Productions.
As a compere, Ballard has hosted celebrity Carol Concerts, Military Band concerts, Fashion Shows and Variety shows with the likes of Danny La Rue and Mark Rattray. He has also been the onstage MC for music concerts including BBC Music Live, BBC 6 Music Summer Sundae, Sunflower Charity Concerts and individual concerts including Dean Friedman and K. T. Tunstall.
Some of the characters Ballard has played include:
The Cook (Mother Courage
by Bertolt Brecht
), Gloucester (King Lear
by William Shakespeare
), The Rector (The Virgin & The Gipsy) by D. H. Lawrence
), Mr Bumble (Oliver
by Charles Dickens
/Lionel Bart
), Azdak (The Caucasian Chalk Circle
by Bertolt Brecht
), The Doctor (A Film Short Woyzeck
by Buchner
), John The Baptist/Judas (Godspell
), Christopher Columbus (Christopher Columbus
by Michel De Ghelderode
), God (Mystery play, Noahs Flood). In Pantomime: The Emperor, Widow Twankey - four times (Aladdin), Ugly Sister – four times (Cinderella), Bill Jukes (Peter Pan), Nanny (Hansel & Gretal) Dame Trot (twice)and Sam Shiley (Jack & The Beanstalk) Joy (Beauty & The Beast), Sarah The Cook (Dick Whittington).
Personal highlights include working on stage alongside famous names including Brian Blessed
, Liz May Brice
, The Blockheads
, Atomic Kitten
, The Proclaimers
, Hildegarde Neil
, Danny La Rue, Kristian Schmidt, Louise, Alfred Marks
OBE, Dean Friedman
, K. T. Tunstall, Sean Maguire
, Rebekah Elmaloglou
, Moby
, Mark Rattray, Wendy Craig
, Steve Mcfadden
and Gladiator, "Hunter".
Ballard has just completed a record-breaking Christmas pantomime 2010/11 season for IMAGINE Theatre, his 21st panto season.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
radio presenter for the 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...
in the East Midlands
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...
with twenty five years of broadcasting experience. He is also a writer, an actor with two decades of theatre work, and voice-over artist.
Broadcasting
Since his career began in the early eighties, Ballard has worked predominantly at BBC Radio LeicesterBBC Radio Leicester
BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The station broadcasts from studios in Leicester on 104.9 FM, on DAB, and via the BBC iPlayer.-History:...
, He has presented and produced every kind of programme from news & current affairs magazines to a daily phone-in, from light hearted music shows, to a five-hour sports sequence. His career began on Drivetime in the 1980s before moving to mid-morning and then Lunchtime in the 1990s. He returned to drivetime and then sports presentation in 2006.
At BBC Radio Nottingham
BBC Radio Nottingham
BBC Radio Nottingham is a BBC Local Radio station serving the English county of Nottinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, AM, and digital DAB radio from studios located on London Road in Nottingham city centre.-Transmission frequences:...
he produced a mid-morning magazine programme and at BBC Radio Leeds
BBC Radio Leeds
BBC Radio Leeds is the BBC Local Radio service for the English metropolitan county of West Yorkshire.- Frequencies :It broadcasts from its studios at St...
as a Senior Programme Editor he produced Chris Ashley
Chris Ashley
Chris Ashley is an artist who creates his work through the use of coding with simple instruction to create shapes, add colors and texture to his paintings. Through the use of this new medium, he is able to create freedoms and use this freedom to diffuse and inject his artwork with new fresh meaning...
and Kathryn Apanowicz
Kathryn Apanowicz
Kathryn Apanowicz is a British actress best known for her 1980s television appearances in the BBC soap operas, Angels, where she played Nurse Rose Butchins, and EastEnders, where she played the caterer, Magda Czajkowski...
. A highlight of his time in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
was a record-breaking Children In Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
extravaganza, which he produced with BBC TV, raising £1/2 Million. In 2000 he presented the regional Late Show across the nine midlands BBC local radio stations.
Ballard was a regular on BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
presenting the weekly round-up and conducting various interviews each week on the Basketball programme Hoops. He was the courtside commentator for the Leicester Riders
Leicester Riders
The Leicester Riders, officially known as the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders for sponsorship reasons, is a British professional basketball team that play in the British Basketball League...
in their 2003 double-winning season, contracted as the host announcer for Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
s first season of Twenty20 games and was the announcer for the Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers is an English rugby union club that plays in the Aviva Premiership.Leicester are the most successful English club since the introduction of league rugby in 1987, a record 9 times English champions - 3 more than either Bath or Wasps, the last of which was in 2010...
in their double winning season 2006/7.
In his time as a broadcaster, he’s covered countless elections, budgets, Royal visits and major sporting occasions. Ballard was on-air when the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place and he has covered that and other tragic news stories including the London bombings in 2005, breaking the news in Leicestershire of the death of Jill Dando
Jill Dando
Jill Wendy Dando was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader who worked for the BBC for 14 years. She was murdered by gunshot outside her home in Fulham, West London; her killer has never been identified....
and was on-air during the Falklands crisis and both Gulf war's. He covered a terrorist car bomb attack in Spain for Network TV and Radio and has produced features and documentaries for the Networks. He has also appeared on regional and network Television for the BBC and was a contributor to the Granada TV series, Real Crimes.
Ballard has produced and presented a number of documentary specials including a documentary and series of features for BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
and BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
to preview the 1996 olympics as well as other programmes about our pantomime tradition, a preview of the 1996 Olympics from Atlanta, a chronicle of Christmas hit records and interviews with their singers and more recently, a look at 30 years of Leicester’s Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
.
He has also had the opportunity to do some voice-over work for BBC TV and other organisations including character voices for theme park animatronic figures and museum audio guides.
Many famous names have appeared as guests in chat show one-to-one interviews from Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)
Engelbert Humperdinck is a British pop singer, best known for his hits including "Release Me " and "After the Lovin'" as well as "The Last Waltz" .-Early life:...
to Danny La Rue
Danny La Rue
Danny La Rue, OBE was an Irish-born British entertainer known for his singing and drag impersonations.-Early life:...
, Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Cherrie Barr is an American actress, comedian, writer, television producer and director. Barr began her career in stand-up comedy at clubs before gaining fame for her role in the sitcom Roseanne. The show was a hit and lasted nine seasons, from 1988 to 1997...
to Sir David Attenborough and Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
to Norman Wisdom
Norman Wisdom
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin...
. He’s also presented special programmes with Sir Cliff Richard, Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
, Donny Osmond
Donny Osmond
Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long...
and Eric Sykes. He conducted one of the last interviews with both Larry Grayson
Larry Grayson
Larry Grayson , born William Sulley White, was an English stand-up comedian and television presenter of the 1970s and early 80s...
and Geoff Hamilton
Geoff Hamilton
Geoff Hamilton was an English gardener, broadcaster and author, best known as presenter of BBC television's Gardeners' World in the 1980s and 90s.-Background:...
.
In his spare time, Ballard co-wrote and recorded a CD for Children In Need, which had disappointing sales. He has done some travel writing, scriptwriting and after-dinner speaking.
Ballard is currently presenting the drivetime show and various other programmes at BBC Radio Leicester,after fronting all of the stations sports programming for the last two years.
He has been voted best drivetime presenter 2011 by the users of the Merrykova website.
Theatre
Ballard studied for a Performing Arts degree at De Montfort UniversityDe Montfort University
De Montfort University is a public research and teaching university situated in the medieval Old Town of Leicester, England, adjacent to the River Soar and the Leicester Castle Gardens...
and gave him a grounding in every aspect of theatre from Greek tragedies to Farce, Shakespeare to Medieval Mystery Plays. He spent some time at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
with the director, Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov , is a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for Young People.-Early years:...
- the subject of a dissertation - and at the Oxford Playhouse. He is a member of Equity and has worked with audiences in the theatre, the street, shopping centres, and various large outdoor events. He has hosted everything from Charity Galas, and a Miss United Kingdom Semi-Final to Fashion Show's and Big Band concerts. He is a regular on-stage presenter at major BBC Radio Leicester events like Children In Need. He appeared in a series of shows as the host of An Audience With Danny La Rue. Christmas 2008 is his nineteenth season in pantomime, playing Widow Tawnkey for WISH Theatre Productions.
As a compere, Ballard has hosted celebrity Carol Concerts, Military Band concerts, Fashion Shows and Variety shows with the likes of Danny La Rue and Mark Rattray. He has also been the onstage MC for music concerts including BBC Music Live, BBC 6 Music Summer Sundae, Sunflower Charity Concerts and individual concerts including Dean Friedman and K. T. Tunstall.
Some of the characters Ballard has played include:
The Cook (Mother Courage
Mother Courage
Mother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...
by Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
), Gloucester (King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
), The Rector (The Virgin & The Gipsy) by D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
), Mr Bumble (Oliver
Oliver
The surname Oliver is of several different origins.-Etymology:The surname Oliver is derived from the Old French personal name Olivier. The Oliver surname seems to be French Norman in origin. The Olivers were probably part of William the Conqueror's Norman Invasion of Britain in 1066...
by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
/Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...
), Azdak (The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than its natural parents....
by Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
), The Doctor (A Film Short Woyzeck
Woyzeck
Woyzeck is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. He left the work incomplete at his death, but it has been variously and posthumously "finished" by a variety of authors, editors and translators. Woyzeck has become one of the most performed and influential plays in the German theatre...
by Buchner
Büchner
Büchner is a German language surname related to the word Buch and may refer to:* Eberhard Büchner German Tenor* Eduard Buchner , German chemist and zymologist* Ernst Büchner, German chemist...
), John The Baptist/Judas (Godspell
Godspell
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...
), Christopher Columbus (Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
by Michel De Ghelderode
Michel De Ghelderode
Michel de Ghelderode was an avant-garde Belgian dramatist, writing in French.-Career:...
), God (Mystery play, Noahs Flood). In Pantomime: The Emperor, Widow Twankey - four times (Aladdin), Ugly Sister – four times (Cinderella), Bill Jukes (Peter Pan), Nanny (Hansel & Gretal) Dame Trot (twice)and Sam Shiley (Jack & The Beanstalk) Joy (Beauty & The Beast), Sarah The Cook (Dick Whittington).
Personal highlights include working on stage alongside famous names including Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in the town of Goldthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England...
, Liz May Brice
Liz May Brice
Elizabeth May Brice is an English actress. She is known for roles such as the convicted murderer Pat Kerrigan on ITV1's Bad Girls. To international audiences she may be more familiar as a minor cast member of the horror films Resident Evil and AVP: Alien vs Predator.-Career:Brice was born in...
, The Blockheads
The Blockheads
The Blockheads are an English rock and roll band. Originally fronted by vocalist Ian Dury as Ian Dury and the Blockheads, the band has continued to perform since Dury's death in 2000. Current members include Chaz Jankel , Norman Watt-Roy , Mick Gallagher , John Turnbull and Davey Payne...
, Atomic Kitten
Atomic Kitten
Atomic Kitten were an English girl group from Liverpool, first established in 1997. Created by Andy McCluskey, the final line-up, and most commercially successful, consisted of Natasha Hamilton, Liz McClarnon, and Jenny Frost...
, The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers are a Scottish band composed of identical twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid . They are probably best known for the songs "Letter from America", "I'm On My Way" and "I'm Gonna Be ". The band tours extensively throughout Europe and other continents...
, Hildegarde Neil
Hildegarde Neil
Hildegarde Neil is an English actress.She first appeared on television in a BBC schools' television production of Julius Caesar in 1963 and after that appeared mostly as a guest artiste in a variety of TV series over the last 40 years...
, Danny La Rue, Kristian Schmidt, Louise, Alfred Marks
Alfred Marks
Alfred Edward Marks OBE was a comic actor and comedian.-Biography:Marks was born as Ruchel Kutchinsky in Holborn, London. He left Bell Lane School at 14 and started in entertainment at the Windmill Theatre. He then served in the RAF as a Flight Sergeant in the Middle East where he arranged...
OBE, Dean Friedman
Dean Friedman
Dean Friedman is an American singer-songwriter who plays piano, keyboard, guitar and other instruments, including the harmonica.-Music:...
, K. T. Tunstall, Sean Maguire
Sean Maguire
Sean Maguire is an English actor and singer, who rose to fame in 1988 when at the age of eleven he took on the role of "Tegs" Ratcliffe on the BBC children's drama Grange Hill, in which he remained until 1992...
, Rebekah Elmaloglou
Rebekah Elmaloglou
Rebekah Elmaloglou is an Australian actress who is best known for portraying the role of Sophie Simpson on the long-running Australian soap opera Home and Away from 1989 to 1993 and again on a recurring basis from 2002 to 2005...
, Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
, Mark Rattray, Wendy Craig
Wendy Craig
Wendy Craig is a BAFTA Award winning English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcoms Butterflies, ...And Mother Makes Three and ...And Mother Makes Five...
, Steve Mcfadden
Steve McFadden
Steve McFadden is an English actor, known for his role as Phil Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, which he has played since1990.-Early life:...
and Gladiator, "Hunter".
Ballard has just completed a record-breaking Christmas pantomime 2010/11 season for IMAGINE Theatre, his 21st panto season.