Robert Dougall MBE (27 November 1913 – 19 December 1999) was a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
broadcaster and
ornithologistOrnithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
, mainly known as a newsreader and announcer.
Dougall was born and educated in the
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
borough of
CroydonCroydon is a major commercial centre in Greater London and the principal settlement of the London Borough of Croydon. It is south of Charing Cross, and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan...
. He attended
Whitgift SchoolWhitgift School is an independent day school educating approximately 1,200 boys aged 10 to 18 in South Croydon, London in a parkland site.- History and grounds :...
but did not carry on to university despite having some talent in languages, specifically
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
and
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
. He joined the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
initially in the accounts department, but soon found a job as an announcer for the
Empire Service (later renamed
BBC World ServiceThe BBC World Service is one of the most widely-recognised international broadcasters, currently broadcasting in 32 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays. It is politically independent, non-profit and...
) on his 21st birthday in 1934.
Robert Dougall MBE (27 November 1913 – 19 December 1999) was a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
broadcaster and
ornithologistOrnithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
, mainly known as a newsreader and announcer.
Early life and radio broadcasting
Dougall was born and educated in the
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
borough of
CroydonCroydon is a major commercial centre in Greater London and the principal settlement of the London Borough of Croydon. It is south of Charing Cross, and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan...
. He attended
Whitgift SchoolWhitgift School is an independent day school educating approximately 1,200 boys aged 10 to 18 in South Croydon, London in a parkland site.- History and grounds :...
but did not carry on to university despite having some talent in languages, specifically
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
and
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
. He joined the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
initially in the accounts department, but soon found a job as an announcer for the
Empire Service (later renamed
BBC World ServiceThe BBC World Service is one of the most widely-recognised international broadcasters, currently broadcasting in 32 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays. It is politically independent, non-profit and...
) on his 21st birthday in 1934. By 1939, he had risen to the position of senior announcer and his was the voice that announced Britain's declaration of war on
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
to the world in September of that year. Shortly before this announcement, he had transmitted a message as an "anonymous" Englishman (although speaking in German), imploring Germany to withdraw its forces and avert the impending conflict:
- "I got the first page with about three minutes to go. Then, the red light came on and it was up to me. It was an intensely dramatic script and most of the pages were fed to me at the microphone, so I had to get it right first time. God knows I put my heart into it."
Dougall worked as a radio reporter during the early part of the
Second World WarWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but also served with the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
from 1942. He resumed his broadcasting career after demobilisation in 1946 as an announcer and newsreader for the
BBC Home ServiceThe BBC Home Service was a British national radio station which broadcast from 1939 until 1967.-Development:Between the 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC had developed two nationwide radio services, the BBC National Programme and the BBC Regional Programme...
. In 1947, Dougall was appointed Programme Manager for the BBC's Far Eastern Service, a position which required him to move to
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
.
Television news
Dougall's radio work took a back seat when he returned to London in 1951 to work as a television newsreader. (He is thought to have been the only person from the BBC's early radio service who had an enduring career in television.) Between 1946 and 1955, the BBC news was merely voiced over a photograph of
Big BenBig Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north-eastern end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and is often extended to refer to the clock or the clock tower as well. Big Ben is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world...
, a measure sanctioned by Chief News Editor
Tahu HoleTahu Ronald Charles Pearce Hole CBE was a New Zealand born journalist who worked as the BBC's television news editor during the period immediately following the Second World War.-Early life and work:...
to reinforce the absolute impartiality for which the Corporation was renowned. However, the coming of
commercial televisionThe Independent Television Authority was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" , the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom...
and ITN in 1955 prompted the BBC to have its newsreaders perform to camera - indeed, they began this approach only three weeks before ITN began transmission. Dougall was among the first of these newsreaders to appear in-vision in 1955 (the others were his contemporaries
Kenneth KendallKenneth Kendall is a retired British broadcaster. He was a contemporary of Richard Baker and Robert Dougall...
,
Michael AspelMichael Terence Aspel, OBE is an English journalist and television presenter, known for his reserved demeanour and rich speaking voice. He has been a high-profile TV personality in the United Kingdom since the 1960s, presenting programmes such as Crackerjack, Aspel and Company, This is Your Life,...
and
Richard BakerRichard Baker OBE is a British broadcaster best known as a newsreader for the BBC News from 1954 to 1982. He was a contemporary of Kenneth Kendall and Robert Dougall and was the first person to read the BBC Television News in 1954. At one time he lived in Barnet, North London...
with Kendall being the very first).
Dougall presented general
BBC newsBBC News, formerly BBC News and Current Affairs, is the department within the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the corporation's news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online....
reports and the
NewsroomNewsroom was the BBC2 channel's main news programme during the 1960s and early 1970s.The programme began on the day BBC2 started transmission, 20 April 1964 and continued until 1973. The programme was initially broadcast late at night but was moved to a 7.30 - 8.00pm time-slot in 1968...
programme during the 1960s and was awarded the
MBEMBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business and Engineering* Mean Biased Error...
in 1965, receiving his honour on the same day as
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
. He was the first person to present the long-running
BBC Nine O'Clock NewsThe BBC Nine O'Clock News was the flagship BBC News programme launched on 14 September 1970, which ran until 15 October 2000, when it was controversially moved to BBC News at Ten....
in 1970, continuing in this role until his retirement from the newsroom in 1973.
Post-retirement
Like Peter Woods, Dougall was considered an archetypal newsreader and frequently appeared as himself in comedy programmes of the 1970s and early 1980s, including
The GoodiesThe Goodies are a trio of British comedians , who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Cambridge University:The three actors in The Goodies met as students at the...
and
Yes MinisterYes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Sir Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC television and radio between 1980 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988...
. He also presented seven series of
Channel 4'sChannel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
over-60s programme,
Years Ahead over four years and appeared in an advertising campaign for the jewellers
Prestons of Bolton during the 1980s.
Dougall was also known for his love of animals and birds and he was president of the RSPB for a five-year period. He wrote several books about birds in the 1970s and an autobiography,
In and Out of the Box, in 1973. He lived in
Walberswick
Walberswick is a village on the Suffolk coast, across the River Blyth from Southwold. Coastal erosion and the shifting of the mouth of the River Blyth meant that the neighbouring town of Dunwich was lost as a port in the last years of the 13th century...
in
SuffolkSuffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
though his main home for many years was in Hampstead in London.
Family
Dougall's granddaughter Rose is a singer/songwriter, formerly with Brighton band
The PipettesThe Pipettes are a British indie pop girl group formed in Brighton.The current line-up consists of sisters, Gwenno and Ani Saunders and Beth Mburu-Bowie. Founding member, Julia Clarke-Lowes, left the band in 2005, with Rose Elinor Dougall and Rebecca Stephens also choosing to part ways at the...
.
Dougall's grandson Tom Dougall is a guitarist with Brighton band
Joe Lean and the Jing Jang JongJoe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong are an English indie rock band based in London.-Overview:The band formed in late-2006, initially calling themselves Joe Lean and The Tantrums. Following a name change to Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, they played their first gig in January 2007 and released their...
.
Contributions
- An Introduction To Bird and Wildlife Photography In Still and Movie, Marchington, John and Clay, Anthony, Faber & Faber (1974) - Foreword.
Sources
External links