Anne Gregg

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Anne Deirdre Gregg (11 February 1940 – 5 September 2006) was a travel writer and TV presenter from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. She is perhaps best known for presenting the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

's travel programme '' Holiday'' throughout the 1980s. She was one of the first people from Northern Ireland to become a national British television personality.TV star Anne Gregg dies of cancer

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, 6 September 2006.

Early life

Gregg was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. Her father, Kenneth, was a civil servant who worked for the

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

; her mother, Nan, was a

dressmaker A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Notab ...

. A great uncle, R. H. McCandless, was an actor.Obituary
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', 9 September 2006 She had one brother, Ken. Gregg was educated at Strathearn Grammar School for Girls in Belfast. After leaving school, she worked for a short time as a bookkeeper in the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

, but quickly left to pursue a television career.

Career

Gregg joined

Ulster Television UTV (formerly Ulster Television, branded on air as ITV1) is the ITV region covering Northern Ireland, ITV subsidiary and the former on-air name of the free-to-air public broadcast television channel serving the area. It is run by ITV plc an ...

at the age of 19 in 1959, starting as an announcer and later becoming a local news reporter and presenter of '' Roundabout''. She was reputed to be the youngest current affairs presenter in the United Kingdom. Obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 9 September 2006. She moved to England in 1963, where worked at an advertising agency before moving to

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

, in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, to present a current affairs programme. She moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to work for the

...
, first as a

continuity announcer In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...

, and later becoming a

news reader News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. New ...

on national television. She changed to print journalism in 1966,Obituary
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 9 September 2006. working as a features editor and later deputy editor on the ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

'' magazine. She was editor of ''Woman's Journal'' from 1978 to 1980. Gregg returned to television broadcasting in 1980, as a presenter on the ''Holiday'' programme from 1980 to 1991. She was its main studio presenter from 1990 to 1991, attracting a weekly audience of 12 million. With a warm, personable manner, described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as "unstuffy directness and warmth combined with an impish sense of fun",Obituary
''

'', 14 September 2006 she was popular with viewers. She was counted as " thinking man's crumpet", alongside

Joan Bakewell Joan Dawson Bakewell, Baroness Bakewell, (''née'' Rowlands; born 16 April 1933), is an English journalist, television presenter and Labour Party peer. Baroness Bakewell is president of Birkbeck, University of London; she is also an author a ...

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992 ...

and

Felicity Kendal Felicity Ann Kendal (born 25 September 1946) is an English actress, working principally in television and theatre. She has appeared in numerous stage and screen roles over a more than 70-year career, but the role that brought attention to her ...

. However, in 1991, she was replaced as the main presenter of ''Holiday'' with

Anneka Rice Anne Lucinda Hartley Rice (born 4 October 1958), known professionally as Anneka Rice, is a Welsh-born television and radio presenter, broadcaster, journalist and painter. Early life and education Rice was born in Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wale ...

(Rice was herself replaced one year later by

Jill Dando Jill Wendy Dando (9 November 1961 – 26 April 1999) was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She spent most of her career at the BBC and was the corporation's Personality of the Year in 1997. At the time of her death, her ...

). Rather than face demotion, Gregg resigned. The '' Daily Mail'' reported that she had been sacked, and perceptions that she had been rejected for being too old at 51 (Rice was 17½ years younger) led to hundreds of viewers writing in to protest, pushing the issue of her departure to seventh on the BBC's list of viewer complaints, famously between complaints about bad language (sixth) and about a series of programmes on homosexuality on BBC2 (eighth). She, however, rejected allegations of

ageism Ageism, also spelled agism, is discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism and racism. Butler d ...

, pointing to successful older women at the BBC, such as

Esther Rantzen Dame Esther Louise Rantzen (born 22 June 1940) is an English journalist and television presenter, who presented the BBC television series ''That's Life!'' for 21 years, from 1973 until 1994. She works with various charitable causes, and fou ...

and Sue Lawley. In retrospect, Gregg was glad to have been given a chance to explore other interests. She continued as a television presenter. She co-presented coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show for BBC Two from 1991 to 1994; presented a ten-part series on BBC Northern Ireland, ''Places Apart'' in 1996-1997; and appeared as a guest on ''

Call My Bluff ''Call My Bluff'' is a British panel game show based on the short-lived US version of the same name. It was originally hosted by Robin Ray and later, most notably, by Robert Robinson. Its most prominent panellist was Frank Muir. Format The g ...

'' and ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

''. She presented two programmes that mixed travel with religion, ''Annie Across America'' on religion in the United States, in 1992 and ''Package Pilgrims'' in 1993; and also ''Folio'', an arts programme produced by Anglia. Gregg also continued with the freelance interests that she had pursued while presenting ''Holiday''. She produced videos for

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

; she wrote in newspapers and magazines; and she appeared on radio programmes. In 1997, she presented one series of ''Breakaway'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. For many years, she produced magazines for the French Tourist Office in London with business partner Ken Wright. In 2003, she was awarded the Médaille d'Or du Tourisme. She wrote several books, including ''The Perfect Holiday'' (1989), ''Dalton's Directory of British Holidays'' (1993), a series of ''Heritage Guides to Great Britain'' (1995), and ''Tarragon and Truffles'' (2006).

Personal life

Gregg lived in London, but also kept a house in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. She never married. She died in 2006 of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, aged 66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregg, Anne 1940 births 2006 deaths British television presenters Mass media people from Belfast Deaths from cancer in England People educated at Strathearn School