David Shute is a British journalist, best known for his work at the BBC.

Career

Shute was educated at Brentwood School in Essex. While working on newspapers in Reading he was auditioned by the BBC in Bristol and immediately signed on contract. He made a reputation for engaging in adventurous broadcasts such as

deep sea diving Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on contex ...

, riding on the back of a Royal Artillery motorcycle during a display and, while covering a story on the changing face of circus life, going on the flying trapeze. David Shute was the first person to broadcast live to the UK while travelling through the sound barrier. He is regularly on BBC Radio Four's '' Today programme''. As a reporter he covered conflicts in Borneo and Sarawak which resulted in the Radio Four programme ''The Quiet Confrontation'', produced by Roy Hayward. He also covered the troubles in

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

and the

Radfan Radfan or the Radfan Hills is a region of the Republic of Yemen. In the 1960s, the area was part of a British protectorate of Dhala (a member of the Federation of South Arabia) and was the site of intense fighting during the Aden Emergency. In 1 ...

. He was promoted to the post of Senior Talks Producer at the BBC's Pebble Mill studios. There he built a reputation for mounting outside broadcasts. He maintained a productive association with the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

Stratford upon Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-wes ...

and worked with actors including Ian Richardson, Richard Pasco and Margaret Tyzack. He directed Richardson's memorable radio performance of Nevil Shute's ''

Requiem for a Wren ''Requiem For A Wren'' is a novel by Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1955 by William Heinemann Ltd. It was published in the United States under the title ''The Breaking Wave''. Plot summary The late 1940s story concerns two English wome ...

'', which was featured as a ''

Book at Bedtime ''Book at Bedtime'' (''A Book at Bedtime'' until 9 July 1993) is a long-running radio programme that is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 each weekday evening between 22.45 and 23.00. The programme presents readings of fiction, including modern classics, ...

''. He gave David Suchet his first broadcast job, reading a "Morning Story". Outside the BBC he wrote and produced ''Warwick Castle Mediaeval Banquet'', which ran for more than 17 years. He later founded a Production Company specialising in Video and Conference Production.

Retirement

Living in retirement in Spain, Shute works as a lecturer on cruise ships covering such topics as "broadcasting" and "the musical theatre", accompanied by recordings of his work as a reporter. Ashore he finds himself in demand as an after dinner speaker.

References

External links

David Shute's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shute, David British expatriates in Spain British male journalists British television producers British radio producers Living people People from Brentwood, Essex Year of birth missing (living people)