Derek Batey (8 August 1928 – 17 February 2013) was a British

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a " television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garne ...

and television executive. Batey was born in

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it t ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic counties of England, historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th c ...

, and educated at the White House School, Brampton. After appearing in clubs as a

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...

he made his first TV appearance in 1958 as an interviewer for the BBC. In 1961 he moved to the newly established

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 service provided by ITV (TV channel), ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Anglo-Scottish border, England/Scotland border region, ...

, 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 A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

'' Mr. and Mrs.'', which was for many years the only programme produced by Border Television that was networked nationally. He also hosted the talk show '' Look Who's Talking''.

''Try for Ten''

Batey also hosted ''Try for Ten'', another game show produced by Border in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

. 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.'' on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

Personal life

Batey resided in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

with his wife, Edith, to whom he was married for 62 years, and had one daughter, Diane. He died in a hospice in

Lytham St Annes Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 42,954 ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

after a short illness, aged 84.Derek Batey dies aged 84
''itv.com (Border News)'', Retrieved 12 March 2013.

References

External links

*

1928 births 2013 deaths English game show hosts English television presenters People from Brampton, Carlisle {{UK-tv-bio-stub