Eric Wallace (16 July 1938 – 28 April 2004) was a reporter and presenter for Border Television and an independent film director in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was born in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

and spent his whole life there. For over twenty years, he was the main anchor of the regional news programme, '' Lookaround''.

Broadcasting career

At the age of 27, Wallace left his first job at McVitie's biscuit factory in Carlisle (where he had worked for ten years) to take a three-year course in Film and Television at the College of the Venerable Bede at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

. On graduating, he joined Border Television on 9 September 1968 as a news reporter - he would remain at Border for the next 30 years, presenting ''Lookaround'' and many of the station's regional programmes, including his own chat show ''Wallace''. After his retirement, he returned to make a number of guest and cover stints as a ''Lookaround'' presenter and reporter, until illness prevented him from doing so in 2002. Upon leaving Border, Wallace freelanced at BBC Radio Cumbria, presenting a Saturday morning show.

Independent film career

Whilst working for Border TV, Wallace - an ardent film enthusiast - directed, produced and funded several independent films including ''Strange Company'' (1972 - a portrait of Lindsay Kemp and Jack Birkett), ''I Can Lick Any Girl in the House'' (1976 - a pseudo-biography of female wrestler Mitzi Mueller) and ''Stimmung'' (1987 - a homage of

German expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

films). For Border, he also wrote and presented a profile of director

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...

, and as an arts enthusiast, he played the role of a newsreader for

Ian Breakwell Ian Breakwell (26 May 1943 in Long Eaton, Derbyshire – 14 October 2005 in London) was a world-renowned British fine artist. He was a prolific artist who took a multi-media approach to his observation of society. Early life Breakwell was ...

's video work, ''The News'', in 1980. Wallace himself was the subject of a 1986 film, ''The One and Only'', produced by Michael Cumming, then a film student at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

, London.

Death

Eric Wallace died at

's Eden Valley Hospice on 28 April 2004 from

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 ...

. He was 65 and had been married for 40 years with two children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. That night's edition of ''Lookaround'' broke the news of Wallace's death and featured an extensive tribute. Following the tribute, anchorwoman and close friend Fiona Armstrong wept openly on air.

References

1938 births 2004 deaths English television presenters Deaths from cancer in England Alumni of the College of the Venerable Bede, Durham {{UK-tv-bio-stub