Frederick Edgar Dinenage MBE (born 8 June 1942) is an English author and retired broadcaster and television presenter. His television career spanned nearly 60 years, including the long-running children's programme '' How'' and ITV's regional programming in the south of England. Dinenage retired from ITV Meridian on 16 December 2021, after 38 years as a news anchor.

Early life and education

Dinenage was born in Birmingham. He was educated at

Portsmouth Grammar School The Portsmouth Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school in Portsmouth, England, located in the historic part of Portsmouth. It was founded in 1732 as a boys' school and is located on Portsmouth High Street. History In 17 ...

(a state grammar school during the time he attended it; it later became an

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

Career

Dinenage has appeared as presenter of many British television programmes (many of them produced by

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as 'Southern Television Limited' and the title 'Southern Television' was con ...

, and its successors

TVS TVS may refer to: Mathematics * Topological vector space Television * Television Sydney, TV channel in Sydney, Australia * Television South, ITV franchise holder in the South of England between 1982 and 1992 * TVS Television Network, US dis ...

and Meridian Broadcasting), such as '' Tell The Truth'', '' How'' and its successor '' How 2'', as well as the BBC

quiz 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, sh ...

'' Pass The Buck'' and '' Gambit'' (produced by Anglia).

News anchor

Dinenage began his career at

in 1964, as a presenter on ''Three Go Round'', a part-networked children's programme, alongside actress Diane Keen and future television producer Britt Allcroft. He later moved onto the station's local news magazine programme, ''Day By Day'', as a reporter and presenter. In later years, he concentrated on sports coverage, hosting the programme's weekly ''South Sport'' feature. Dinenage transferred from Southern to

in January 1982, chiefly as a sports presenter and reporter, working on '' Coast to Coast'', ''Sportshow'' and ''The Saturday Match''. The following year, he took over from Khalid Aziz as the main anchor for the South edition of ''Coast to Coast'', co-presenting alongside Christopher Peacock, Fern Britton, Debbie Thrower and Mai Davies. After TVS lost its franchise, Dinenage was retained by Meridian as anchor for the South edition of ''Meridian Tonight'' and other non-news regional programmes. His co-anchors included Debbie Thrower, Natasha Kaplinsky, Jane Wyatt and Sangeeta Bhabra. In October 2021, it was announced that Dinenage would step down from ITV, after 38 years as a news anchor in the south of England. His final edition of ''ITV News Meridian'' aired on 16 December 2021.

Other work

Dinenage spent a brief period in the late 1970s covering regional sport for Yorkshire Television. He also appeared as a relief presenter of the networked

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

Saturday afternoon show, '' World of Sport'' - a role which earned him an appearance on the children's Saturday show '' Tiswas''. He also has his own weekly column featured on the magazine of the Southampton local newspaper, ''

Southern Daily Echo The ''Southern Daily Echo'', more commonly known as the ''Daily Echo'' or simply ''The Echo'', is a regional tabloid newspaper based in Southampton, covering the county of Hampshire in the United Kingdom. The newspaper is owned by Newsquest, o ...

''. Alongside his television career, Dinenage has written several factual books, including ghosting on autobiographies ''

My Story My Story may refer to: Literature Fiction * ''My Story'' (Scholastic New Zealand), a series of historical novels for children * ''My Story'' (Scholastic UK), a series of historical novels for children Autobiographies * ''My Story'' (Cla ...

'' and '' Our Story'' for the

Kray twins Ronald Kray (24 October 193317 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 19331 October 2000) were identical twin brothers, gangsters and convicted criminals. They were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London, Engl ...

. He is a keen

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

follower and was on the board of directors at Portsmouth between 1998 and 2007. He was a team captain on the ITV game show ''Never Had It So Good'', shown in 2002. He also narrated Driver's Eye Views for railway filming company "Video 125". In February 2014, he celebrated his 50th anniversary as a reporter and presenter with

, announcing that he hoped to continue broadcasting into the future. ''Fred Dinenage: Murder Casebook'', a crime documentary series on 20th century murders was first broadcast on the

Crime & Investigation Network Crime & Investigation (stylized as Crime + Investigation) is an American pay television channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Hearst Communications and the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company. The cha ...

in 2011. He has also narrated '' Most Evil Killers'' for Pick since 2017. Dinenage was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the

2010 Birthday Honours The 2010 Birthday Honours for the Commonwealth realms were announced to celebrate the Queen's Birthday on 7 June 2010 in New Zealand, on 12 June 2010 in the United Kingdom, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Sai ...

, for services to broadcasting. On 16 October 2020, it was announced Dinenage would appear in a new series of ''How'', alongside Vick Hope, Sam Homewood and Frankie Vu. A year later in December 2021, Dinenage announced his retirement from ITV Meridian, ending a career that has lasted nearly six decades.

Family

Dinenage's second daughter

Caroline Caroline may refer to: People * Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...

(born 1971) is the Conservative Member of Parliament for

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...

(elected at the 2010 general election). She also served as the Digital and Culture Minister between February 2020 and September 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dineage, Fred Living people 1942 births English television presenters British reporters and correspondents ITV regional newsreaders and journalists Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Birmingham, West Midlands People educated at The Portsmouth Grammar School