Sir Gerald Clayton Beadle (17 April 1899 – 6 November 1976) was a British announcer and administrator for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

, and later Director of

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

Life

Beadle was born in

Belvedere, Kent Belvedere is a town in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies close to the River Thames, with Erith to the east, Bexleyheath to the south, and Abbey Wood and Thamesmead to the west. Prior to the creation of G ...

, to Clayton Beadle (1868–1917), a chemist, and Helen Pears Beadle. He joined the BBC in 1923, as a radio announcer. He left in 1924 and rejoined in 1926 as station director in Belfast. He moved to the television team in 1936. He was instrumental in establishing the BBC's Television Centre, in London. He was knighted in December 1960. He appeared as a castaway on the

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...

'' on 30 October 1961. His portrait, a 1961 photograph by Walter Bird, is in the National Portrait Gallery. He died on 6 November 1976.

Bibliography

References

External links

Cactus Pryor Interviews Sir Gerald Beadle
Video of 1961 TV programme, with

Cactus Pryor Richard "Cactus" Pryor (January 7, 1923 – August 30, 2011) was an American broadcaster and humorist. He received his nickname after the old Cactus Theater on Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, which was run by his father, "Skinny" Pryor. Pry ...

1899 births 1976 deaths People from Belvedere, London BBC radio presenters BBC Television Knights Bachelor {{BBC-tv-bio-stub