John West (7 March 1924 – 9 July 2008) was an Australian broadcaster and theatre historian remembered for his long-running programmes "Sentimental Journey" and "The Showman" broadcast nationally on ABC Radio.

Early life

He was born in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

, Sydney, and grew up in

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

, the only child of John and Jean West. He was brought up by his mother and developed an early interest in theatre, which was encouraged by his grandmother, Mary Bell. He was educated at

Fort Street High School Fort Street High School (FSHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Mixed-sex school, co-educational Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary school, secondary day school, located in Petersh ...

Career

He joined the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

as an announcer in 1942 before enlisting in the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

, serving with RAAF Radio "The Voice of the Islands" from 1942 to 1945. He returned to the ABC as an ordinary announcer, pursuing his theatrical interests at every opportunity in his off-duty time until 1964 when he was able to combine his profession and passion in the weekly programme "The Showman". A second program, "Sentimental Journey" in which he resurrected old gramophone records from the ABC's record library, as well as his own and those of fellow enthusiasts, followed in 1978. Both continued after he "officially" retired in 1989. West was made a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM) in the

1989 Australia Day Honours The 1989 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 1989 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Ninian Stephen. The Austr ...

for "service to media and the arts".

Death

His last years were blighted by dementia, cared for by one-time colleague Nona Wood. He had been diagnosed with a brain tumor but died in a nursing home at

Collaroy Collaroy is a suburb in northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Collaroy is 22 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of Northern Beac ...

following a heart attack.

Programmes

*''Sentimental Journey'' on Saturday nights (1978–95) *''The Showman'' (1964–90)Seaborn, Broughton and Walford newsletter vol 16 issue 5, 2 October 2008
accessed 4 September 2011
John West's extensive collection of Australian theatre ephemera is held by the SBW foundation.

Publications

*''Theatre in Australia'' Cassell Australia 1978

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West, John (theatre) 2008 deaths 1924 births People educated at Fort Street High School 20th-century Australian historians ABC radio (Australia) journalists and presenters Members of the Order of Australia Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II