Redvers Buller Kyle (25 November 1929 – 18 November 2015) was a South African-born British broadcaster, voice over artist, actor and composer, best known for his work on the
ITV network
ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passin ...
in the United Kingdom over forty years.
Biography
Redvers Kyle was born in
Germiston
Germiston, also known as kwaDukathole, is a small city in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, administratively forming part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since the latter's establishment in 2000. It functions as ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
and named after General Sir
Redvers Buller
General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, (7 December 1839 – 2 June 1908) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forc ...
, the British military commander in the early stages of the
Anglo-Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...
.
During his university studies, he began his broadcasting career with the
South African Broadcasting Corporation
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...
in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
, mostly in children's programmes, and appeared in dramatic productions including ''Boy with a Cart'', which won him an award at a national drama festival.
Kyle emigrated to England in August 1952, and spent a year as a primary school teacher in south London
before becoming a freelance radio and television broadcaster. His involvement with ITV began in its first month - September 1955 - when he appeared in the series ''Sunday Afternoon'' for
ATV. He also made early contributions to
ITN, providing commentary to news film.
His career as a
continuity announcer
In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...
began when he joined
Associated-Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, ...
in February 1956, working alongside
Muriel Young
Muriel Young (19 June 1923 – 24 March 2001) was an English television continuity announcer, presenter and producer.
Early life
Young was born in 1923 in Bishop Middleham near Sedgefield, County Durham. As a child, she lived with her family i ...
and the station's head of presentation
Leslie Mitchell. Kyle later became Chief Announcer and continued with Rediffusion until the company lost its franchise. He was on duty for the station's final night of transmission on Monday 29 July 1968.
It was during Kyle's time at Rediffusion that he presented the first schools programme on British television in 1957. The programme was called ''Looking and Seeing'' and he was criticised for talking too much and trying "to cover too much ground in too short a time".
He then hosted other schools and children's programmes produced by A-R in the late 1950s and early 1960s, voiced over local adverts for
ATV in the
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
, was heard as a narrator on a number of LP records, and composed light music such as "Busy Bachelor", which was used as startup music for
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 ...
in the late 1950s.
Following Rediffusion's closure, Kyle moved to the new
Yorkshire Television
ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...
in Leeds, where he served as its chief continuity announcer for nearly a quarter of a century. During this period, his voice was heard nationally on trails and promos for networked programming as well as the long-running schools series ''
How We Used To Live'' and during the 1980s, the YTV children's series ''
The Giddy Game Show''.
He also worked on comedian
Les Dawson
Leslie Dawson Jr. (2 February 1931 – 10 June 1993) was an English comedian, actor, writer, and presenter, who is best remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona and Mother-in-law joke, jokes about his mother-in-law and wife.
Earl ...
's first television programme ''
Sez Les
''Sez Les'' is a British sketch comedy show that starred Les Dawson. It was produced by Yorkshire Television, and aired on ITV from 1969 to 1976. Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough (who was a cast member from series four onward) regularly perfor ...
''.
Redvers retired from YTV in 1993, alongside announcing colleague
Graham Roberts
Graham Paul Roberts (born 3 July 1959) is an English retired footballer and manager who played as a defender for numerous clubs including Tottenham Hotspur (where he won the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup), Rangers (where he won the Scottish League ...
- both announcers made a rare in-vision appearance on the regional news programme ''
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...
'' the same evening.
After his retirement, Redvers continued to work freelance as a voiceover artist, providing announcing cover for both YTV and
Tyne Tees Television
ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire.
Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from stud ...
until around 1998. In recognition of his work for Rediffusion, his voice was also heard in programmes made by
Victor Lewis-Smith, who had revived the Associated-Rediffusion name for his own production company.
Kyle was known for his rich voice, described as "deep and distinctive" by
BAFTA, and like "plum brandy" by former Yorkshire Television presenter
Austin Mitchell
Austin Vernon Mitchell (19 September 1934 – 18 August 2021) was a British academic, journalist and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member of Parliament (MP) for Great Grimsby (UK ...
.
Kyle died on 18 November 2015 at the age of 85 just seven days to his 86th birthday.
References
External links
*
TV Ark's YTV continuity
*
ttps://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba017a957 BFI Filmography*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle, Redvers
1929 births
2015 deaths
British television presenters
Radio and television announcers
South African emigrants to the United Kingdom
Yorkshire Television