Commander William Ibbett (21 June 1886 – 28 June 1975) was an English submariner, and later a

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 ...

broadcaster.

Life

Ibbett was born in 1886 at

Oxted Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is south south-east of Croydon in Greater London, west of Sevenoaks in Kent, and north of East Grinstead in West Sussex. Oxted ...

, Surrey, England. After growing up in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

,Transcript of

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 (usua ...

appearance, in BBC archives he joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, serving during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, including an attachment to the Russian submarine service, during which the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

occurred, and until 1922, then re-enlisting in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Between the wars, his various jobs included tea-planting in Ceylon and work on a

whaling ship A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...

in the Antarctic. He appeared in the BBC in the 1930s, and, during the 1950s, appeared regularly on the BBC radio programme ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by ...

'', reminiscing about his career. He was also featured on a 1969 BBC record, ''Voices From Woman's Hour Past And Present''. His radio work was credited simply as "Commander Ibbett". He appeared as a castaway on the

programme ''

'' on 21 October 1957. He died in June 1975 at the age of 89 in Burgess Hill, West Sussex.

References

External links

Ibbett's career
at ''Unit Histories''
Ibbett's entry
at the ''Dreadnought Project'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibbett, William 1886 births People from Oxted 1975 deaths People from Wiltshire Royal Navy officers of World War I Royal Navy officers of World War II Royal Navy submarine commanders BBC radio presenters