Alvar Lidell

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Tord Alvar Quan Lidell

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(11 September 1908 – 7 January 1981) was a

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narration ...

and newsreader. During the Second World War his distinctive voice became synonymous with the reading of news.

Early life

Lidell was born in

Wimbledon Park Wimbledon Park is the name of an urban park in Wimbledon and also of the suburb south and east of the park and the Wimbledon Park tube station. The park itself is in area. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is immediately to the west ...

, Surrey, to

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

parents. His father John Adrian Lidell was a

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

importer; his mother was Gertrud Lidell (née Lundström). Lidell attended

King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a public school in Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV, as the junior department of King's College London an ...

, Wimbledon and

Exeter College, Oxford (Let Exeter Flourish) , old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall'' , named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter , established = , sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge , rector = Sir Richard Trainor ...

. As a boy, he studied

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, piccolo,

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

and

singing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or with ...

, and was a noted

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

at Oxford.

BBC

After some brief teaching and singing jobs, he joined BBC

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

as chief announcer, transferring to London after a year. He became deputy chief announcer in 1937, and the following year married Nancy Margaret Corfield, a lawyer's daughter. They had two daughters and a son. He made some historic broadcasts, including the announcement of Edward VIII's

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

. On 3 September 1939 he read the

ultimatum An ultimatum (; ) is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance (open loop). An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

from 10 Downing Street and then, at 11 a.m. introduced Neville Chamberlain who told the nation that it was at

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

with

. It was during 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 ...

that the BBC allowed its previously anonymous announcers and newsreaders to give their names - to distinguish them from enemy propagandists. During the war, ''"Here is the news, and this is Alvar Lidell reading it"'' became an inadvertent

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

. Announcing the British victory at El Alamein, he said "Here is the news, and cracking good news it is too!" In 1943 he served with the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

as an intelligence officer (some of the time at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...

,) but returned to the BBC a year later. In 1946 he was appointed chief announcer on the new

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...

, where he remained for six years. In 1952 the BBC's news service was reorganised, and he returned as a newsreader, also doing a little

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

work. He was appointed an

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in 1964 and retired in 1969. In 1979 he published an article about the deteriorating standards of speech at the BBC in '' The Listener'' - the BBC immediately set up a panel of experts to report on the matter. Lidell also worked as a

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

, and recorded over 237 volumes for

Books for the Blind The Books for the Blind Program is an initiative of the United States National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) which provides audio recordings of books free of charge to people who are blind or visually impaired. The ...

, including long works such as

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writt ...

. As a baritone, he gave recitals and recorded with

Gerald Moore Gerald Moore CBE (30 July 1899 – 13 March 1987) was an English classical pianist best known for his career as a collaborative pianist for many distinguished musicians. Among those with whom he was closely associated were Dietrich Fischer-Di ...

at the

. In 1970 Lidell was heard as narrator on the

Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Ma ...

recording of ''

The Whale A whale is a sea mammal. Whale or The Whale may also refer to: Places Extraterrestrial * Cetus, a constellation also known as "The Whale" * Cthulhu Regio on Pluto, unofficially called Whale United Kingdom * Whale, Cumbria, England, a hamlet ...

'' by composer

John Tavener Sir John Kenneth Tavener (28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013) was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious works. Among his best known works are '' The Lamb'' (1982), ''The Protecting Veil'' (1988), and '' Song ...

. Recordings of Lidell's news bulletins have been included in many films set in Britain during the Second World War, such as the movie ''

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

'' (1969). In later life he lived for a time at Little Knighton, Worcestershire, England. He died at Northwood,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, aged 72.

References

* ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

External links

Alvar Lidell announces the German invasion of Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, May 10, 1940Alvar Lidell announces the Japanese attack on US targets in the Pacific, December 7, 1941Alvar Lidell announcing the Abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936Alvar Lidell announcing on BBC Radio that Germany had invaded Poland – September 1, 1939
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lidell, Alvar 1908 births 1981 deaths People educated at King's College School, London BBC newsreaders and journalists Radio and television announcers Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Members of the Order of the British Empire