Derek Ivor Breashur McCulloch OBE (18 November 1897 – 1 June 1967) was 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 ...

producer and presenter. He became known as "Uncle Mac" on '' Children's Hour'' and ''

Children's Favourites ''Junior Choice'' is a BBC Radio programme originally broadcast from 1967 until 1982 with Christmas specials from 2007 until 2015 and again since 2017. Originally broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on Saturday mornings from 9.10 to 9.55 (later, ...

'' and provided the voice of "Larry the Lamb" in ''

Toytown ''Toytown'' was a BBC radio series for children, broadcast for '' Children's Hour'' on the Home Service. The plays were based on a set of puppets created by S. G. Hulme Beaman, who also wrote the stories for the series. The first ''Toytown' ...

''. He was the head of children's broadcasting for the BBC from 1933 until 1951.

Early life

McCulloch was born in Plymouth,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, the youngest child of (William) Lionel Breashur McCulloch and his wife, Bertha Russell. 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 ...

interrupted his education at

Croydon High School Croydon High School is an Independent school (UK), independent day school for girls located near Croydon, London, England. It is one of the original schools founded by the Girls' Day School Trust. History The school was founded in 1874 in Welles ...

, and he enlisted in 1915 in the Public Schools Battalion of the 16th Middlesex Regiment at the age of 17. He was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916 within 20 yards of the German front line. He was then shot by an enemy stretcher party and lost his right eye. During three days and nights in a shell hole, he incurred further injuries from shrapnel. He crawled back to his own lines. He served until 1921 with the infantry, where he was commissioned into the

Green Howards The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment), frequently known as the Yorkshire Regiment until the 1920s, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, in the King's Division. Raised in 1688, it served under vario ...

, and in the Royal Flying Corps as an equipment officer, including a spell on

HMS Valiant Seven vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Valiant''. * , a schooner launched at Oswego, New York, Thirteen Colonies and captured by the French in 1756. * , launched in 1759 at Chatham, Kent, Chatham, was a third-rate ship of t ...

. After the war, he travelled in Europe and South America. He was working for

Central Argentine Railway The Central Argentine Railway, referred to as CA below, (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Central Argentino) was one of the ''Big Four'' broad gauge, British companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company had been establis ...

when his health deteriorated, and he returned to England where a bullet was extracted from his lung.Mckenzie, Jim
Biography by Jim Mackenzie at The Wee Web
. Retrieved 30 October 2012

Career

BBC

McCulloch joined the BBC in 1926 as an announcer. He was the commentator on the first radio broadcast of the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

in 1927.The Radio Academy: Derek McCulloch
. Retrieved 30 October 2012 His health worsened while working for the

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

station in 1929 but a job was found for him in '' Children's Hour''. By 1931, he became second-in-command of the programme and took charge of it in 1933. The programme included talks, plays, music and drama serials. He was appointed head of children's broadcasting in 1933, serving in that position until 1951.Strinati, D
''Come on Down?: The Politics of Popular Media Culture in Post-War Britain''
Psychology Press, 1992, pp. 153, 157. He regarded the department as a microcosm of all broadcasting, stating: "Nothing but the best is good enough for children ... our wish is to stimulate their imaginations, direct their reading, encourage their various interests, widen their outlook and inculcate the Christian virtues of love of God and their neighbours." In 1938 he lost a leg as the result of a road accident, and thereafter remained in constant pain. One of the favourite segments of ''Children's Hour'' was

Sydney George Hulme Beaman Sydney George Hulme Beaman (1887 – 4 February 1932), was a British author, actor and illustrator. He was best known as the creator of the '' Toytown'' stories and their characters, including Larry the Lamb.General Register Office; United King ...

's Toytown playlets, in which McCulloch played the central role of Larry the Lamb. In 1939, the audience for ''Children's Hour'' reached four million. His sign-off line, "Goodnight children, everywhere," became more poignant after the evacuation of many children from their homes at the start of 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 ...

. He resigned from the BBC in 1950 due to ill health, and to become the children's editor for the ''

News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the ''Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 be ...

''. However, he continued to chair ''Nature Parliament'', which ran roughly every month on ''Children's Hour''. In 1954, McCulloch returned to the BBC to present a music request programme for children, ''Children's Favourites'', on Saturday mornings. By 1964, the audience for the daily ''Children's Hour'' had decreased to 24,000, in favour of television. Despite questions in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, the programme was dropped. The following year, he ceased to present the Saturday show. After his retirement, it was hosted by

Leslie Crowther Leslie Douglas Sargent Crowther, CBE (6 February 1933 – 29 September 1996) was an English comedian, actor, TV presenter, and game show host. Biography Crowther was born on Monday, 6 February, 1933 in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, son of ...

and it became ''

Junior Choice ''Junior Choice'' is a BBC Radio programme originally broadcast from 1967 until 1982 with Christmas specials from 2007 until 2015 and again since 2017. Originally broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on Saturday mornings from 9.10 to 9.55 (later, ...

'', hosted by

Ed Stewart Edward Stewart Mainwaring (23 April 1941 – 9 January 2016), known as Ed "Stewpot" Stewart, was an English radio broadcaster and TV presenter. He was principally known for his work as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 (particularly the Saturday morning '' J ...

, when the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

was replaced by

Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC ** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music *CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...

and Radio 2 in 1967.

Writing

McCulloch wrote the book ''Every Child's Pilgrim's Progress'' in 1956, a simplified version of

John Bunyan John Bunyan (; baptised 30 November 162831 August 1688) was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress,'' which also became an influential literary model. In addition ...

's ''

The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christianity, Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a prog ...

'', which in McCulloch's words was one of the "greatest stories ever written". He also wrote two children's stories, ''Cornish Adventure'' (1941) and ''Cornish Mystery'' (1950), and gave his name to a series of Ladybird children's books in the 1950s.

Personal life and death

McCulloch was the subject of the BBC television programme '' This Is Your Life'' in February 1964. He married Eileen Hilda Barry, a BBC secretary, on 13 June 1931. They had two daughters. He was awarded an OBE in 1964, and died at St Francis Hospital, Haywards Heath on 1 June 1967, aged 69. McCulloch was cremated at Bramley, Surrey.

Early life

Career

BBC

Writing

Personal life and death

References

Further reading