Chris Howland (30 July 1928 – 29 November 2013)Press release
Mhowland.de, accessdate 3 December 2013 was a British radio and TV presenter. For most of his career he worked in (Western) Germany, where he started a few years after World War II at

BFN The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (german: Bundesamt für Naturschutz, ''BfN'') is the German government's scientific authority with responsibility for national and international nature conservation. BfN is one of the government's ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

. He became a popular disc jockey and presenter also at German networks. He also was a prolific Schlager-singer and starred in films.

Early life

Howland was born in London and brought up in

Southern England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...

and became a professional

beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees. Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin ''apis'', bee; cf. apiary). The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees i ...

Career

Radio

In 1948 he started working for the

in Germany. The British programmes were popular among German youths who would rather listen to British music than to the comparatively slow contemporary German music. So his popularity subsequently soon exceeded his actual target audience. Howland also got acquainted with the

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is als ...

. In 1952, when he already spoke German fluently, he was hired by the

Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR; ''Northwest German Broadcasting'') was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Länder of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 ...

broadcaster. Still, when he debuted six years later as a singer, he did it in German and had two hits. But in 1959 he stopped doing radio shows and returned to Britain.

Television

On British TV Howland had a show called ''Peoples and Places'' but he was not as popular as in Germany where the audiences loved his British accent. So after two years he continued his career in Germany. Here he got a show called ''Studio B'', which featured pop stars in a new way that included a lot of humour. The show was broadcast more than sixty times. Howland's next coup was a version of ''

Candid Camera ''Candid Camera'' is a popular and long-running American hidden camera reality television series. Versions of the show appeared on television from 1948 until 2014. Originally created and produced by Allen Funt, it often featured practical jok ...

'' for German TV.

Cinema

From 1954, Howland acted in more than twenty films, including six European

Karl May films Karl May film adaptations are films based on stories and characters by German author Karl May (1842–1912). The characters Old Shatterhand, Winnetou, and Kara Ben Nemsi are very famous in Central Europe. In most of the film versions the novels we ...

. In 2007 he appeared in a parody on German Edgar Wallace feature films. He acted mainly in comedies which were carried out in a style quite like the British

Carry On films The ''Carry On'' series of 31 British comedy films were released between 1958 and 1978, produced by Peter Rogers with director Gerald Thomas. The humour of ''Carry On'' was in the British comic tradition of music hall and bawdy seaside post ...

. Like the Dutch TV entertainer

Rudi Carrell Rudi Carrell (born Rudolf Wijbrand Kesselaar; 19 December 1934 – 7 July 2006) was a Dutch entertainer. Along with famous entertainers such as Johannes Heesters and Linda de Mol, he was one of the most successful Dutch personalities active in ...

and American musician Bill Ramsey (who also appeared as guest in Howland's show "Studio B"), Howland made his accent his trademark.

Later career and death

Until his death, Howland lived outside

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and worked again as a radio presenter and appeared occasionally as an actor or talker on TV. In 2009 he published his memoirs ''Yes, Sir''. The book was well received. Howland died on 29 November 2013.

Selected filmography

* ''

Ball of Nations ''Ball of Nations'' (German: ''Ball der Nationen'') is a 1954 West German musical film, musical comedy film directed by Karl Ritter (director), Karl Ritter and starring Zsa Zsa Gabor, Gustav Fröhlich and Claudine Dupuis. It was shot at the Wiesb ...

'' (1954) * '' The Major and the Bulls'' (1955) * '' Engagement at Wolfgangsee'' (1956) * ''

Widower with Five Daughters ''Widower with Five Daughters'' (german: Witwer mit 5 Töchtern) is a 1957 West German comedy film directed by Erich Engels and starring Heinz Erhardt, Susanne Cramer, and Helmuth Lohner. It was shot at Göttingen Studios, with location shootin ...

'' (1957) * '' The Blue Sea and You'' (1959) * ''

A Thousand Stars Aglitter ''A Thousand Stars Aglitter'' (german: Tausend Sterne leuchten) is a 1959 West German musical comedy film directed by Harald Philipp and starring Germaine Damar, Toni Sailer and Maria Sebaldt.Koepnick p. 61 Cast * Germaine Damar as Patricia ...

'' (1959) * ''

I Learned That in Paris ''I Learned That in Paris'' (German: ''Das hab ich in Paris gelernt'') is a 1960 West German musical comedy film directed by Thomas Engel and starring Chris Howland, Christa Williams and Gisela Trowe.Bock & Bergfelder p.53 Cast * Chris Howland ...

'' (1960) * '' The White Spider'' (1963) * '' The Black Panther of Ratana'' (1964) * ''

Mission to Hell ''Mission to Hell'' (german: Die Diamantenholle am Mekong, french: Les diamants du Mekong, it, La sfida viene da Bangkok) is a 1964 German-French-Italian spy film written and directed by Gianfranco Parolini and starring Paul Hubschmid. One of t ...

'' (1964) * '' The Shoot'' (1964) * ''

Legacy of the Incas ''Legacy of the Incas'' (german: Das Vermächtnis des Inka) is a 1965 adventure film directed by Georg Marischka and starring Guy Madison, Rik Battaglia, and Heinz Erhardt. It was made as a co-production between Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, and Wes ...

'' (1965) * ' (1965)

References

External links

* *
Official page of his last radio show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howland, Chris 1928 births 2013 deaths British emigrants to Germany English DJs English male journalists English radio presenters English pop singers English television presenters English male film actors 20th-century English male actors Westdeutscher Rundfunk people