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 Richard Baker
First Book: The Terror of Tobermory (W. H. Allen, 1972)
Awards: OBE for services to broadcasting; three Newscaster of the Year awards; 1984 Variety Club’s Radio Personality of the Year.
Richard Baker was born and brought up in London. He read history and modern languages at Cambridge University before serving in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
His naval career began at Granton on the Firth of Forth and he went on to serve on convoy vessels stationed across Scotland. When Richard was sent for training to Tobermory he met the legendary Sir Gilbert Stephenson, a remarkable character who was infamous for his ferocity. Years after the war was over, Richard was inspired to write two naval biographies, one of which, The Terror of Tobermory (W. H. Allen, 1972) is a biography to this legendary vice admiral. A new edition of this book was published by Birlinn in 1999.
When the war ended, Richard returned to London and for a while worked briefly as an actor and teacher. He became a radio announcer in 1950 and in 1954 spoke the first words of the BBC’s first television news bulletin. Only a handful of staff produced the programme at Alexandra Palace, and it consisted of still pictures and newsreel with no presenters visible to the audience at home. It was thought by the BBC that a presenter would unwittingly convey opinion or bias through facial expressions, but when the BBC relented in 1955, Richard was one of the few chosen in a trial of on-screen news readers. He continued to read the national news for twenty-eight years and remains the BBC’s longest-serving newsreader.
Richard appeared on BBC 2’s Face the Music from 1967 until 1984, and also hosted record programmes on BBC Radio 4 for many years, including These You Have Loved and Baker’s Dozen. He also presented weekly programmes on BBC Radio 3 and Melodies or You on BBC Radio 2, before taking over from Alan Keith as the presenter of Your Hundred Best Tunes. All of this work in radio indulged Richard’s own passion for music, a subject on which he has written several books.
In 1979 Richard was honoured with an OBE for services to broadcasting. He has received the Newscaster of the Year award three times and was Variety Club’s Radio Personality of the Year in 1984.
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