Newscaster Alastair Yates has died, aged 65. For many years, UK viewers would have seen him as the overnight face of BBC News 24/BBCWorld, but he started out as a dj, under the name Al Capone, after leaving Burton Grammar School. He played Ska and Northern Soul at venues including the Royal Oak and now-defunct Queen's Arms in Burton-on-Trent, and managed local bands and folk groups. That brought him into contact with BBC Radio Derby, who offered him a weekend kids show in 1973, and the name was softened to Al Kay. He moved to tv news, after some practice at home, with BBC Midlands Today, Anglia's "About Anglia" and Grampian TV's "North Tonight.
In 1989, he was paired with Penny Smith as the first presenters on air for Sky News (note Penny's shoulders a touch wider than Al's). From 1992 to 2011, he was with BBC News, in various incarnations of BBC World Service Television, BBC World News and BBC News 24. And whilst his exposure to UK audiences might not have been in peak-time, he was much more familiar to US viewers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment