Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts

Monday, 12 September 2011

1998: Ulrika Jonsson & Terry Wogan

Eva Ulrika Jonsson (born 16 August 1967)[1] is a Swedish television presenter in Britain, who became famous as a TV-am weather girl and moved on to being the presenter of Gladiators and a team captain of the show Shooting Stars.

After working as a secretary, Jonsson began her TV career on TV-am in 1989 where she worked as a weather presenter. From 12 September 1989, she was also the weather presenter for Swedish TV3, broadcasting from London. In 1991, she co-presented the short-lived daytime quiz show Who's Bluffing Who?, and starred in the critically acclaimed French film, The Annunciation of Marie. In 1992 she moved into mainstream presenting and played host to numerous shows including Gladiators', The National Lottery – plus two major international broadcasts in 1998 and 1999, the Eurovision Song Contest and Miss World respectively. She also modelled for Playtex Lingerie during this period and was a team captain on the BBC TV quiz show Shooting Stars.

From & more info on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrika_Jonsson

In 1998, with Terry Wogan.

Sir Michael Terence "Terry" Wogan KBE DL (born 3 August 1938) is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career. Before he retired from the weekday breakfast programme Wake Up to Wogan on BBC Radio 2 on 18 December 2009, Sir Terry had a regular 8 million listeners, making him the most listened-to radio broadcaster of any European nation.[1] He began his career at Raidió Teilifís Éireann where he presented shows such as Jackpot in the 1960s.
Wogan has been a leading media personality in the UK since the late 1960s and is often referred to as a national treasure.[1] He is perhaps best known in the United Kingdom for his BBC1 chat show Wogan, for his work presenting Children in Need, as the host of Wake Up to Wogan, the original host of the BBC game show Blankety Blank (before being replaced by Les Dawson), a presenter of Come Dancing in the 1970s, and as the BBC's commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest on radio and television from 1971 to 2008. Wogan started a primetime weekend show on Radio 2 from 14 February 2010.[

Eurovision Song Contest
In 1971 and from 1974 until 1977, and again in 1979, Wogan provided the BBC's radio commentary for the Eurovision Song Contest. He became better known for his television commentary, which he handled first in 1973 and then again in 1978. From 1980 until 2008, he provided the BBC's television commentary every year and became famous for his sardonic and highly cynical comments. He also co-hosted the contest, in 1998 with Ulrika Jonsson, live from Birmingham. From 1977 until 1996 Wogan hosted the UK selection heat each year, returning to the job in 1998 and again from 2003 until 2008. In 1973, 1975 and every year from 1977 until 1984 and once more in 1994, Wogan also presented the UK Eurovision Song Contest Previews on BBC1. He remained until recently an advocate of the contest. He earned a reported £150,000 annually for his work with the contest.[22] His commentating style, which often involved humour at the expense of others, has caused some minor controversy, for example when he referred to the hosts of the 2001 contest in Denmark, Søren Pilmark and Natasja Crone Back, as "Doctor Death and the Tooth Fairy".[23] Although many British viewers find his comments amusing, they are far from being universally liked outside Britain. The Danes were less than appreciative and Wogan now jokes that he is banned from visiting Denmark.[citation needed]
During the presentation of the Dutch televote in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, Wogan called the Dutch televote presenter, Paul de Leeuw, an "eejit", as de Leeuw started to make ad lib comments, gave his mobile phone number and lengthened the Dutch results. Chris Tarrant later remarked that "Terry Wogan's commentary is why any sane person would choose to watch the Eurovision," referring to his now-infamous acerbity.[citation needed].
During the 2007 BBC show Making Your Mind Up, in which the British public voted to decide their Eurovision entry, Terry Wogan announced, wrongly, that the runner-up Cyndi was the winner. The actual winner was the group Scooch and, according to the BBC, Terry Wogan had been provided with the correct result during the live show. His response to this on his radio show was quite simple, "It's not like anybody died or anything." He also stated that if they'd gone with Cyndi, we'd not have come last.[24]
The Contest in recent years, however, has become notorious for a perceived increase in political voting (an aspect noted for many years). In 2008 the UK's entry, Andy Abraham, came last, much to Wogan's disappointment. Wogan argued that Abraham "..gave, I think, the performance of his life with a song that certainly deserved far more points than it got when you look at the points that Spain got, that Bosnia-Herzegovina got – some really ridiculous songs."
Unknown to the majority of television viewers across Europe, however, Wogan is well-known to many veteran broadcasters across the continent, being seen as a Eurovision Song Contest institution. Indeed, at the 2008 contest he was acknowledged by both hosts, and welcomed personally by name to the show (alongside only two other individuals from the 43 participating broadcasting nations: France's Jean-Paul Gaultier and Finland's 2007 Contest host Jaana Pelkonen).[25]
On 11 August 2008, Wogan said in an interview with national magazine RadioTimes that he was 'very doubtful' about presenting the Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom again, claiming it was "predictable" and "... no longer a music contest".[26] On 5 December 2008 Wogan officially stepped down from the role after 35 years. Graham Norton succeeded Wogan as BBC commentator for the 2009 contest. Norton said during the opening comments "I know, I miss Terry too." [27]
In 2008 Sir Terry and Aled Jones released a single "little drummer boy/peace on earth" which got to number three in the UK music charts. This single was part of an album called Bandaged which included songs by various artists and the money raised went to BBC Children in Need. In 2009 Sir Terry and Aled recorded a second Christmas single "Silver Bells" which was also part of the second Bandaged album in aid of BBC Children in Need and can still be found on http://www.charitygoods.com/.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Wogan

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

1982: Jan Leeming

Jan Leeming (born 5 January 1942) is a British TV presenter and newsreader.

Born Janet Atkins in Kent, England,[1] and educated at the St. Joseph's Convent Grammar School, she worked as an actress and presenter in Australia and New Zealand before becoming a well-known face on British television in regional and children's programmes. After a stint presenting the BBC One afternoon show Pebble Mill at One between 1974 and 1979, she became one of the UK's best known newsreaders in the 1980s on the same channel for most of the decade, and also hosted the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest.
She has kept a relatively low profile since leaving the newsroom in 1987,[2] with bit parts and one-off specials including as a stand-in newsreader for the Channel 4's breakfast show The Big Breakfast during the 1990s. Her most recent appearances include one as herself in the film Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?, starring Tom Courtenay, in 1999; and latterly on The Harry Hill Show; So Graham Norton; Lowri; Good Morning Australia; Esther and Through the Keyhole. At the Barbican she presented the RAF Concert to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
Since 2000 much of her time has been spent in corporate work and her longtime passion working with a Cheetah conservation charity in South Africa. She appeared in Safari School, a reality television series, which was first broadcast on BBC Two during January and February 2007.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Leeming

At ESC 1982.

1977: Angela Rippon

Angela M. Rippon (born 12 October 1944, Plymouth, England) is an English television journalist, newsreader and presenter.

Upon leaving school at age 17, Rippon joined the photographic office of the Western Morning News and worked for the Sunday Independent. She then worked in BBC local radio and for Westward Television as an editor.
Her presenting career started at the BBC in Plymouth. She is often erroneously stated to have been the first female newsreader on prime-time television news, on BBC2 in 1974 (later presenting the BBC's Nine O'Clock News), but ITN's Barbara Mandell predated her, having first appeared on the second night of ITV in 1955, and Nan Winton was the first to do so on the BBC, in 1960. However, Rippon was the first female newsreader to hold the job on a regular basis. She famously guest-starred in the 1976 Morecambe and Wise Christmas show, first appearing behind a newsdesk and then emerging to do a high-kicking dance routine. Her appearance was so popular she made a cameo appearance in the following year's show, in which she was revealed to be one of the members of a chorus line made up of female newsreaders. Rippon later presented the long-running show Come Dancing. In 1977, she hosted the Eurovision Song Contest at The Wembley Conference Centre in the UK.
She was the first presenter of BBC television's Top Gear, appearing on the motoring programme from 1977 to 1979. She appeared briefly on TV-am following its launch in 1983. After a much publicised exit from TV-am (with most of its other founder presenters), Rippon worked as an Arts and Entertainments Editor for Channel 7 television in Boston, Massachusetts for a brief period. Rippon helped to present the BBC's coverage of the wedding between Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles on 29 July 1981and was part of the BBC's presenting team of the 1979 general election results. In the mid-1980s, she hosted the TV quiz show, Masterteam on BBC One, then went on to host the ITV revival of the popular panel game What's My Line? from 1989 to 1990.
In 1991, she presented for television the United Kingdom Ballroom Championships at the Bournemouth International Centre. From 1990 to 1994, she presented a daily radio news programme on LBC Newstalk, Angela Rippon's Morning Report, and, later, Angela Rippon's Drivetime. She was also a regular stand-in newsreader on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast when regular newsreaders were on holiday or otherwise unavailable.In 2005, she co-hosted a new series of Sun, Sea and Bargain Spotting for BBC2. In April 2006, she toured the country as part of the cast of the musical Anything Goes. In 2007, in its eleventh series, she became a presenter on Cash in the Attic. The daytime television programme broadcast on BBC One meets members of the general public in their homes searching for valuables and antiques to be sold at auction.
In 2010, she appeared on the ITV show Dancing on Ice as a judge for one night only, covering for Robin Cousins. However, she appeared again on the show as one of the 16 participants in the sixth season which aired 9 January 2011, with her professional partner, Canadian ice skater, Sean Rice.In March 2011, she appeared with Lenny Henry, Samantha Womack and Reggie Yates in the BBC fundraising documentary for Comic Relief called Famous, Rich and in the Slums, where the four celebrities were sent to Kibera in Kenya, Africa's largest slum. In 2011 she joined the One Show having a 5 minute slot presenting Rippon's Britain.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Rippon


While hosting the contest in 1977.

1972: Moira Shearer

Moira Shearer, Lady Kennedy (17 January 1926 – 31 January 2006), was an internationally famous Scottish ballet dancer and actress.

She was born Moira Shearer King in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, the daughter of actor Harold V. King. In 1931 her family moved to Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, where she received her first dancing training under a former pupil of Enrico Cecchetti. She returned to Britain in 1936 and trained with Flora Fairbairn in London for a few months before she was accepted as a pupil by the Russian teacher Nicholas Legat. After three years with Legat, she joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet School. However, after the outbreak of the World War II, her parents took her to live in Scotland. She made her debut with Mona Inglesby's International Ballet in 1941 before moving on to Sadler's Wells in 1942.

She came to international attention for her first film role as Victoria Page in the Powell & Pressburger ballet-themed film The Red Shoes, (1948). Even her hair matched the titular footwear, and the role and film were so powerful that although she went on to star in other films and worked as a dancer for many decades, she is primarily known for playing "Vicky."
Shearer retired from ballet in 1953, but she continued to act, appearing as Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the 1954 Edinburgh Festival. She worked again for Powell on the controversial film Peeping Tom (1960), which damaged Powell's own career.
In 1972, she was chosen by the BBC to present the Eurovision Song Contest when it was staged at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. According to author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, Shearer accepted the role of hostess because her children wanted something to tease her with in the future.She also wrote for The Daily Telegraph newspaper and gave talks on ballet worldwide.
The choreographer Gillian Lynne persuaded her to return to ballet in 1987 to play L. S. Lowry's mother in A Simple Man for the BBC.

 1950, Moira Shearer married Ludovic Kennedy. They were married in the Chapel Royal in London's Hampton Court Palace. The couple had a son, Alastair, and three daughters, Ailsa, Rachel and Fiona. She died at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, England at the age of 80.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moira_Shearer

At the ESC 1972.

1960, 1963, 1968 and 1974: Katie Boyle

Katie Boyle (born 29 May 1926) is an Italian-born British actress, television personality, and game show panelist, well-known for appearing on TV panel games such as What's My Line? and for presenting the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1960s and 1970s.

She was born in Florence, Italy as Caterina Irene Elena Maria Imperiali di Francavilla, the daughter of an Italian marquis, the Marchese Demetrio Imperiali di Francavilla and Dorothy Kate Ramsden. She came to Great Britain in 1946 and started her modelling career, which included such publications as Vogue. Catherine also appeared in several 1950s films, the first being Old Mother Riley, Headmistress, (1950) in which she was billed as 'Catherine Carleton' followed by The House in the Square (1951), Not Wanted on Voyage (1957), The Truth About Women, Intent to Kill (with Richard Todd, and miscredited as 'Catherine Boyl') in Les Carnets de Major Thompson/The Diary of Major Thompson (1955), with Jack Buchanan, filmed in France by American film director Preston Sturges.
In the 1960s she became a television personality regularly appearing on panel games and programmes such as What's My Line? and Juke Box Jury. Katie was the presenter for the 1960, 1963, 1968 and 1974 Eurovision Song Contests, all hosted in England. According to author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, Boyle hosted the 1974 contest minus her underwear, which was cut off from under her satin dress moments before the broadcast began.[2] She also hosted the UK qualifying heat, A Song for Europe, in 1961.
In 1982 she played herself in the BBC radio play The Competition, which told the story of a fictitious international song contest being staged in Bridlington. Katie Boyle was guest of honour at the Eurovision fan club conventions staged in 1988 and 1992.
She appeared at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest held in Birmingham as a special guest of the BBC. Her other work has included theatre, television (What's Up Dog?) and radio (Katie and Friends). In 2004, Katie was a guest on a special 'Eurovision' themed celebrity version of The Weakest Link on BBC1, hosted by Anne Robinson. In a unique moment, Katie became the first, and to date the only, contestant ever to vote herself off of the programme.
In 1947 she married Richard Bentinck Boyle, 9th Earl of Shannon; the marriage was dissolved in 1955. The same year she married Greville Baylis, a racehorse owner who died in 1976. In 1979 she married theatre impresario Sir Peter Saunders, who died in 2002. According to "Queen Elizabeth II: A Woman Who Is Not Amused" by Nicholas Davies, Boyle had a long standing relationship with Prince Philip in the 1950's.[3]
She is also an avid lover of animals, dogs being special to her. She sits on the board of Battersea Dogs Home and is Patron of the Italian Greyhound Rescue Charity. At home, just off East Finchley's prestigious Bishop's Avenue, she has two dogs: Cassie (a Collie cross) and Totty (an Italian Greyhound), both of which came from Battersea. In 1989 she recorded an audio cassette with the dog trainer John Fisher entitled Think Dog!

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Boyle

Katie at 1960s contest.
During the voting in 1963.
1968's transmission.
At the ESC of 1974.

Presenters 1990s

1990 Helga Vlahovic & Oliver Mlakar (Yugoslavia / Croatia)
1991 Gigliola Cinquetti & Toto Cutugno (Italy)
1992 Lydia Capolicchio & Harald Treutiger (Sweden)
1993 Fionnuala Sweeney (Ireland)
1994 Cynthia Ní Mhurchu & Gerry Ryan (Ireland)
1995 Mary Kennedy (Ireland)
1996 Ingvild Bryn & Morten Harket (Norway)
1997 Carrie Crowley & Ronan Keating (Ireland)
1998 Ulrika Jonsson & Terry Wogan (UK)
1999 Dafna Dekel & Sigal Shachmon & Yigal Ravid  (Israel)

Presenters 80s

1980 Marlous Fluitsma (The Netherlands)
1981 Doireann Ní Bhriain (Ireland)
1982 Jan Leeming (UK)
1983 Marlene Charell (Germany)
1984 Désirée Nosbusch (Luxembourg)
1985 Lill Lindfors (Sweden)
1986 Åse Kleveland (Norway)
1987 Viktro Lazlo (Belgium)
1988 Michelle Rocca & Pat Kenny (Ireland)
1989 Lolita Morena & Jacques Deschenaux (Switzerland)

Presenters 70s

1970 Willy Dobbe (The Netherlands)
1971 Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir (Ireland)
1972 Moira Shearer (UK)
1973 Helga Guitton (Luxembourg)
1974 Katie Boyle (UK)
1975 Karin Falck (Sweden)
1976 Corry Brokken (The Netherlands)
1977 Angela Rippon (UK)
1978 Denise Fabre & Léon Zitrone (France)
1979 Yardena Arazi & Daniel Pe'er (Israel)

Presenters '50s and '60s

1956 Lohengrin Filipello (Switzerland)
1957 Anaïd Iplicjian (Germany)
1958 Hannie Lips (The Netherlands)
1959 Jacqueline Joubert (France)

1960 Katie Boyle (UK)
1961 Jacqueline Joubert (France)
1962 Mireille Delannoy (Luxembourg)
1963 Katie Boyle (UK)
1964 Lotte Wæver (Denmark)
1965 Renata Mauro (Italy)
1966 Josiane Shen (Luxembourg)
1967 Erika Vaal (Austria)
1968 Katie Boyle (UK)
1969 Laurita Valenzuela (Spain)