Andy Cartledge

There's always been crossover between TV announcing and radio presenting going back to the days of McDoanld Hobley. Recordings of the radio work of BBC TV's longest serving continuity announcer Andy Cartledge have, until recently, proved elusive. But, courtesy of Adam Cartledge, come these examples from Radio 2 in 1977, topped and tailed with Andy's TV voice.

Andy joined the BBC as a studio manager in the early 1960s. He worked on a range of radio programmes including I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again. He's pictured here in the studio back in 1966. BBC bosses obviously spotted his potential as a continuity announcer and he appeared in between programmes on both Radio 3 and Radio 4 from October 1968 to April 1969 before moving over to TV Centre and becoming a familiar voice on BBC1 and BBC2 for the next 32 years. He also popped up on BBC World Service TV in 1992.

Andy was briefly back on the radio in 1977 when he was given a try-out on both Europe 77 and European Pop Jury following the departure of regular host David Gell. These recordings date from 20th August and 8th August.

He retired from the BBC in 2001. Andy died of a heart attack in December 2008 aged 67. Former members of the BBC's TV Presentation Department have a summer bus trip and get-together (in the Routemasters owned by Ken Bruce, Alan Dedicoat, Charles Nove & Steve Madden) in his memory.