HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Allan Beswick (born 8 October 1948 in
Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
) is a retired radio broadcaster who is best known for his popular phone-in programmes on
BBC Radio Manchester BBC Radio Manchester is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of ...
,
BBC Radio Merseyside BBC Radio Merseyside is the BBC's local radio station serving Merseyside, North and West Cheshire and West Lancashire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds, from studios on Hanover Street in Liverpool. According to RAJAR, t ...
,
BBC Radio Lancashire BBC Radio Lancashire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Lancashire. Originally launched as BBC Radio Blackburn, in 1981 it expanded to cover the whole county and was renamed BBC Radio Lancashire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB ...
and Red Rose Radio. Before starting his late-night phone show on the BBC, Beswick presented the breakfast show on BBC Radio Manchester.


Career

Prior to becoming a radio presenter, Beswick worked as a soldier, a bus driver, a driving instructor and a
mental health nurse A mental health nurse (MHN) refers to a nurse in the UK, who specializes in the care of patients with mental health issues. The practice of MHNs is called mental health nursing. Background MHNs comprise approximately 12% of the total NHS Nursin ...
and for the
Citizen's Advice Bureau Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this natio ...
; during his time at the C.A.B. he began to appear as a guest on ''Dave Lincoln and Friends'', a programme on Radio City in Liverpool. In the early to late eighties, he worked for
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
station Red Rose Radio where he initially presented an afternoon show which won him a Sony national radio award. He then presented a late-night phone-in ''The Allan Beswick Late Night Show''. which drew listeners and controversy in nearly equal measure. His listening figures for this late night slot often drew audiences equal to those of many radio stations breakfast shows. The overall 'audience reach' of the programme drew in the region of 100,000 listeners per night, but a total listenership across the North West, West Yorkshire and North Wales often approached 500,000 listeners. The show 'or programme' as he referred to it, drew comparisons with similar northern based late night phone in shows with
James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Fra ...
at Red Rose Radio's sister station
Radio Aire Radio Aire was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Leeds and West Yorkshire. The station was merged and relaunched as Greatest Hits Radio West Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020. History Radio Aire was launched a ...
in Leeds, James H Reeve and
James Stannage James Stannage (born Charles James M. Stannage) is an English late night talk show radio host. He presented ''The Late Night James Stannage Talk Show'' on Manchester's Key 103 until being dismissed in June 2005 after numerous warnings and a h ...
at
Piccadilly Radio Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West is an Independent Local Radio station based in Manchester, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and North West En ...
in Manchester. During his time at Red Rose Radio, Beswick also hosted a Sunday morning call in game show called 'It's Your Turn.' His assistant was credited as Wobbly Warren. Allan occasionally took his show to live venues throughout the Red Rose area, mainly in Lancashire and on Merseyside. An on-air incident led to his being banned for a period by the
Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...
for being abusive to a caller. Red Rose held a ballot to see if he should be re-instated, which he subsequently was. This second coming lasted about a year. He soon moved to BBC Radio Manchester where he presented a lunchtime show, the morning show and later the breakfast show, moving back to his familiar late night spot in early 2015. In April 2007 a humorous comment Beswick made about the death of Alan Ball on a lunchtime broadcast drew complaints, resulting in an apology both from the BBC and Beswick himself. Beswick has also worked on
Metro Radio Hits Radio North East, formerly Metro Radio, is an Independent Local Radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. The station launched in 1974 as Metro Radio. It broadcasts to County Durham, No ...
in the North East of England and
BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...
, presenting late night sporadically in the early part of the last decade, and on television, including a slot as presenter of "Beswick's Beat", a local current affairs segment on ''
North West Tonight ''BBC North West Tonight'' (known as ''BBC North West Today'' during daytime) is the BBC's regional television news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme broadcasts from the BBC's ...
''. In November 2008, Beswick presented ''Salt City'', a documentary about
Winsford Mine Winsford Mine (also known as Meadow Bank Mine) is a halite (rock salt) mine in the town of Winsford, Cheshire, England. The mine produces an average of of rock salt a year, which is used to grit public roads in the United Kingdom during the wi ...
, on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
. On 2 February 2015, Allan took over the networked late show on both BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Radio Lancashire. Beswick was on air during the
Manchester Arena bombing The Manchester Arena bombing, or Manchester Arena attack, was an Islamic terrorism in Europe, Islamic terrorist suicide bombing of Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, on 22 May 2017, following Dangerous Woman Tour, a concert by the Americ ...
on 22 May 2017, taking calls from eyewitnesses; the show was specially extended until 5am. In May 2021, it was announced that Beswick's late show would be moving to weekends only. In addition to BBC stations Radio Lancashire and Manchester, the new show also airs on Radio Merseyside. Beswick presented his last programme on the three stations in the early hours of the morning on 8 October 2023, during which he also announced his retirement from radio broadcasting. Beswick has previously hosted ‘an evening with’ tour, sharing stories from his broadcasting career.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beswick, Allan British radio personalities English socialists English agnostics Living people 1948 births