Alan Dedicoat and Wiltshire Air Ambulance

Alan Dedicoat is a British announcer from

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, for programmes on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

. He is known as the "Voice of the Balls" on the

National Lottery National Lottery may refer to: *National Lottery (Ireland), the state lottery of Ireland *National Lottery (United Kingdom), the lottery franchise in the United Kingdom *South African National Lottery, established in 2000 *A number of countries con ...

programmes, providing a voiceover for the draws since 1995. He was a

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

newsreader until his retirement from this role in March 2015. Since their inceptions in May 2004 and June 2005 respectively, Dedicoat has been the announcer on the

reality TV competition ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

'' and its American version ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''.

Early life

Dedicoat was born in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. The son of a

newsagent A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand ( American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local ...

, Dedicoat was educated at

King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys, also known as Camp Hill Boys, is a highly selective grammar school in Birmingham, United Kingdom. It is one of the most academically successful schools in the United Kingdom, currently ranked thirteenth ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, and the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

. Dedicoat originally worked in the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

as an executive officer, before joining the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Career

Dedicoat joined

BBC Radio WM BBC Radio WM is the BBC's local radio station serving the West Midlands. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Mailbox in Birmingham. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 193,000 ...

Pebble Mill Pebble Mill Studios was the BBC's television studio complex located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, which served as the headquarters for BBC Birmingham from 1971 until 2004. The nine-acre site was opened by Princess Anne on ...

in 1979 as a presenter, before moving to

BBC Radio Devon BBC Radio Devon is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Devon. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Mannamead area of Plymouth. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of ...

four years later. After working in the

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

, he moved to London to join the Presentation Department of

in 1986 at

Broadcasting House London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...

and later became its head, a position he retained until his retirement in 2015. The

and its draw programmes were launched on BBC Television in 1994. The following year, Dedicoat began working as the show's announcer. He acquired the nickname "Voice of the Balls" from presenter Sir

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

. He read the news on

's weekday breakfast show, '' Wake Up to Wogan'', until the programme ended in December 2009. In October 2015, a recording of Dedicoat was obtained by ''The Sun'' newspaper, in which he allegedly claimed that the BBC allowed a "drug peddler" to deliver Class A substances to the desks of staff. He subsequently apologised and retracted his comments, stating that during a covertly-recorded conversation he was elaborating on rumours he had heard from someone else. In September 2023, Dedicoat joined Portsmouth-based Victory Online where he currently hosts a Sunday morning show titled the "Sunday Supplement".

Personal life

Dedicoat is the co-owner of multiple examples of the

AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport Executive, London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The ...

(the best-known London red bus) with fellow broadcasters

Charles Nove Charles Alexis Nove (born 29 June 1960 in London, England) is a British radio broadcaster and voice artist, who currently presents the weekday breakfast show for classical music station Magic Classical. Earlier in his career, he was a newsreader ...

Ken Bruce Kenneth Robertson Bruce (born 2 February 1951) is a Scottish radio and television presenter. He hosted a weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 between 1986 and 1990, then again from 1992 to 2023. Since April 2023, he has presented the same s ...

and

Steve Madden Steven Madden (born March 23, 1958) is an American fashion designer and businessman. He is the founder and former chief executive officer of Steve Madden, Ltd., a publicly traded company. He was forced to resign as an executive following his ...

. He is Patron of the

Hospital Broadcasting Association The Hospital Broadcasting Association (HBA) supports the 160 independent hospital broadcasting organisations serving hospitals, hospices and nursing homes in the UK. The vast majority of these organisations provide hospital radio services thr ...

, and has taken part in the National Hospital Radio Awards, both as the voiceover and in person. In addition, Dedicoat is the president of Hospital Radio Bedside, a hospital radio station broadcasting to hospitals in

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

and

Wimborne Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Pool ...

and also of Hospital Radio Reading (Royal Berkshire Hospital). Dedicoat is ambassador for

Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity is a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) serving Wiltshire, Bath and surrounding areas of England. The service was launched in 1990, and since 2015 has been run as a registered charity. Histor ...

References

External links

*
BBC Radio 2 biographyBBC Radio News Biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dedicoat, Alan 1954 births Living people Alumni of the University of Birmingham English male voice actors English television presenters People educated at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys People from Bromsgrove District Radio and television announcers BBC Radio 2 presenters