Cyril Frederick "Bob" Danvers-Walker (11 October 190617 May 1990) was a British radio and

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news, news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a Movie theater, cinema, newsreels were a source of cu ...

announcer best known as the voice of

Pathé News Pathé News was a producer of newsreels and documentaries from 1910 to 1970 in the United Kingdom. Its founder, Charles Pathé, was a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent era. The Pathé News archive is known today as "British Pathé". I ...

cinema newsreels during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and for many years afterward. His voice was described as "clear, fruity and rich, with just the suggestion of raffishness".

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. List of award ...

has stated that he was consciously imitating Danvers-Walker's "perky tone" in a spoof "newsreel" segment in his 2000 film ''

Love's Labour's Lost ''Love's Labour's Lost'' is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s for a performance at the Inns of Court before Queen Elizabeth I. It follows the King of Navarre and his three companions as ...

''.

Biography

Born in

Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to t ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, Danvers-Walker was the son of William Charles Danvers-Walker, an Australian, and his wife Lilian Danvers, daughter of Frederic Charles Danvers. He used the surname Walker to the 1950s. He spent much of his childhood in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

and began his radio career in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, in 1925, moving on briefly to 2FC in Sydney, in 1932, before returning to the United Kingdom the same year. From 1932 to 1939, Walker worked as a presenter for the International Broadcasting Company (IBC) network of commercial radio stations broadcasting in English to Britain from the continent. He became Chief Announcer at Radio Normandy. He also helped the IBC to set up radio stations at

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, Paris,

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, and

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, but Radio Normandy was always the company's flagship station, and Danvers-Walker was heard regularly over its airwaves until the station was closed down at the start of the Second World War in 1939. Danvers-Walker wanted to join 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 ...

as soon as the war started, but was prevented by a BBC rule against employing anyone who had worked on commercial radio. This rule was quietly dropped in 1943, and from then on he was deployed on a variety of morale-boosting wartime

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

shows, including ''Round and About'' and ''London Calling Europe''. He was the commentator for the British Pathé newsreel, a job he held continuously from 1940 to 1970. Bob Danvers-Walker also worked freelance for many radio and television outlets. He was the announcer on the "rebel" version of the comedy programme ''

Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh'' was a comedy show broadcast from 1944 to 1950 and 1951 to 1954 by BBC Radio and in 1950–1951 by Radio Luxembourg. It was written by and starred Richard Murdoch and Kenneth Horne as officers in a fictional RAF sta ...

'' on

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

when the show was in temporary exile from the BBC (1950–51), and for the science-fiction series ''

Dan Dare Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories. Dare appeared in the ''Eagle'' comic series ''Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future'' from 1950 to 1967 (and subsequently in ...

, Pilot of the Future'' on the same station (1951–55). He took part in the "stunt" programme ''People are Funny'' on Luxembourg, recorded around the UK and presented by Peter Martyn. The arrival of ITV (commercial television) in 1955 brought new opportunities, including as the announcer on Michael Miles' game show '' Take Your Pick!'' (1955–68) and its successor programme, ''Wheel of Fortune'' (1969–71). At BBC Radio, Danvers-Walker was one of the regular presenters of ''

Housewives' Choice ''Housewives' Choice'' was a BBC Radio record request programme, broadcast every weekday morning between 1946 and 1967 on the BBC Light Programme. It played a wide range of mostly popular music intended to appeal to housewives at home during t ...

'' throughout the 1950s, and contributed to many other programmes, including in the 1960s ''Holiday Hour'' and ''Countryside''. For

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

he featured regularly in ''Saturday Night Out''. He also appeared in a number of feature films, often as himself. In 1985 and 1986, he appeared in the documentary '' Around The World In Seven Minutes And Four Times On Saturday'', which was broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

. Danvers-Walker died of cancer in the

Churchill Hospital The Churchill Hospital is a teaching hospital in Oxford, England. It is managed by the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. History The original hospital on the site was built in 1940 with the intention of providing medical aid to ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England, on 17 May 1990, and was survived by his wife Vera Nita White, whom he had married in 1933; they had a son and a daughter. On an audio clip from Radio Normandy, his colleague

Roy Plomley Francis Roy Plomley ( ; 20 January 1914 – 28 May 1985) was an English radio broadcaster, producer, playwright and novelist. He is best remembered for creating the BBC Radio series ''Desert Island Discs'', which he hosted from its inception in ...

is heard referring to him as "Bob Walker", but he was described as "C. Danvers-Walker" in the station's programme schedules printed in ''Radio Pictorial'' on (for example) 3 May 1935. Conversely, a 1962 Pathé News Issue Sheet lists him as "R. Walker".

References

Sources

*Sean Street
"Radio For Sale: Sponsored Programming in British Radio during the 1930s"
Bournemouth University, 1999 *George Nobbs, "The Wireless Stars", Norwich, 1972, SBN 903 61900 8

External links

(website in French and English) L'Histoire de Radio Normandie
(includes a 1930s recording from Radio Normandy presented by Roy Plomley in which "Bob Walker" puts in an appearance)
British Pathe News
(archive of hundreds of newsreel items, many of them commentated by Bob Danvers-Walker)

(from the ''Sterling Times'' website)
Bob Danvers-Walker filmography at the British Film Institute
(on a Radio Luxembourg fan website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Danvers-Walker, Bob British radio personalities 1906 births 1990 deaths People educated at Launceston Church Grammar School People from Surrey (before 1965)