Thomas Bryan Michie (5 January 1906 – 24 March 1971) was a British radio and television producer, broadcaster and executive.

Biography

Born in

Tichborne Tichborne is a village and civil parish east of Winchester in Hampshire, England. History In archaeology in the south of the parish within the South Downs National Park is a bell barrow, bowl barrow and regular aggregate field system immediate ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, Bryan Michie started his career as a teacher, and was then a stage actor. He joined the

sound effects A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

department of

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

in the early 1930s, taking charge of the Effects Studios by 1933. He was responsible for devising and producing the sound effects that needed to be introduced into live radio broadcasts, such as the sounds of galloping horses, engines, and storms. In 1934 he started producing radio variety shows, including ''The Air-Do-Wells'' and '' Stanelli's Stag Party'', and in 1936 began working with

Carroll Levis Carroll Richard Levis (March 15, 1910 – October 17, 1968) was a Canadian talent scout, impresario and radio and television broadcaster, mainly working in Britain. Biography Born in Toronto and brought up in Vancouver, he grew up wanting to be ...

on his programmes with newly discovered performers. He presented and compered other radio shows on the BBC, including ''

In Town Tonight ''In Town Tonight'' is a BBC radio programme that was broadcast on Saturday evening from 1933 to 1960 (except for a period of 26 weeks in 1937 when ''The BBC presents the ABC'' was broadcast instead). It was an early example of a chat show, ...

'', and, as "Professor Bryan Michie" in 1938, presented the comedy quiz show ''The Riddle Master'' 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 ...

Denis Gifford Denis Gifford (26 December 1927 – 18 May 2000)Holland, Steve, Obituaries: Denis Gifford', ''The Guardian'', 26 May 2000. was a British writer, broadcaster, journalist, comic artist and historian of film, comics, television and radio. In h ...

, ''The Golden Age of Radio'', B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, , p.169 Michie also produced a regular slot, "Youth Takes a Bow", presented by

Jack Hylton Jack Hylton (born John Greenhalgh Hilton; 2 July 1892 – 29 January 1965) was an English pianist, composer, band leader and impresario. Hylton rose to prominence during the British dance band era, being referred as the "British King of Jazz" ...

on the BBC radio variety show ''Monday Night at Seven''. The slot developed into a touring talent show for young performers, and was notable for Michie's discovery, in 1938, of the young comedian Ernie Wiseman (later Wise). Michie recommended him to Hylton, and the following year introduced him to another young comedian, Eric Bartholomew (later Morecambe), so starting off their successful long-running comedy partnership. Through his involvement in talent shows and radio broadcasts, Michie became a well-known personality. Tall and physically imposing, with red hair, he appeared in several films, essentially as himself, including ''

Let's Make a Night of It ''Let's Make a Night of It'' is a 1937 British musical comedy film directed by Graham Cutts and starring Charles "Buddy" Rogers, June Clyde and Claire Luce. The screenplay concerns a husband and his wife, who acquire rival nightclubs at the ...

'' (1937) and ''

The Magnet ''The Magnet'' was a British weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1,683 issues. Each issue cost a halfpenny and contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars S ...

'' (1950). He continued to present and produce BBC radio programmes during, and after, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, including

ENSA The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...

shows and ''Break for Music''. Most notably, he was one of the most popular and regular presenters of ''

Housewives' Choice ''Housewives' Choice'' was a BBC Radio record request programme, broadcast every 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 the day. ...

'' on the

Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

between 1946 and 1957. Search, Bryan Michie, ''Radio Times'', BBC Genome
Retrieved 24 March 2021 In 1957, he was appointed Programme Manager at the new ITV company covering Wales and the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouce ...

, TWW. He introduced and hosted a new talent spotting programme, ''Now's Your Chance'', later renamed ''Looking for the Stars''. Other programmes he produced or commissioned included '' Land of Song'', featuring

Ivor Emmanuel Ivor Lewis Emmanuel (7 November 1927 – 20 July 2007) was a Welsh musical theatre and television singer and actor. He is probably best remembered, however, for his appearance as "Private Owen" in the 1964 film '' Zulu'', in which his char ...

; the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

programme '' Dig Dankworth''; and ''Life Begins at 80'', which he also hosted. Michie became Programme Controller at TWW in 1963, but faced criticism as he remained based in London while the programmes were produced in Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea. In 1967, TWW lost its ITV franchise to

Harlech Television ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV franchise area in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to a broadcaster by the regulator Ofcom. There is no channel, past or present, named "ITV Wales ...

."TWW (Television Wales and the West) Channel 10", ''78rpm.co.uk''
Retrieved 24 March 2021 Michie died in London in 1971, aged 65. "Bryan Michie Dies", ''Press Association'', 25 March 1971
Retrieved 24 March 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Michie, Bryan 1906 births 1971 deaths British radio personalities BBC radio presenters English television presenters English television producers 20th-century British businesspeople