Douglas Arthur Smith''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007'' (11 February 1924 – 15 October 1972) was a British radio announcer and comedian who spent 25 years with 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 ...

. He began his

broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

career with the BBC European Service (now the

World Service The BBC World Service is a British public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcasts radio news, speec ...

) in 1946 and later worked as an announcer and newsreader on the

Home Service Home Service is a British folk rock group, formed in late 1980 from a nucleus of musicians who had been playing in Ashley Hutchings' Albion Band. Their career is generally agreed to have peaked with the album ''Alright Jack'', and has had a ...

and the

Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces ...

. He is probably best remembered as the formal announcer on ''

Beyond Our Ken ''Beyond Our Ken'' is a BBC radio comedy programme first broadcast between 1958 and 1964. It starred Kenneth Horne, with Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden, Bill Pertwee, and, as announcer, Douglas Smith. The title is a play on the ...

'' (1958–1964), its successor ''

Round the Horne ''Round the Horne'' is a BBC Radio comedy programme starring Kenneth Horne, first transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The show was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, who wrote the first three series. The f ...

'' (1965–1968) and the short-lived '' Stop Messing About'' (1969–1970), where his " BBC accent" was used to comic effect. In this role, he advertised ''Dobbiroids'' (a fictional product for horses) and the huge number of naïve sound effects he made to assist in the development of humorous and often bizarre plots. Smith performed "Nobody Loves a Fairy When She's Forty" in an episode of ''Round the Horne''. Many of his roles were portrayals of inanimate objects, e.g., volcanoes, "and I, Douglas Smith, play the part of the volcano", and "I, Douglas Smith, in my most taxing role to date, play the part of the world." (spoof on 'Around the World in 80 Days'). A Croydonian, he died aged 48 in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

References

1924 births 1972 deaths British male comedians British male radio actors BBC people 20th-century British comedians Actors from the London Borough of Croydon People from Croydon {{UK-actor-stub