Lionel James Gamlin (30 April 1903 – 16 October 1967)Lionel Gamlin at IMDb
Retrieved 29 October 2012. was a British

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

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 and presenter, and actor, who was known for his work for 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 ...

and

British Movietone News Movietone News was a newsreel that ran from December 1927 to 1963 in the United States. Under the name British Movietone News, it also ran in the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1986, in France also produced by Fox-Europa, in Spain in the early 1930s a ...

between the 1930s and 1950s.

Life and career

He was born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

, and started on a career in business before joining a local repertory company and became a teacher at his old school before studying at Fitzwilliam House,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. At university he became President of the

Cambridge Union The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a historic debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. The society was founded in 1815 making it the oldest ...

in 1930 and editor of ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...

''. He returned to teaching and occasional work as an actor, before in 1936 being offered a post by the BBC as an announcer. He provided the commentary in 1940 for both the RAF documentary '' Squadron 992'' and the GPO Film Unit documentary ''War and Order'', and compered the 1944 variety show ''Rainbow Round the Corner''. 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 ...

, he was regarded as "a voice of authority, the tone of war and peace, the man whom people heard in the cinema on the

s." In 1946 he co-wrote a humorous book with Anthony Gilbert, ''Don’t Be Afreud! A Short Guide to Youth Control (The Book of the Weak)'', and in 1947 published ''You're on the Air: A Book about Broadcasting''. He also chose the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

for John Theobald Clarke, who subsequently became known as the actor and director

Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes Order of the British Empire, CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2 ...

. In the late 1940s and 1950s he worked on BBC radio, presenting and conducting interviews on '' In Town Tonight'', presenting '' Top of the Form'', and producing children's programmes. He became "a stalwart of

light entertainment Light entertainment encompasses a broad range of television and radio programming that includes comedies, variety shows, game shows, quiz shows and the like. In the UK In the early days of the BBC, virtually all broadcast entertainment would b ...

broadcasting", was a castaway on ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

'' in 1955, and lived close to

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 ...

. He played little part in the growth of television broadcasting in the 1950s, although he did share interviewing duties with Eamonn Andrews on the film review programme ''Current Release''. Su Holmes, ''British TV and Film Culture in the 1950s: Coming to a TV Near You'', p. 90
/ref> In his later years he worked as an occasional actor on such programmes as ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' is a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 1955 ...

'' and ''

Adam Adamant Lives! ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' is a British adventure television series that ran from 1966 to 1967 on BBC 1, starring Gerald Harper in the title role. The series was created and produced by several alumni from ''Doctor Who''. The titular character w ...

'', and also as a

valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, ''valet de chambre'' was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "va ...

. His last film role was in '' The Whisperers''. Gamlin was unmarried, and died in 1967 aged 64.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamlin, Lionel 1903 births 1967 deaths English radio personalities People from Birkenhead Presidents of the Cambridge Union