Peter White MBE (born 1947,

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

) is a visually impaired British broadcast

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and DJ.

Early life and career

White was born in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. Blind since birth (as was his elder brother), he attended New College Worcester, which was then known as the Worcester College for the Blind. He was a regular presenter on BBC Radio Solent from the station's launch in 1971 until November 2006, when he was downsized. He currently co-presents, for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, '' You and Yours'' and since 1974 '' In Touch'', a programme for blind and partially sighted people. He also regularly contributes to other science, news or educational programmes to talk about disabilities. He was the presenter of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''Same Difference'' (1987–1989) and Central Television's ''Link'' (1989–1991). He was made the BBC's Disability Affairs Correspondent in 1995. He was part of the reporting team for BBC News at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. White wrote a column for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' 'G2' magazine which appeared on 8 September 2006.

Charity work

On 13 March 2009 White participated in Radio 4's ''Stand Up With The Stars'', a competition for Red Nose Day 2009 where well-known, serious presenters from Radio 4 (including Evan Davis, Libby Purves and Laurie Taylor), attempted to make and deliver a

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

routine, mentored by other well-known Radio 4 comedy presenters. White won after a vote from Radio 4 listeners. Much of his routine focused on his blindness and others' perceptions of blind people. In February 2011, White took part in a trek across the Kaisut Desert in North

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

for

Comic Relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

to raise awareness of Africans losing their sight to diseases like

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can lead to damage of the optic nerve. The optic nerve transmits visual information from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma may cause vision loss if left untreated. It has been called the "silent thief of ...

. Despite painful blisters he finished the challenges, crossing the line first with actress Kara Tointon. The feat raised £1,375,037.

Awards and achievements

*1988: appointed Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) *1999: published his autobiography, ''See It My Way'' *2001: awarded Sony Speech Broadcaster of the Year 2001 *2002: awarded Viv Bradford Rose Bowl by Warwickshire Association for the Blind On 17 November 2023 White was the guest for BBC Radio 4's ''

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 ...

'', where his choices included "Somebody Who Loves You" by Joan Armatrading, "

Badge A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and fir ...

" by

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

and "Albatross" by

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning nearly seven decades. An Academy Awards, Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award-winning rec ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Peter 1947 births Living people Alumni of the University of Kent English blind people English male journalists English male non-fiction writers Mass media people from Winchester Members of the Order of the British Empire Television presenters with disabilities