Tom Edwards (born 20 March 1945) is a British radio presenter and television announcer, best known for his work on offshore pirate radio stations '' Radio City'' and ''

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan Crawford, initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopol ...

'' in the 1960s, as well as his later career with ''

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

'', ''

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

'', and various television networks, including ''

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

'', '' ATV'', and '' HTV West''. He started his career as a journalist for the ''Eastern Evening News'' before transitioning to broadcasting, becoming a prominent voice on British radio. Edwards also worked as a television newsreader and announcer, and later overcame personal struggles with alcoholism, chronicling his life in his autobiography ''Is Anybody There''.

Career

Born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, Edwards began work as a

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 ...

writing for the Eastern Evening News before successfully auditioning for the role of presenter on the Border Television music programme ''Beat in the Border'' and then becoming a

Pontins Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. It was acquired by Britannia Hotels in 2011. Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment at reso ...

Bluecoat. Between 1965 and 1967 he worked for offshore pirate radio stations Radio City, where he became the station's chief

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

, and

. He joined 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 ...

in late 1967 working as a television newsreader and presenter on BBC Look East and in 1968–1969 on the Saturday morning BBC East regional radio programme ''Happy Weekend, Everybody''. In 1970 he presented the weekday morning regional opt-outs from the ''Today'' programme on

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 ...

called ''This is East Anglia''. In 1968 Edwards also started working for

initially replacing

Simon Dee Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd (28 July 1935 – 29 August 2009), better known by his stage name Simon Dee, was a British television interviewer and radio disc jockey who hosted a twice-weekly BBC TV chat show, ''Dee Time'', in the late 1960s. Aft ...

on ''Midday Spin'', later becoming a staff announcer and newsreader on both Radio 1 and

. During the 1970s he presented a number of Radio 2 programmes including the weekday and Saturday ''Early Show'', ''Night Ride'', ''Music Through Midnight'', ''Radio 2 Ballroom'' and shows featuring the BBC Radio Orchestra. Edwards was an in-vision announcer for

for most of the 1980s, also working for ATV and HTV West. He worked on BBC Radio Norfolk in the 1990s. After recovering from

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

, his friend Bob Monkhouse gave him a job as the voiceover artist on the game show '' Wipeout'' in the late 1990s. In 2009, Edwards and David Clayton, editor of BBC Radio Norfolk, compiled an hour-long story of his life titled ''Edwards the Confessor''.

Personal life

Edwards lived in the village of Heckington in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

for nearly 30 years and is now resident near Lincoln. His autobiography, ''"Is Anybody There"'' was published by ''

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...

'' on 8 December 2018. Edwards used to open his radio show by knocking on the microphone three times and saying: "Is anybody there?" During an interview to promote the book, he said, "My book is a turbulent read but I hope you enjoy it and you can join me on a journey that took me here, there and just about everywhere." The book highlights his varied career as a DJ in pirate and commercial radio, as a TV broadcaster working for the

and several other TV companies, as well as a period in Hollywood. The book also delves into Edwards' personal battle with alcohol and drug addiction, which he successfully overcame after spending three years in a rehabilitation centre in Lincolnshire.

References

External links

Official Tom Edwards Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Tom 1945 births Living people British radio DJs British television presenters Entertainers from Norwich Media personalities from Norwich Offshore radio broadcasters Pirate radio personalities