Anthony Leslie Bastable (15 October 1944 – 29 May 2007) was an English television presenter, who was one of the original presenters of the children's magazine programme ''

Magpie Magpies are birds of various species of the family Corvidae. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent c ...

''.

Early life

Bastable was born in

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, in 1944. After moving to

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, he attended Wembley Manor School from 1952 to 1955 and

University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...

Frognal Frognal is a small area of Hampstead, North West London in the London Borough of Camden. Frognal is reinforced as the name of a minor road, which goes uphill from Finchley Road and at its upper end is in the west of Hampstead village. Histor ...

, London. On leaving school he trained to be a school teacher, teaching British History part-time at Buckingham College School in

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England * Harrow, London, a town in London * Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) * ...

, Middlesex, whilst also working as a reporter for local newspapers.

Television career

In the early 1960s, Bastable applied for a job as a television news reporter for

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited. However, in 1966, during the application pr ...

, but was turned down for being "too young". Instead he was given a job presenting a children's programme. Within 18 months he was working for

ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television broadcaster * Andorra Televisió * Anguilla Television * Ayna TV, Afghanistan * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourn ...

as a presenter of children's shows, sports magazines and schools' programmes. In 1968 he moved to

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 ...

and began presenting ''

'', a new children's programme, with Susan Stranks and Pete Brady. ''Magpie'' was effectively a "groovier" version of 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 ...

's ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC ...

''. In 1972, he became ''Magpies producer. During his career, Bastable produced and presented many one-off programmes, including historical documentaries and current affairs programmes, and presented and commentated on many outside and sporting events. These included: ''Problems'' (1976–77), a programme on sexual issues, firstly with

Claire Rayner Claire Berenice Rayner, OBE (; Berkovitch, later Chetwynd; 22 January 1931 – 11 October 2010) was a British journalist, broadcaster, novelist and nurse, best known for her role for many years as an advice columnist. Early life Rayner was bor ...

and then with Jenny Conway and

Paul Brown Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American American football, football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), the National Football League (NFL), and the American Football League (AFL). ...

; ''Drive-In'' with

Shaw Taylor Eric Stanley Taylor (26 October 1924 – 17 March 2015), known professionally as Shaw Taylor, was a British actor and television presenter, best known for presenting the long-running five-minute crime programme '' Police 5''. Early life and ...

(1973–78) and its successor ''Wheels'' (1980–81); ''Miss Thames Television''; ''1776'', a ITV programme on the US bicentenary; and the award-winning historical series ''English Garden'', narrated by Sir

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...

. For nine years Bastable presented the

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

series ''Money-Go-Round'', and also presented shows such as ''Mind Over Matter'', a programme he devised with

Kit Pedler Christopher Magnus Howard Pedler (11 June 1927 – 27 May 1981) was an English medical scientist, parapsychologist, and science fiction screenwriter and author. Career Pedler was the head of the electron microscopy department at the Institute ...

that investigated the paranormal, and the computing series ''Database'' as well as ''4 Computer Buffs''. In addition, he was a panellist on radio shows and he narrated the

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 ...

nature programme ''Profiles Of Nature''.

Later life

Bastable later moved into independent production, and he produced training and promotional films for companies such as the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

, the National Bus Company, the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, the

Department of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

and the

Institute of Advanced Motorists The Institute Of Advanced Motorists Limited, trading as IAM RoadSmart, is a charity based in the United Kingdom, whose objective is to improve car driving standards, motorcycle riding standards, and enhance road safety by using the British ...

. He also wrote mini-history books for children on the 15th and 16th-century nautical explorers

John Cabot John Cabot ( ; 1450 – 1499) was an Italians, Italian navigator and exploration, explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England, Henry VII, King of England is the earliest known Europe ...

and

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fl ...

Personal life

Bastable was a qualified

cricket umpire In cricket, an umpire (from the Old French meaning not a peer, i.e. not a member of one of the teams, impartial) is a person who has the authority to make decisions about events on the cricket field according to the ''Laws of Cricket''. Besides ...

and founded the Institute of Cricket Umpires and Scorers. In 1972 he founded The Magpies, a wandering cricket team taking its name from the TV programme. He married three times. His first marriage was in 1969 to June Buchan, from whom he was divorced in 1971. In 1974, he married Jackie Colkett. They had a daughter, but divorced in 1992. He married for the third time, to Anita Westwood, in 2001.

Death

Bastable suffered from

emphysema Emphysema is any air-filled enlargement in the body's tissues. Most commonly emphysema refers to the permanent enlargement of air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs, and is also known as pulmonary emphysema. Emphysema is a lower respiratory tract di ...

in his final years, and died at the age of 62 from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

at the

East Surrey Hospital East Surrey Hospital is a National Health Service hospital in the Whitebushes area to the south of Redhill, in Surrey, England. It is managed by the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust. History The hospital has its origins in the Reigate C ...

, Redhill, in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

on 29 May 2007.

Publications

*''John Cabot'' (Pub. World Almanac Library, 2003). *''Ferdinand Magellan'' (Pub. World Almanac Library, 2003).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bastable, Tony 1944 births 2007 deaths English biographers English children's writers English television presenters English television producers People educated at University College School People from Hexham Deaths from pneumonia in England 20th-century British biographers