Joined the Royal Navy in 1942. Served on the Arctic Convoys to Russia
and returned to the BBC in 1946.
President of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of
Birds).
Became an announcer with BBC Radio Empire Service on his 21st birthday
in 1934. The only one of those original announcers to make a successful
TV career.
Announced the start of WW2, and was the "anonymous gentleman" who
broadcast to Germany in German a "last appeal for peace"