TV presenters are a strange yet important breed.
They seem to be glue which hold many light entertainment shows together. I only need to think of how important John Noakes, Val Singleton and Peter Purves were to me as a kid as I devoured every episode of Blue Peter in the Sixties.
Because glue is useful presenters may present many types of show at different times of the day and can even swap channels. Neither actors nor newsreaders they ply their craft while the sun shines. Alas, the sun sets and for some so do their careers.
This is a list of modern TV presenters I've noticed aren't on the telly anymore in the UK. There's also one disc jockey and one from the Sixties who my Parents will have listened to and watched. Naturally many fine presenters have died as well but apart from one all of these are still with us. They have just disappeared off the box.
These are just my observations and any remarks are purely my own. Most of these presenters I really like and wish they were back on the box.
Carol Smiley. Once the golden girl of UK TV who brought a smiley smile to everyday topics, she just vanished from the telly box.
Andy Kershaw. The northern voice of indie on the wireless. Relationship issues took him off the air.
Craig Doyle. Once a handsome travel reporter along with Carol Smiley and many others on the Holiday programme, Craig can now be found behind Everest triple-glazing on TV adverts.
Simon Dee. Popular 60's radio and TV presenter. Dee was dropped from everything in 1970.
Justin Lee Collins. Bearded go-to guy of noughties TV, impressively he tried to get the cast of the original Star Wars back together. Relationship issues took him off the air.
Mark Lamarr. Rockabilly anchor of the immensely hip Never Mind the Buzzcocks on TV, Lamarr fell out with Radio 2 in 2010 and vanished.
Simon Anstell. Acerbic and rather irritating golden wit of pop shows, I'd like to say he's off the air but he has become a doyen of stand-up and indie film making.
Miquita Oliver. Erstwhile young co-host of Pop World, she filed for bankruptcy and sadly went off the air.
James Corden. Having conquered the entire light entertainment world in the UK he moved to America.
Adrian Chiles. One time anchor of the One Show and TV sport shows he is now sadly on TV less and less.
Russell Brand. Once the enfent terrible of entertainment, Brand does not seem to be on TV much now. Thank God.
What do you think? Can you think of any presenters whi have vanished readers?
I would have followed a number of names on your list with your "Thank God" (they've gone)!
ReplyDeleteHa ha. Know what you mean Andy!
ReplyDeleteMark Lamaar has been writing comedy since his last radio show got side-lined by auntie beeb, also he writes under a pseudonym too (Lamaar is name he came up with when he was 17 before he was famous), I got to hang out with him kinda cos I played drums for one of his oldest mates and he had people bothering him saying "play my bands record" or "my son is a singer" I'm sure it all got very tiresome especially if your own career wasn't going the way you hoped because your face didn't fit with the beeb anymore - Mark J Southcoast Base
ReplyDeleteI miss Humphrey Lestocq from Whirligig on BBC in the early 50's. He took continuous insults from the puppet, Mr. Turnip. Years later I read he was actually an RAF fighter pilot in WW2.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to Ross King, the Scottish 'Pebble Mill' presenter who even had his own game on the show called 'A Kings Ransom'?
ReplyDeleteAnyone know ?
Mish.
Ross king works in the US on show similar to the entertainment sections on Itv's morning show and does reports for itv from LA- Mark J Southcoast Base
DeleteWhatever happened to Ross King, the Scottish 'Pebble Mill' presenter who even had his own game on the show called 'A Kings Ransom'?
ReplyDeleteAnyone know ?
Mish.
HAS THE MOON BASE BLOG REALLY GIVEN UP ON SPACE TOYS FOR ANYTHING AND EVERY THING OTHER THAN SPACE TOYS REALLY DISAPPOINTING MOST OF THE TIME NOW
ReplyDeleteThere's many other blogs out there that can only be bothered to post content a few times a week, by blurring the lines that confine what is suitable for this blog allows Woodsy and the guys to create more content, I know that Woodsy used to buy and sell collectibles eg action figures thru to pop culture, now his blog can reflect that, also there has been content provided by people who visited the blog, if there's an article I'm not that enthusiastic about it doesn't bother me as I know there's always something up their collective sleave to blow me away later!
DeleteI'm sorry you feel disappointed by Moonbase content these. days. Your use of capitals ie. shouting underlines this. I understand. Equally its hard for me to generate space toy material every day after ten years. I have had to broaden the content so I have something to write about each day. Inevitably some days will not be specifically about space toys but always about nostalgia. There are some fantastic space toy posts coming up so I hope you feel happier when you see them. Suggestions for posts are always welcomed. Just drop me a line. Email at the bottom of the page. Woodsy
DeleteAt the end of the day, Moonbase Central is Woodsy's personal creation, myself and Scoop take advantage of his generosity in allowing us to post basically anything which we feel is nteresting or relevant. After 10 solid years, posting several times a day, without let up - it does become a little difficult to find new material to post on core topics. Even the biggest media distributors will find it a struggle to provide 100% killer material on a daily basis and will resort to a little filler or digression now and again. Look at Netflix for example which is 92% dross, propped up with the odd worthwhile watch. MC is also an acutely personal vision for Woodsy, which started off as a vehicle to celebrate the world of Project SWORD, which as we have seen is a finite resource. Almost every item of known information abut the line originates here, so with that particular vein of information almost mined out, we have to look at other directions in order to fulfill an unspoken promise of daily updates. Personally, as co-blogger and infrequent poster myself, I think Woodsy does an outstanding job of maintaining the blog, through thick and thin, illness, holidays, broadband outage and acts of god! At the end of the day, there are only so many vintage space toys out there, and as popularity increases, it becomes more and more difficult to obtain actual items or uncover actual facts about the toys as they are frequently sniped away into the private collections of high end collectors and sometimes hidden behind a paywall to grant access to view online content. With ten years of material under our belt, you may find that we will resort to the odd repost of older material or use the blog as a medium on which to post stuff which is close to our hearts and maybe a little off topic. If however ther is material you would like to see specifically, just let us know - either in a comment or by email and as ever, we will do our best to satisfy demand.
Deletecheers, Bill
Thanks for the thumbs up guys. It means a lot. Good space toy content is the reason why many readers come to Moonbase though and I do take seriously the point about mission drift that Anonymous has made. However its important that when we do have good space toy content - like the recent Eagle Rock post from Scoop displaying his Space 1999 Eagle - that we all show our appreciation by leaving comments. A talent like Scoop's, photographing his toys in such an amazing way, is a real boon for the blog but his posts, for example, don't get enough comments, sometimes none at all. Eagle Rock had some of the best toy photography we've ever had on Moonbase and if we want to keep it on Moonbase we need to say by commenting. The same goes for Kevin's terrific model making and photography. His recent post A New Dawn displaying his uplit scratchbiult SpaceX rocket generated just 2 readers' comments and one of those was me! Bill B's excellent space toy photography, like today's Get your Ass To Mars, takes time to prepare to get them right for Moonbase. Tony K's marvellous posts as well involve tons of work and research to make them the interesting articles we see. I'm keenly aware that all of our ace toy photographers and researchers I've mentioned could up sticks and gain much larger audiences on Social Media whenever. Whilst we have their talents on board we all need to try to let them know how much we like having them around by leaving them more comments. Thanks.
DeleteYou are doing a grand job chaps!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this Kev. Sorry I'm late responding. It means a lot to me.
DeletePersonally, I like the more personally nostalgic posts very much and it adds a touch of variety. I'd rather have something to read (if I want to) on a daily basis, than wait days or weeks between posts.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kid. It means a lot.
Delete