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About Anglia is a regional news magazine programme produced by Anglia Television in the east of England, broadcast for over thirty years from 2 June 1960 to 6 July 1990.
| About Anglia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Regional News |
| Country of origin | England |
| Production | |
| Producer | Anglia Television |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Anglia Television |
| Release | 2 June 1960 – 6 July 1990 |
| Related | |
| ITV News Anglia | |
History
editOne of the first regional programmes of its kind on ITV, About Anglia began in May 1960 as a twice-weekly programme, accompanying the ten-minute regional evening news bulletin on weekdays.
Its success prompted it to be extended to four nights a week the following September, and then, every weeknight.[1] Its original main presenter was Dick Joice.
Features
editEarly regular features included gardening, Police Call and in-depth weather forecasts for the region provided by Anglia's in-house weather department.
Some early elements of About Anglia featured on the short-lived Midday Show, which aired during the first few months of the station, and featured Susan Hampshire among its cast.
Transmission
editThe programme was transmitted throughout the Anglia region: Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Lincolnshire and east Yorkshire.
From 1 January 1974, East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and parts of north Norfolk (served by the Belmont transmitter) were transferred to the Yorkshire Television area, although the Anglia weather department continued to produce special regional forecasts for the area for several years.
Demise
editAbout Anglia was given a new, modern look on Monday 21 March 1988 when Anglia Television abandoned its original identification, a small silver statue of a knight on horseback.
Two years later, on Monday 9 July 1990, About Anglia was replaced by Anglia News, which transmitted two programmes:
- Anglia News East for Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and parts of Cambridgeshire
- Anglia News West for Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, North Hertfordshire, North Buckinghamshire, South Lincolnshire and the rest of Cambridgeshire.[2]
Both were produced and broadcast from studios at Anglia House in Norwich, long before this became standard practice across ITV regional news services, with reporters in Ipswich, Chelmsford, Cambridge, Peterborough, Northampton, Luton and Milton Keynes, along with a political bureaux at Westminster.
Cutbacks in 2009 led to the reintroduction of a pan-regional programme (known as Anglia Tonight) with shorter sub-regional opt outs – which have since been extended under ITV News Anglia.
Presenters
editMany About Anglia personalities moved on to national prominence.
- In 1960, David Dimbleby spent his summer vacation from Oxford University working as an About Anglia reporter.[3] The same year also saw David Frost join the reporting team – infamously, his contract was not renewed by Anglia Television, reputedly because management felt he did not have a future in regional television.[4][5]
- Judy Finnigan came to Anglia in the mid-1970s from Granada Television as a reporter and presenter. She married and settled in Norwich, making her name in 1977 when she gave birth to twin sons and, the following day, showed the babies on About Anglia. She left to return to Granada as co-host of Granada Reports.
- Bob Wellings, covering offbeat stories, became a presenter of BBC Television's current affairs Nationwide programme in 1971, staying there until 1979.
- Alastair Yates joined About Anglia in 1987 following a period with Grampian Television's North Tonight, but left two years later to become the first presenter on Sky News in Britain.
Other presenters and journalists who regularly appeared include:
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References
edit- ^ Dinosaurs - Anglia Television
- ^ "last About Anglia". YouTube. 9 November 2007.
- ^ Anglia at 21, transdiffusion.org, 27 October 2015
- ^ "Memories of Sir David Frost's Anglia links". itv.com. 2 September 2013.
- ^ "Sir David Frost talks about his time on About Anglia". itv.com. 1 September 2013.
- ^ "Anglia TV's long serving newsreader John Bacon has died". 21 March 2018.
- ^ "Former Anglia television medical expert and writer Dr David Delvin dies". 15 March 2018.