CurriculumVitae

Still probably best-remembered as one of BBC Television's longest-serving newsreaders, Richard is currently enjoying a 'third age' career as an actor, writer and broadcaster. His first job was as a reporter on the Hertfordshire Express, a local paper in his home town of Hitchin, where he still lives. He firmly believes that - when he first found work as a broadcaster on regional radio in 1957 - the  experience gained as an amateur actor enabled him to avoid many of the pitfalls that bedevil novice broadcasters.

Richard left the Express in 1959 to work for five years as a freelance writer and broadcaster, during which time he made his first television programmes on Town & Around - a regional TV magazine for the South-East. In 1964, he was invited to join BBC News as a full-time staff reporter, and spent 10 years 'on the road' covering major stories of the day.

During this period Richard developed an acute fear of flying which culminated in his having to abandon a trip to cover the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. He has not flown since. As a result his work and holidays have since been restricted to the United Kingdom and Europe.  In 1969, he covered the sensational Old Bailey trial of the East End gang leaders Ronald and Reginald Kray for BBC Radio and Television. He also featured in The Name is Kray, the first full-length  documentary  produced by Television News. Between 1969 and 1972 he did ten tours covering the troubles in Northern Ireland.

Richard's career as a full-time studio newsreader began in 1973 when he was chosen as an anchorman for the first version of The Nine O'Clock News to feature two presenters. For the next 15 years he appeared on most major news programmes, launching the BBC's first half-hour lunch-time news - News After Noon - in 1981. He was also one of the regular presenters for BBC 2?s News Review, a 45-minute round-up of the week's news with sub-titles for viewers with hearing difficulties. Richard's last job was to launch the News On The Hour bulletins. Shortly after that he decided to give up his 25-year staff appointment to concentrate on freelance work as an actor, writer and broadcaster and left the BBC in July 1988.

Birth: 22^nd December 1933 at Benslow Nursing Home, Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

Education:  

1939-Sacred Heart Convent, Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

1941- Eastbourne Grammar School. (Eastbourne G.S. was evacuated to Hitchin for two years because of enemy bombing raids on the south coast. Richard joined the school as a temporary pupil until he reached the age of 10 and was eligible for admission to the Preparatory form of Hitchin Boy's Grammar School. He claims that makes him the only old boy of Eastbourne Grammar School who has never set foot in the school!)

1943- Hitchin Boys' Grammar School. Awarded School Colours for Swimming and Diving 1949; Oxford School Certificate (Matriculation) 1950.

1951 -Joined the Hertfordshire Express newspaper, Hitchin, as a junior reporter.

1952 - National Service in the Royal Air Force. This was spent as an Operations Clerk, first in the Maps Section of the Air Ministry in London and later at the Aircraft and Armaments Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, where he worked in the Control Tower attaining the rank of Senior Aircraftman.

1954 - Career resumed with the Hertfordshire Express .

1957- First radio broadcast, a talk on Town and Country Magazine, BBC Radio's weekday programme for listeners in the South-East of England, transmitted on the Home Service (Radio Four) after the 6pm news. Subject: The centenary of the birth of The Fox Twins of Stevenage, celebrated Victorian poachers.

1959 - Left the Hertfordshire Express to found the North Herts News Agency, supplying local news and features to national daily and evening newspapers, radio and television.

1961 - First Television appearance on BBC Town and Around, a weekday  magazine programme for viewers in the South East of England transmitted from Alexandra Palace, which was then the headquarters of BBC Television News. Subject: A report on the controversy at Letchworth Garden City over a proposal to open the first public bar in the hitherto 'dry' town, where the pioneers had forbidden the sale of alcohol.

1964 - Staff news correspondent and presenter for BBC Radio and Television. .

1988 - Freelance actor, writer and broadcaster.

On April 26^th, 1957, Richard was married to Wendy Vaughan, of Baldock, Hertfordshire at St Mary's Church, Hitchin. The couple have four daughters  (Jane, Sarah, Kate and Lucy) and nine grand-children. Jack and Bethany (children of Jane); Amy, Freddie and Alfie (children of Sarah); Charlie and Harvey (sons of Kate) and Ziggy and Jago (sons of Lucy).