NORMAN TOZER RIP

[Simon Winters]

Continuity fans anong others will be sad to hear that Norman Tozer died of cancer this week.

Norman was an announcer on ATV London in the late fifties and early sixties and went on to present childrens programmes at the BBC.

He drove me up to the Kaleidoscope 'continuity' event last year. He was an incredibly nice person and friendly to everyone. He still looked so young and fit for his advanced age.

Norman preserved audio recordings of some of his ATV London announcements, along with photographs of himself in the continuity booth. This included a long-lost interview with Diana Dors. (In those days, ATV announcers would often interview stars from the continuity booth).

These have been donated to Kaleidoscope, who produced a great video montage of his work last year.

I'm so glad that Norman got to be interviewed on the ITV News report of the event, sharing his memories of those pioneering days at ATV.

It's possible that he was the last ATV London announcer from the fifties still alive?

Amazingly, he made it to the NFT just over two weeks ago, to watch one of his old BBC childrens programmes on the big screen.

RIP Norman.

[davemachin]

Very sad to hear this. I wasn't that familiar with his work but I can remember ATV London well. I am pleased that some audios were saved by him and donated to Kal. A little bit more of the lost past preserved thanks to Norman.

RIP.

Dave

[Paul Cooksley]

Was this the same person that presented the "Behind the Scenes" day in the life of BBC TV Centre documentary in 1971??

[cperry]

Yes he was Paul. Also presented Tom Tom for many years, and worked for Radio 3 extensively.

c

[Andrew Doherty]

It is good to know that Norman Tozer played an active part in broadcasting over the past five decades since his ATV days. There cannot be many London BBC or ITV continuity announcers around from the 1950s now, though Sylvia Peters (BBC) and, possibly, Arthur Adair (ATV) are still with us.

Yours,