Gordon Honeycombe
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Ronald Gordon Honeycombe (born September 27, 1936) is an author, playwright and stage actor, well known in the United Kingdom as a national television newscaster.
Gordon Honeycombe was born in Karachi, in British India, and educated at the Edinburgh Academy and at University College, Oxford, from which he graduated with an MA in English. He did National Service with the Royal Artillery, mainly in Hong Kong, where he was also an announcer with Radio Hong Kong. Returning to the UK, he embarked on an acting career which led to television and public prominence as a national newscaster.
As a newscaster, Honeycombe always seemed warm but stern while on-screen. Off camera, he was a flamboyant, fun-loving character with a devilish sense of humour.
He has now settled in Perth, Western Australia, where he continues to work for radio, TV and the theatre. He regularly does voice-over work for radio and television, and documentary narrations.
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Career highlights
Honeycombe joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, working from 1962-4 as an actor at Stratford-upon-Avon and at the Aldwych Theatre, London. From 1965-77 at ITN, he became nationally known as a newscaster. He was twice voted the most popular newscaster in Britain, by readers of the Daily Mirror and of The Sun. From 1977-84, he concentrated on writing, while continuing many other activities, such as presenting TV shows for Scottish Television, Southern Television and for the BBC. He returned to regular newsreading from 1984-9 as chief newsreader at TV-am, becoming Britain's longest-serving TV newscaster. He was in 1986 voted the most popular male TV newscaster by readers of Woman's Own magazine., and received in 1989 the Television and Radio Industries Club Newscaster of the Year Award. While appearing on British television, he also recorded voice-overs or narrations of many TV and other documentaries, training films, commercials and cinema shorts, and has been involved in many industrial presentations, conferences, in-house videos and fund-raising charity events. He produced and directed his own play THE REDEMPTION for the Festival of Perth in Western Australia in March 1990, and has settled in that area.
Appearances
Beside the appearances listed below, he also presented, appeared in and narrated many TV programmes and appeared in many TV plays and series. He has also sung at major fund-raising events for various charities.
Film
- Bullseye! (1991)
- The Fourth Protocol (1987)
- The Medusa Touch (1978)
- Neither the Sea nor the Sand (1974)
- Let's get Skase (2000)
British Stage
- SUSPECTS, in 1989 at Swansea
- RUN FOR YOUR WIFE!, in 1990 touring with Les Dawson
- ALADDIN in 1989-90 at the Wimbledon Theatre, with Cilla Black
- ALADDIN in 1990-91 at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth, with Su Pollard.
Australian stage
- TAMING OF THE SHREW
Works
Since 1965 Gordon Honeycombe, beside his own books, has written for television, radio, stage and films.
Books
- NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND (1969)
- DRAGON UNDER THE HILL (1972)
- ADAM'S TALE (1974)
- RED WATCH (1976)
- ROYAL WEDDING (1981)
- NAGASAKI 1945 (1981)
- THE EDGE OF HEAVEN (1981)
- THE YEAR OF THE PRINCESS (1982)
- THE MURDERS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM (1982)
- SELFRIDGES (1984)
- THE TV-AM CELEBRATION OF THE ROYAL WEDDING (1986)
- SIREN SONG (1992)
- MORE MURDERS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM (1995)
- THE COMPLETE MURDERS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM (1995)
Stage and radio dramatizations
- THE REDEMPTION
- LANCELOT AND GUINEVERE
- PARADISE LOST
TV plays
- THE GOLDEN VISION (BBC1, 1968),
- TIME AND AGAIN (Westward Television, 1974)
- THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS (Granada Television, 1985)
Musical adaptation
- THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLINS (both book and lyrics: staged in 1994)
Stage play
- THE REDEMPTION
External links
- Gordon Honeycombe's web site (http://members.iinet.net.au/~martross/GH/main.html)
- Brief reviews of books by Gordon Honeycombe (http://authors.booksunderreview.com/H/Honeycombe,_Gordon/)