Bob Courtney

Bob Courtney (31 October 1922 – 24 October 2010) was a British-born South African actor and broadcaster. He appeared in more than twenty film roles and worked as an on-air presenter and broadcaster on Springbok Radio. Additionally, Courtney co-founded Radio Today in 1996.

Courtney was born Christopher Robert Courtney Leaver on 31 October 1922, in Dorset, England. He successfully studied to be an accountant. A self-taught pianist, he was drafted into the Royal Air Force's entertainment corps as an entertainer during World War II. Courtney served as an RAF entertainer in North Africa, Greece and Italy. He met two South African entertainers, Siegfried Mynhardt and Uys Krige, in Rome, Italy, near the end of World War II. Krige and Mynhardt persuaded Courtney to move from Britain to South Africa.

Courtney emigrated to South Africa in 1946 and began working at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in 1947, using the shortened name Bob Courtney. He hosted many of the SABC's most well known radio shows during the 1940s.

In 1950, Courtney began hosting the Welcome Little Stranger children's show on the now defunct Springbok Radio. His radio name on the show was "Uncle Bob." However, his most famous job at Springbok Radio was hosting the hugely popular quiz show Pick a Box, which aired for fourteen years from 1960 until 1974. Courtney toured South Africa with the show throughout its airing, attracting large crowds of fans. In one instance, the Mayor of East London sent a limousine to meet Courtney at the East London Airport, where he had arrived to host Pick a Box in the city. Courtney broadcast Pick a Box from a variety of unusual locations including Antarctica, the Cango Caves, the Union-Castle Line and a mine shaft. The popular radio show ended in 1974. Pick a Box was briefly resurrected as a television quiz show in the 1980s with Courtney once again as its host. However, the TV version was not a hit and was quickly cancelled.

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