Johnny Morris
| Johnny Morris | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Ernest John Morris 20 June 1916 Newport, Wales |
| Died | 6 May 1999 (aged 82) Wiltshire, England |
| Occupation | Television presenter |
| Years active | 1946~1989 |
| Employer | BBC |
| Known for |
Tales of the Riverbank (1960) Animal Magic (1962–1983) |
Ernest John "Johnny" Morris OBE (20 June 1916 – 6 May 1999) was a Welsh television presenter. He was known for his children's programmes for the BBC on the topic of zoology, most notably Animal Magic and for narrating the imported, Canadian-produced Tales of the Riverbank series of stories about Hammy the Hamster, Roderick the Rat, GP the Guinea Pig, and their assorted animal friends along a riverbank.
Morris was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, the son of a postmaster. He learned to play the violin as a child and toured the valleys of South Wales, performing with his cello-playing father. Morris attended Hatherleigh School, Newport and worked as a solicitor's clerk, a timekeeper on a building site, a salesman and managing a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) farm in Wiltshire for thirteen years.
Morris was discovered telling stories in a pub by the then BBC Home Service West Regional producer Desmond Hawkins. Morris made his radio début in 1946, and featured in a number of Regional series throughout the 1950s often employed on light and entertainment programmes as a storyteller, such as in Pass the Salt, or as a commentator on local events.
A natural mimic and impersonator, Morris first appeared on television as The Hot Chestnut Man, a short slot in which he was shown sitting roasting the chestnuts, he would tell a humorous yarn in a West Country accent, often ending with a moral.
In 1960 he narrated the imported, Canadian-produced Tales of the Riverbank series of stories about Hammy the Hamster, Roderick the Rat, GP the Guinea Pig, and their assorted animal friends along a riverbank. The show used slowed-down footage of real animals filmed doing humanised things such as driving a car or boat, and living in houses. In the 1960s Morris also narrated books 1 - 11 of The Railway Stories, recordings of the Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry. The recordings of the first eight books were re-released in LP format in the '70s but the other three sets of recordings were never reissued and in the end were rerecorded by Willie Rushton.
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