Roy Plomley

Roy Plomley
Roy Plomley in latter years
Born	(1914-01-20)20 January 1914 Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England.
Died	28 May 1985(1985-05-28) (aged 71) London, England.
Known for	Desert Island Discs
Spouse(s)	Diana Wong (one daughter Almond)

Francis Roy Plomley (/ˈplʌmˌlɪ/ PLUM-ley), OBE (20 January 1914 – 28 May 1985) was an English radio broadcaster, producer, playwright and novelist.

Plomley (pronounced Plumley) was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, son of a pharmacist and was educated at King's College School, Wimbledon. On leaving school he worked first briefly for an estate agent, then for a London advertising agency, then in publishing. His original aim was to be an actor, and he did secure very minor parts in a number of films (e.g. To the Public Danger (1948), Double Confession 1950), but he soon drifted into broadcasting, coming to public notice as an announcer, and later producer, for the International Broadcasting Company (IBC), starting on Radio Normandy in April 1936 and moving on at the end of that year to the IBC's Paris-based station, Poste Parisien. Between mid-1937 and late 1939 he was involved in writing and production, travelling back and forth between these two IBC stations in France and the company's offices and studios in London, while also presenting the variety programme Radio Normandy Calling, recorded on location in theatres at UK seaside resorts and regularly beating the BBC in audience ratings.