Schools Proms Personalities
RICHARD 5TI LGOE,
Presenter, lives in Surrey (where he was born) and has five children. He writes musicals, runs The Orpheus Trust, builds houses, plays cricket and sails his boat. He was brought up in Liverpool, and progressed from St Agnes' Church Choir through the Cavern Club to the Cambridge Footlights. Several spells singing his songs in London nightclubs led to appearances on the Today programme in the '60S and thence to BBC1'S Nationwide and That's Life, as well as several series of his own. Andrew L1oyd-Webber then invited him to write lyrics.
BOB HOLN ESS,
Presenter, is best known to millions of television viewers as the host of Blockbusters, Britain's first daily quiz
He continues to make radio programmes and his New York Gold Award, three Monte Carlo Prizes and Prix Italia are unmatched in broadcasting. He has performed for Her Majesty the Queen and the Rothschild family, played cricket on Goodwin Sands, conducted children's choirs at the Barbican, the Royal Festival Hall and the Royal Albert Hall and passed his lOoth appearance on Countdown. This year he and Peter Skellern are touring throughout the UK and Ireland, and the Orpheus Centre, his new arts centre for disabled people, is fully operational. Schools continue to perform his musical Brilliant the Dinosaur.
show and the winner of many prestigious awards. A great many Londoners also remember Bob as Doug Cameron's early morning sparring partner on LBC Radio's AM Show. During his ten years with the programme, Bob conducted more than 10,000 live interviews, later moving on to his series of hour-long In Conversation celebrity interviews for LBC. Bob's radio career went on to include shows such as Housewives' Choice, Top Of The Form and Late Night Extra. Over the years Bob has CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:
appeared on various TV shows
BOB HOLNESS,
including Give Us a Clue,
DIANE LOUISE JORDAN,
Celebrity Catchphrase and the
ANTONY HOPKINS,
youth-music programme The Word.
LARRY WESTLAND AND RICHARD STILGOE
LARRVWESTLAND CBE
Ho N RCM Larry Westland CBE HonRCM has played a central role in music education in this country for thirty years and is the driving
For thirty-five years Bob has
force behind Music for Youth, which he founded
been frequently heard on Radio Two with his own music shows, including the series, Bob Holness Requests the Pleasure
Cats, Starlight Express and Phantom of the Opera, all of which contain his lyrics, keep playing all over the world. Cats and Starlight Express are now the longest and second-longest running shows in British theatre history.
DIANE LOUISE JORDAN,
in 1971 with the Music Industries Association.
Presenter, has pushed and tested boundaries
Music for Youth works in close co-operation with all the major teaching organisations to provide a
and Bob Holness and Friends. He is also one of
throughout her substantial presenting career. In
the best known voices on BBC World Service. His
1989 she became the first black presenter on Blue
countrywide network of non-competitive festivals
enormously popular Anything Goes ended this
Peter and in 1997 recognition of her humanitarian
and concerts, which involve between 40,000 to
year after a staggering twenty-three-year run. He
approach and ability to communicate with people
50,000 young musicians each year.
currently chairs the ever-popular television word-
from every walk of life resulted in Gordon Brown
game Call My Bluffdaily on BBC1.
requesting her to sit on The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Committee, arguably one of the most important committees in terms of public interest this decade.
ANTONV HOPKI NS CBE,
She is one of the few celebrities who has
Guest Conductor, thinks he deserves a place in
consistently maintained a presence in both the
the Guinness Book of Records for having
children's (BBC s Bright Sparks, LWT'sAnimal
conducted Land of Hope and Glory in the Royal
Times and BBC Radio 3'S Time to Move), and
Albert Hall more times than anybody else; he has
adults' (Songs of Praise and Out and About) sector.
done it at every single Schools Prom which means 99 times (counting encores as half!). Even a stroke in 1996 failed to halt the sequence and although still a little wobbly on his feet he is proud to be with you all yet again this year. Many of you will be too young to remembe'r his broadcast series Talking about Music but it continued over a period of thirty-six years and has been sold to forty-four countries by the BBC.
A considerable proportion of Diane's working year is devoted to being Vice-President of NCH Action for Children, and a Patron of: Oasis, Great Ormond Street Hospital Jeans for Genes Appeal, Anne Frank Day and Brambles, a bereavement trust. Diane is also a director of a production company. She is currently writing and recording a series of
Composer, conductor, author and broadcaster he
issue-based story tapes for the family market, the
may be, but he still regards the Schools Prom as the highlight of his year.
first of which was released last September.
Through the National Festival of Music for Youth and the Schools Proms, which, with the Times Educational Supplement, he founded in 1975, he has fostered and encouraged the work of countless thousands of young musicians, singers and dancers from all parts of the United Kingdom. He was accorded the honour of CBE in the 1989 Honours List for his services to music and education and has been responsible for the introduction of many national festivals and concerts for young performers including dance, song, music theatre and marching bands. This year, with Richard Stilgoe, he launched a new series of concerts for children - 'Stilgoe Saturday Concerts' at the Royal Festival Hall. Also this year he introduced a new national event for young singers, the National School Choirs Festival and next year sees the beginning of Dancebeat 2000, a new event for young dancers. He is an executive committee member of the Music Education Council, Hon. Vice President of the National Youth Music Theatre, Governor of the National Children's Orchestra, President of Marching Bands UK and Life Vice President of Dunsfold Cricket Club!