Rex Palmer

Reginald Faithful "Rex" Palmer (16 February 1896 – 12 October 1972)[1] was a British broadcaster. He was an early BBC Radio presenter who made programmes for children under the pseudonym "Uncle Rex", and sang on air as "Rex Faithful".[2]

Rex Palmer
Born
Reginald Faithful Palmer

(1896-02-16)16 February 1896
Lincoln, England
Died12 October 1972(1972-10-12) (aged 76)
London, England
Occupation(s)Radio broadcaster, record producer and company manager

Life

Palmer was born in Lincoln, England. In the First World War, he served with the Royal Flying Corps under Edmund Allenby in Palestine.[3]

Palmer was the first London Station Director of 2LO,[4] and was the first person appointed to the BBC's predecessor, the British Broadcasting Company, by John (later Lord) Reith, in November 1922. He became known as "The Golden Voice of Wireless".[4] He presented children's programmes from 1923, and also presented concert programmes and sang as a baritone.[5] On leaving the BBC in 1929, to join the Gramophone Company, he was described by the Evening News as "one of the original five members of the BBC".[3]

On 11 October 1931, he introduced the first English-language radio programme in France, A Concert of HMV Records on Radio Paris, which was sponsored by HMV and made by the International Broadcasting Company.[4][6] At the Gramophone Company, where he rose to be general manager of the International Artistes' Department,[7] he oversaw recordings for the His Master's Voice (HMV) label, by conductors and composers including Sir Edward Elgar and Arturo Toscanini.[3] He left HMV in 1940.[7]

He also narrated films for British Pathé.[8]

He rejoined the Royal Air Force (as it had become) in World War II, eventually becoming a Wing Commander.[3]

Palmer returned to the BBC to present nostalgic programmes such as Those Were the Days and These Radio Times in the 1950s.[4][5] He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 10 February 1958.[9]

He died in London in 1972, aged 76, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery.[1] In November 2008, his papers were auctioned by Bonhams.[3]

References
  1. Rex Palmer, GravestonePhotos.com. Retrieved 25 March 2021
  2. Hennessy, Brian Anthony (2005). Emergence of Broadcasting in Britain. Southerleigh. p. 120. ISBN 9780955140808.
  3. "Bonhams : BROADCASTING and RECORDING - REX PALMER". Bonhams. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  4. Denis Gifford, The Golden Age of Radio, B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, ISBN 0-7134-4235-2, p.203
  5. Search, Rex Palmer, Radio Times, BBC Genome. Retrieved 25 March 2021
  6. Street, Seán (2009). The A to Z of British Radio. Scarecrow Press. p. 19. ISBN 9780810870130. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  7. Dyment, Christopher (2012). Toscanini in Britain. Boydell Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-1843837893.
  8. "The Magic Box Aka Jack Hylton & HMV". British Pathé. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  9. "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Rex Palmer". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
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