Former BBC Scotland announcer Harry Gray who has died at his Selkirk home was originally set to be a designer in a woollen mill. When war broke out the mills went over to khaki production which needed no design, and Harry joined the RAF as a wireless operator; stationed at Wick.
After demob he joined Dundee Rep. He said: ''If you are a performer you will get on your hind legs when there is an audience, no matter how scared you are.''
His father's insistence that he acquire qualifications led Harry to Edinburgh University, where he became a leading light in ''Dramsoc''. Harry had always claimed a broad Borders accent, but ''when I was allowed to inflict Shakespeare on audiences I became aware that there was such a thing as received pronunciation - something everybody can understand.'' He was destined to use this skill. After two years teaching he saw a BBC advertisement for a radio announcer.
Harry won the hearts of listeners with his natural Scottish warmth. When Harry was on the news, you listened. You understood and believed him. His style was authoritative and idiosyncratic, just like the man. Although modest about his craft, he knew it thoroughly.
He was also one of the select few who regularly presented the concerts of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He was chosen by the SSO to join them on a tour of Hong Kong, an experience that thrilled him.
In the early days, the stuffy BBC captioned his first TV appearance ''Henry Gray''. He had been born Harry, he let them know it in no uncertain terms, and they didn't do it again. Years later, though, his friend and colleague Pam Patterson would cap his more extreme utterances with a reproving ''Henry!''
To his younger colleagues, Harry was a discreet mentor. Not that he was above having fun at their expense! One, reading the fish market report, had his first encounter with the term ''jumbo haddock'', his imagination went into overdrive, and a very shaky broadcast ensued. When it was Harry's turn to read the report, all the listeners heard were the measured tones, but his wild gesticulations as he uttered the fatal words sent everyone else in the studio into mute hysteria.
His service saw a lot of changes in BBC radio. He was glad to retire in 1981, but came back for a while to present the weekly music programme. He hung up his headphones for retirement in Selkirk - with regular trips to Morocco and the Arabic culture he loved.
Harry left no family but is survived by cousins.
l Harry Gray, BBC radio and television presenter and newsreader; born December 13, 1921, died, April 7, 2001.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article