Rex Palmer
{{Short description|British broadcaster (1896–1972)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Rex Palmer
|honorific_suffix =
|image = The Radio Times - 1923.09.28 - 25 - Mr. R. F. Palmer.png
|caption = Rex Palmer in 1923
|birth_name = Reginald Faithful Palmer
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|2|16|df=y}}
|birth_place = Lincoln, England
|death_date = {{death date and age|1972|10|12|1896|2|16|df=y}}
|death_place = London, England
|occupation = Radio broadcaster, record producer and company manager
|partner =
|resting_place =
|years_active =
|website =
}}
Reginald Faithful "Rex" Palmer (16 February 1896 – 12 October 1972)[https://www.gravestonephotos.com/public/namedetails.php?grave=219751&forenames=Rex&surname=Palmer Rex Palmer, GravestonePhotos.com]. Retrieved 25 March 2021 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".{{cite book|last=Hennessy |first=Brian Anthony|title=Emergence of Broadcasting in Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnmNh8IfjYEC|isbn=9780955140808 |publisher=Southerleigh |page=120 |year= 2005}}
Life
Palmer was born in Lincoln, England. In the First World War, he served with the Royal Flying Corps under Edmund Allenby in Palestine.
Palmer was the first London Station Director of 2LO,Denis Gifford, The Golden Age of Radio, B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, {{isbn|0-7134-4235-2}}, p.203 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". He presented children's programmes from 1923, and also presented concert programmes and sang as a baritone.[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?order=asc&q=%22Rex+Palmer%22#search Search, Rex Palmer, Radio Times, BBC Genome]. Retrieved 25 March 2021 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".{{cite web|url=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16204/lot/374/|title=Bonhams : BROADCASTING and RECORDING - REX PALMER|publisher=Bonhams|accessdate=27 July 2014}}
On 11 October 1931, he introduced the first English-language radio programme in France, A Concert of His Master's Voice Records on Radio Paris, which was sponsored by the Gramophone Company and made by the International Broadcasting Company.{{cite book|last=Street|first=Seán|title=The A to Z of British Radio|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wAEk9veAhpAC|accessdate=27 July 2014|year=2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810870130|page=19}} At the Gramophone Company, where he rose to be general manager of the International Artistes' Department,{{cite book|last=Dyment|first=Christopher|title=Toscanini in Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=McFbqFNXrHAC|year=2012|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-1843837893|page=59}} he oversaw recordings for the label, by conductors and composers including Sir Edward Elgar and Arturo Toscanini. He left the Gramophone Company in 1940.
He also narrated films for British Pathé.{{cite web|url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-magic-box-aka-jack-hylton-hmv|title=The Magic Box Aka Jack Hylton & HMV|publisher=British Pathé|accessdate=27 July 2014}}
He rejoined the Royal Air Force (as it had become) in World War II, eventually becoming a Wing Commander.
Palmer returned to the BBC to present nostalgic programmes such as Those Were the Days and These Radio Times in the 1950s. He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 10 February 1958.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/53f2cd6a#p009y8gf |title=Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Rex Palmer |work=BBC Online |publisher=BBC |accessdate=27 July 2014}}
He died in London in 1972, aged 76, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery. In November 2008, his papers were auctioned by Bonhams.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-magic-box-aka-jack-hylton-hmv The Magic Box Aka Jack Hylton & HMV] 1931 British Pathé newsreel, featuring Palmer's narration
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Rex}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:People from Lincoln, England
Category:Royal Air Force officers
Category:Royal Flying Corps officers
Category:British record producers
Category:British Army personnel of World War I
Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
Category:Military personnel from Lincoln, England
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