 | 8 December 2009 Accessibility help Text only |
|
|
| BBC Homepage | | |
| |||
| Contact Us Like this page? Send it to a friend! | | |
Planet BernYou are in: Northamptonshire > Local Radio > Planet Bern > Bernie Keith; A Life Story...  Ickle Bern Bernie Keith; A Life Story......The Wilderness Years (i.e. from birth to now). I was born close to my mother at a very young age. A shy, reticent child, I was dogged by an inferiority complex which may have had something to do with the fact that I'm told my after-birth came out before me! As you can see from the photo above, I was a bonnie baby, my rosy red cheeks already suggesting a love of vodka. I was also a late developer, this photo being taken when I was 17.  School boy Bern I spent the first 11 years of my life in Northolt, Middlesex. My mum and dad, the sainted Beryl and Des, named me Bernard, now shortened to Bernie or Bern, the latter being the only variation I'm really comfortable with. I've often wondered why they chose the name, because it was old-fashioned even back then in 1963: be honest, I'm the youngest one you know, and I'm knocking on a bit! I'm told it’s because Mr. Wishart who lived across the road was called Bernard and mum thought it sounded nice when his wife called after him; Mum would say: "well, he had two nice names so I could have picked either." His other name was Wilfred, so I guess I got off lightly. Mind you, when I got to the age of the school photo on the right, dad took one look at my ears and said "We should’ve called him Toby…Or Wing Nut."  1980 Bernie The family became grateful of these ears when the wind blew on beach holidays and they were able to get behind them for shelter. From the age of three I didn't want to do anything other than work on the radio, playing songs, talking nonsense and generally avoiding the responsibility of growing up. I did OK at school, particularly at languages, learning French the hard way (I was taught by a Spaniard), and so made my way to university. My heart wasn't in it and neither were any of my other vital organs, because I wanted to do radio. My heroes were Noel Edmonds, Tony Blackburn and Kenny Everett, but I didn't have the courage to be like them…so I became an accountant!  1987 Bernie I was so bad. Well, maybe not Ken Dodd-bad, or Gordon Brown-wrong-by-1.5 billion-bad, but pretty bad. Eventually I jumped before I was pushed and set about fulfilling my radio dream. After sending out over 100 tapes, I landed my first job at Mercia Sound in Coventry in 1987, even though I was wearing Hank Marvin glasses that he'd obviously got from Olive of On The Buses. Look at me – 23, doing the job I’d always longed for and still looking like an accountant! There then followed years of moving around the country, living by the adage that it’s harder to hit a moving target. Coventry was followed by Valleys Radio in South Wales, Wave 105.2 on the south coast, and Century in the East Midlands – all of them full of nice people and providing bucket loads of happy memories.  Bert...or is it Ernie? The act’s remained the same throughout the years, maybe getting tweaked every few months so that it remains contemporary and taking on board whatever else I’m doing at the time, but all the while keeping steadfastly true to the Keith family motto that it is better to be over-looked than to be over the hill. I arrived at the BBC in 2000, viewing it as little more than an experiment and I've been here ever since. last updated: 20/09/07 SEE ALSOYou are in: Northamptonshire > Local Radio > Planet Bern > Bernie Keith; A Life Story... |
| | About the BBC | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy |
