Peter Donaldson

Peter Donaldson was born in 1945 in Cairo in the reign of King Farouk. He was educated in Egypt, Cyprus and England. While at Woolverstone Hall in Suffolk, Peter became interested in acting and, with the encouragement of the English master, Mr Hutton, he joined the National Youth Theatre.

Peter left school after 'O' levels to go into the professional theatre - first backstage at Sadlers Wells and The Globe - and eventually on-stage with the New Shakespeare Company. There followed a British Council-sponsored tour, with performances in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Sarawak. On his return to England, Peter joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre, London.

Whilst visiting his father in Cyprus, Peter heard an advertisement for an announcer with the British Forces Broadcasting Service. He auditioned, got the job, and served in Cyprus, Aden, Libya (Tobruk) and Malta, before joining the BBC in 1970.

Peter worked first as an announcer on Radio 2, which included presenting Night Ride and the Breakfast Show.

Peter transferred to Radio 4 in 1973, becoming chief announcer in 1988, responsible for, among other things, recruiting and training new announcers. He stood down in 2003 and returned to being one of the team. He retired on July 1 2005, but will be freelancing into oblivion from September: old announcers don't die, they just get faded out.

Peter's interests are news and current affairs, drama, poetry (especially war poetry) gardening, walking and swimming (preferably in the Mediterranean).