"Angus McDermid was a school friend, but we parted ways when WW2 came about (as with so many associates). He was a cub reporter with the then North Wales Chronicle, whose offices and printing presses were located on the site now occupied by Boots the Chemist.
He joined the BBC at some point and, being a shortwave radio listener, I picked up his broadcasts from South Africa when he was the correspondent there.
During his tour of duty in Africa he covered a military coup and, as with other prisoners, was allowed one telephone call home. He spoke to his wife (in Welsh) and was able to transmit a scoop undetected. He also escorted the Queen on her tour of Africa at some point.
He was then posted to Washington DC for eight or nine years, and covered the Nixon Watergate era.
Nearing retirement age, the BBC brought him closer to home - that is, to Brussels, Belgium.
He was awarded the OBE or MBE, and he retired to a village near the foot of Snowdon, whilst maintaining a base in London to do some occasional work for Bush House and Portland Place."
your comments
Rob Lewis, London
Arnold Lewis was my father. By a strange turn of fate I now live in Bromley, about a mile from Whitecroft Way where Angus lived in the early 1960s.
Wed Sep 17 10:16:51 2008
Kate Dickens, Spalding
A correction to Ifor Roberts' comment: Angus was effectively an only child - although he did have a younger brother, Alfie, who died of diptheria before my father was born. You are thinking of my father's cousin, Glyn McDermid, whom I remember well and was indeed employed by the Penrhyn Estates. I also remmber Arnold Lewis well - he taught at a comprehensive school in London during the 1960s and visited our family often in those days.
Thu Feb 7 10:48:40 2008
Gayner Haynes London
To Leslie Roberts - I am interested to know if you knew my father, Paddy Burns. He went to school with and was a friend of Angus McDermid. He also knew Harry Parry. My father went to Friars school with Angus Mcdermid. My mother Vivienne Burns (nee Hughes) sang with some of the dance and jazz bands of North Wales during the late 1940s.My Aunt, Enid McNamarra (nee Hughes) worked at the North Wales Chronicle from the early 1950s and also knew Angus McDermid. So do you know anything of my father, his family or my mother?
Wed Jan 30 15:13:22 2008
Ifor Roberts, now Scotland
My mother's family knew Angus McDermid very well and I remember him visiting my nain, Gracie Roberts in Friars Avenue when I was quite young. My mother is Enyd Roberts who now lives near my sister just outside Biggleswade. Her cousin was Arnold Lewis who lived in Maes y Dref. He was the accompanist with Cor Penrhyn for many years and moved to Cardiff to work with the BBC until his retirement. Sadly he died some 3 years ago.I actually worked with Angus's brother, Mr Mac as we knew him, for a short while at the Penrhyn estate office just after I left school in 1973.
Fri Oct 5 16:02:11 2007
Emrys Edwards , Stoke-on-Trent
I was also a class-mate (Friars School) 1932-40 and remember John Barlow Jones. There were 13 'Jones' in our form ! The Headmaster was Ifor Williams ('Lucius') and I still have his inscribed French Prize ("Awst 1942, gyda dymyniadau goreu")
Mon Aug 6 10:29:18 2007
Alexandre Burmester from Oporto, Portugal
I remember very well Angus McDermid's excellent reporting on the BBC World Service and particularly his time in Washington. On August 8, 1974, I listened to President Nixon's resignation speech, introduced to BBC listeners by Mr McDermid.
Thu Jun 14 09:45:29 2007
Kate Dickens, Lincolnshire
A sad addition to this page, I'm afraid. My mother, Myfanwy McDermid, widow of Angus McDermid, died on July 13 after a short illness.
Fri Sep 16 21:40:06 2005
Elinor Millard, Harpenden, Herts
I was born in Bangor and lived in Penrhos Road until I left home to go to Law School.
My late Father, Gwilym Roberts, wrote a daily column in the Liverpool Daily Post - "Day to Day in Wales".
As a child I remember Angus well. He was a friend and colleague of my father and a frequent visitor to our home. My parents were guests at Angus and Myfanwy's wedding. I think the family home was at Lon y Bryn. My father was also a great friend of Angus's father.
Happy Days!
Fri Aug 26 19:18:55 2005
Kate Dickens (nee McDermid0 now living in Spalding
Well, with pride, I can add that Angus was my father and very much missed, he still is, particularly as he has three grandsons who would have loved him so much.
I worked in Bangor too, on the North Wales Chronicle (from 1975-77), the fourth generation of the family to do so. It provided excellent training and I went on to a 20 year career in journalism. But now I've retrained as an English teacher.
My mother Myfanwy (Nan) now lives 60 miles from me in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, completely different from North Wales,of course, but not without its attrractions. I'll pass on any interesting information from the site to her.
I recently met an old Friars school friend of my father's, John Barlow Jones, who lived in Orme Road, Bangor,before joining the Navy. He later became a bank manager. We met up via his daughter, Sally Jones, a journalist and former television reporter, through a mutual friend. Small world!
Just a comment on leslie Roberts; contribution above. Angus joined the BBC in 1957 having freelanced for the corporation from Bangor while still chief reporter on the Chronicle. And it was the OBE he received, in the early '80s. The village he retired to was Fachwen, on the slopes of Llyn Padarn. This was where he died, suddenly, in October 1988, just a week before his first grandson's first birthday.
As for the C&A motor club, we still have various tankards awarded as prizes in the club's rallies!
Fri Jun 3 20:32:47 2005
Ig Nwangwu, Lagos, Nigeria
As a very young and avid shortwave listener during the Nigeria-Biafra war (1967-1970), I listened a lot to Angus Mcdermid on BBC radio as he covered the war. As I watched the recent wars (Gulf, Afghanistan, Iraq) and saw the likes of Peter Arnet, Nik Robertson, Christiane Amanpor all of CNN television, I wondered if Angus McDermid's experience in Nigeria was the same as those of these reporters I saw on the tv screen. I, therefore, decided to look the name up on the BBC website, least expecting to get any information on the man Angus McDermid.
Fri Sep 3 08:46:42 2004
David Cooke from Newcastle, Staffs
I remember Angus & Myfanwy well from my days in the Caernarfon & Anglesey Motor Club. He was a very keen member in his VW Beetle. At that time he was based in Bangor. Happy Days...
Thu Sep 18 13:05:59 2003
