David Allard of BBC South Today is Hatch Warren resident
Not many people know that a man whose face is a familiar sight on BBC TV’s South Today programme has lived in Hatch Warren since 2003. As a Senior Broadcast Journalist for BBC News, based in Southampton, David wears many hats – as his role currently combines producing, reporting and live presenting.
Good Education
Basingstoke has been central to David’s life since he was a toddler: “My family moved from Norwich to North Waltham when my dad was relocated with NFU Mutual Insurance.” David went to the village primary school, followed by Brighton Hill school and then QMC where good results at A level gained him a place at St. Anne’s College at Oxford University graduating with a BA(Hons) in English.
David’s first job was at the Reading-based radio station 2-TEN FM (now Heart) where he wrote and produced radio commercials. A diverse range of freelance work followed – from film industry publicity, to copywriting for government campaigns, to producing and singing on children’s CDs. And his most memorable job? “For ten years I was the voice of Tumble Tots!”
More education followed and David gained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism which was his route into the BBC – first as a newsreader on BBC Radio Solent, then a producer on Radio Berkshire before South Today beckoned .
Pull of the Theatre
But David always felt there was some unfinished business with his theatrical aspirations. “In 1986 I’d joined Basingstoke Amateur Theatrical Society, and went on to play a number of roles in their shows at the Haymarket and the Anvil. But then I decided it was time to take the plunge and train professionally.” So David left the BBC to go to Guildford School of Acting. He made his professional stage debut in `The Hired Man` at Salisbury Playhouse in 2003, and also appeared in concerts, cabarets and musical shows in the West End and across the country. “But ultimately I decided journalism was a better long-term career bet so I returned to the BBC”. Today he still sings in local concerts and with the vocal trio, Musicality – but because of the variable shift patterns of his job he regrets that time is the enemy in restricting this interest.
So what does David enjoy most about his BBC role? “Because we’re a regional TV programme you feel much closer to the audience, than you would working for a network programme. This year Basingstoke’s been in the spotlight for a number of stories – like the Buckskin floods and the Maria Miller’s expenses row. Obviously people are talking about that where I live and my local knowledge can feed back into our coverage.”
TV is hard work
What does the producer role entail? “There are several editions of South Today on Monday to Friday – six short bulletins in BBC Breakfast, a 15 minute lunchtime news programme, the main South Today at 6.30pm, a 30 second update at 8pm and a 7 minute bulletin after the BBC News at Ten. There are also short weekend bulletins. It’s up to the producer to decide on the stories to be featured in each of those editions and how they are going to be delivered, whether as a self-contained report, a read to pictures, or a live. So I work with the team to put together the running order, liaise with the reporters, and write links and scripts.”
David has travelled across the South Today patch covering stories as a reporter himself. He’s a big fan of the new technology which means pictures can be sent via 3G from a laptop on location directly to Southampton, without the need for an outside broadcast van or courier to take the pictures back!
In recent months David has been presenting some breakfast, lunchtime and weekend bulletins. He says “For BBC Breakfast we first go on air just before 6.30am. But that means I get up at 3.30am, shower, have breakfast, get into work for 5am to put on the suit, tie and make-up, before finding out what’s been happening overnight and preparing our first bulletin.”
Fortunately this early start is not every day as he has a rotating shift pattern of normally four days of 10 hours. Forever being aware of the need to capture news as it happens, the production team are all trained in the use of a camera and David has one with him at all times. This came in useful a couple of winters ago when the snows came to Basingstoke and he was able to film on Woodbury Road here in Hatch Warren and surrounding roads to see the chaos that engulfed the traffic.
Other local features David has enjoyed producing include the history of Burberry, the world-famous clothing firm, that started in Winchester Street. A couple of years ago he was the producer for the Winchester- based segment of BBC Children in Need and was responsible for the broadcast of the Olympic Torch relay through our area. Very recently there was quite an extensive piece, by the time restraints of South Today, about a theatrical production of the love story Brief Encounter. This featured David with one of the actresses from the original 1945 film. At the time of writing, he’s filming a feature about the World War One J-Type lorry made by the old Basingstoke firm of Thornycroft. This should be of real interest to all the ex-employees of this famous commercial vehicle manufacturer.
Keeps Fit
The old adage that appearing in front of a TV camera adds about 10lbs to a person’s weight does not inflict itself on David Allard as his screen image is little different from real life. He is lean and athletic. Keen on keeping fit he’s participated in the London Marathon in 1997 and is a regular attendee of the gym at the Beechdown Club.
This driven man has one big ambition to achieve. He recently started taking swimming lessons as he wants to improve his front crawl, or freestyle as it is officially classed. “But somehow people have persuaded me that I should aim to compete at a Masters championships in the near future. I know I’ll come last though – so I doubt I’ll make the Olympic squad for Rio. Don’t expect to see that story on South Today!”
