Brian Cant

Infobox actor
name = Brian Cant


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birthdate = birth date|1933|07|12|df=y (age 75)
birthplace = Ipswich, Suffolk, England
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occupation = Actor

Brian Cant (born 12 July 1933) is an English actor, television presenter and writer.

Born in Ipswich, he currently lives in Buckinghamshire and is married to writer and director Cherry Britton, the sister of Fern Britton and actor Jasper Britton. He has twins Christabel and Peter and a daughter Rose.

Television

Cant is particularly well known for his work on many BBC children's programmes from the 1960s to the 1980s, including "Play School", "Play Away", "Trumpton", "Chigley", "Camberwick Green" and Bric-A-Brac. He was performing in drama-based BBC TV Schools Programmes about the Romans when he heard that auditions were being held for a children's programme which was to be shown on the new BBC 2 channel. At his audition he was asked to get in a cardboard box and 'row out to sea'. He was cast as a presenter, and stayed with the BBC for eighteen years.

Aside from his work on children's television, Cant is also an established actor. In the 1960s he appeared in two "Doctor Who" stories, "The Daleks' Master Plan" and "The Dominators". He briefly stood in for Eddie Waring in the game show "It's a Knockout".

Cant is the storyteller of the UK version of "Jay Jay the Jet Plane", and the narrator for the popular Canadian children's show "Bruno".

In the late 1990s, Cant parodied his previous contributions as a narrator in 'The Organ Gang', a weekly segment in Lee and Herring's "This Morning With Richard Not Judy", a Sunday afternoon light entertainment show.

In April 2007, Cant was named as the best-loved voice from UK children's television, in poll of over 1,200 people for "Underground Ernie" magazine. Cant beat "Bagpuss" and "Ivor the Engine" narrator Oliver Postgate into second place, with David Jason ("Dangermouse") polling third. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6525593.stm Cant named 'best loved' children's TV voice, BBC News] ]

He read the second half of Ann Jungman's Vlad the Drac books for audiobook, replacing Anthony Daniels.

In May 2008, Cant recorded a brand new audio series of children's stories for free download from 'The Great Little Traders Club' [http://www.gltc.co.uk/storytime/]

Theatre

Cant's theatre credits include "Still Playing Away", "The Railway Children", "Present Laughter", "An Ideal Husband", "Habeas Corpus", "Gaslight", "Side by Side by Sondheim", "The Canterbury Tales" (in which he memorably ad-libbed a reference to his work on "Play School"), "Oh Coward", There's No Place Like a Home and many more, as well as thirty two pantomimes, including an adaptation of "Aladdin" at the Wolverhampton Grand written by Ian Billings

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0134454|name=Brian Cant