- Laurie Macmillan
Laurie Macmillan (
May 10 ,1947 -October 8 ,2001 ) was aBBC Radio 4 newsreader and continuity announcer born inAberdeen on the east coast ofScotland .Educated at
Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls ,Monmouthshire , SouthWales and then atNewcastle University graduating with a degree inPolitics andPhilosophy .She joined the
BBC in1968 as a Trainee Studio Manager, became a studio manager in1973 and an announcer in1975 . Easily recognisable in the BBC Newsroom by her thick dark hair that was so long she would frequently end up sitting on it. Worked onThe World at One , PM, It's Your Line andYou and Yours onBBC Radio 4 , also occasionally working onBBC Radio 3 andBBC Local Radio , and briefly reading the news onNewsnight onBBC2 .Wrote and presented a schools radio series on
industrial geography , and was for a time anaficionado of Radio 4's Bells on Sunday, becoming an expert on peals of Grandsire Doubles and Steadman Triples.In the late 1970s she and partner Martine Ronaldson moved to
Sticklepath inDevon (They later married in 1986). They renovated the cottage and she grew organic vegetables. She maintained a broad range of interests - attending evening classes studyingastronomy looking at what was a sky relatively clear oflight pollution ; studying Gaelic she tried it out while on walking holidays in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, later returning to Radio 4 on a part time basis.Noted for her forthright expression of her opinions of other people's usage of spoken English, plain speaking and treating people at all levels of seniority and none with the same straight forthright manner, because of this her views were highly prized.
She found it difficult to talk about herself or her problems, and always was far more interested in others and general gossip.
Having been diagnosed with
breast cancer and despite being breathless from the treatment she returned to Radio 4 although only working on the 6 O'Clock News until March 2001 when the cancer returned. She died on8 October 2001 inOkehampton ,Devon from breast cancer.External links
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1589026.stm BBC News Online - "Radio 4 newsreader loses cancer fight"]
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article35676.ece Independent Online Obituary]
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