BROADCASTERS

Zoe Ball
23 Nov 1970, Blackpool
 
Apart from being the daughter of í70s childrens TV presenter, Jonny Ball, and wife of DJ Norman Fatboy Slim Cook, Zoe Ball is known a DJ and TV presenter.She began her career by following her Dad into childrens television, presenting Playdays, The Ozone and The Broom Cupboard and rejuvenating the BBC ís Saturday morning show Live & Kicking with felllow Walk of Fame celebrity Jamie Theakston. Their final show won them an Entertainment Bafta.
In 1998 she became the new presenter of Radio 1ís most prestigious slot, The Breakfast Show, leading the way for other high profile female DJs and picking up the award for Radio Personality of the Year. She is also presents the drive time show for London station XFM.
Zoe is married to Brightonís very own DJ superstar, Norman Cook. They have a son, Woody, and she continues to divide her time between her career in TV and motherhood.

Carol Barnes
13 Sep 1944, Norwich
 
A respected journalist and anchor for ITN, Carol trained as a teacher, worked in public relations and magazines before starting her broadcasting career.
She joined ITN in 1976 reporting on major stories at home and abroad before moving into newscasting. At ITN she anchored all their news programmes including a long spell on News at Ten.
Carol moved to Brighton in the 1980s to escape the pressure of living and working in London. She had also taught English to foreign students in Brighton in the 1970s. Now living at Brighton Marina she runs a successful media-training and crisis management company Barnesperry with her business partner, Guy Perry, advising multinationals such as LíOreal and KPMG as well as Greenpeace and PR firm Bell Pottinger. She also chairs conferences and works for several TV companies.

Desmond Lynam
17 Sep 1942, County Clare
 
 Des Lynam worked in insurance before beginning his broadcasting career as a sports reporter for Radio Brighton in 1968. A year later he was recruited to BBC Radio 2 and in 1978 made the move into television.
He spent over 20 years as the BBCís sports anchorman, hosting coverage of the nationís and worldís main sporting events including the World Cup, Wimbledon and the Olympic Games. He was also the regular host of Match of the Day and Grandstand. In 1999 he moved to ITV to present their live football coverage, primarily the Champions League and, since last season, their flagship programme, The Premiership.
Over the years Des has also presented shows including The Holiday Programme, Points of View and How Do They Do That?
Des has been recognised by all the main sporting and television institutions winning awards including Sports Presenter of the Year five times, a Royal Television Society Award and, most prestigious of all, the BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award for Most Important Personal Contribution on Screen in Factual Television. His many fans have also voted him The Host With The Most.

Annie Nightingale MBE
1 Apr, London
 
Annie Nightingale is best known as Britainís first female DJ. Her passion for music and hard work propelled her into the 1960s rock scene alongside the great bands of the decade including the Beatles, the Yardbirds and The Who.
She moved effortlessly into television, presenting BBCís The Old Grey Whistle Test for four years and making documentaries such as Police in the East.
In the 1990s and into the 21st century she remains at musicís cutting edge hosting Annie On One, her cult Saturday night/Sunday morning slot on Radio 1 featuring break beat, French future funk and acid house classics. She has helped launch the careers of many groups including Basement Jaxx, Groove Armada and Daft Punk by giving them their first air play and finds time to DJ internationally as well as in the UK.
In 1998 she was awarded Woman of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award from the Music Industry and Related Media organisation and in 2001 she received an MBE.
Annie lived in Brighton for many years from the 1970s to the 1990s and still visits frequently.

Jamie Theakston
21 Dec 1970, Sussex
 
 A local lad who has emerged as the face of pop and youth television, Jamie Theakston began in broadcasting while still at university, giving rush-hour traffic bulletins. When the BBCís head of sport recruited him at the age of 23 he fulfilled a childhood ambition and became a sports presenter for radio station GLR.
He has worked on numerous television shows including BBC Oneís Live and Kicking where, with fellow Walk of Fame celebrity Zoe Ball, he helped make the show one of the most popular during their three series residency.
Jamie has presented Channel 4ís The Priory, again with Zoe Ball, is a regular host of Top of the Pops and also fronts A Question of Pop, as well as hosting his Radio One show and his own cricket show for Radio 5.
He still keeps in close touch with his family in Ditchling (a downland village just outside Brighton) and as well as owning his own home in Sussex, plays for the local cricket team. He is also a keen Brighton and Hove Albion fan.
He went to Brighton & Hove Sussex IV Form College.

Alan Weeks
11 Sep 1942, Bristol
 
Alan Weeks, or Mr Ice Hockeyí as he was known, served in the Merchant Navy during the second world war and in 1946 got a job at Brighton Sports Stadium (SS Brighton) becaming publicity manager and secretary to the Brighton Tigers ice hockey team. It was the start of lifetime association with the team and he eventaully became its president.
He started his BBC commentating career in 1951, it lasted for 45 years. A stalwart of the BBC team he covered 7 winter Olympics, 5 summer games, 4 FIFA World Cups and 5 Commonwealth Games as well hosting as the long running snooker programme Pot Black.
His fellow commentator, David Coleman, said of him, ëWeeksy has a marvellous, self-deprecating sense of humour. To listen to him, he thinks heís never done anything right, but to sit alongside him, especially at a high speed Olympic ice hockey match, was a humbling experience.í
The Sportswriters Association of Great Britain honoured him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.
Alan became a Brightonian at the age of five when his family moved to the town. He saw his first ice hockey game between the Brighton Tigers and Streatham in 1936.

Outside of commentating he worked hard for sport . He was one of the driving forces behind the Sports Aid Foundation, a member of the ice hockey Hall of Fame, and the Council of the British Ice Hockey Association as well as chiarman of the Board of the Trustees of the National Ice Skating Association of Breat Britain. Locally he was president of the Brighton & Hove Entertainment Managers association and a member of the Lords Taverners.

Joanne Good

Joanne is a familiar voice to many in Sussex, having presented her vivid views and personality on BBC Southern Counties' morning show six days a week for six years, earning herself the moniker 'Queen of Brighton'. Listeners mourned her departure to BBC Radio London, but her dulcet tones can still be heard in Brighton on BBC Southern Counties' Saturday mid-morning show. Joanne is also an accomplished actress. She enjoyed a long run as Carole Sands in Crossroads, and numerous roles on stage and television. She trades in her crown for panto glitz this Christmas when she co-stars with Kevin Kennedy (alias Coronation Street's Curly Watts) in Aladdin at Brighton Theatre Royal. Fact: gay icon Joanne recently contributed to a documentary on the saucy 0898 phone lines - she was one of their original naughty voices!