Rex Palmer

Rex Palmer was an early BBC Radio presenter who made programmes for children under the pseudonym "Uncle Rex", and sang on air as "Rex Faithful".[1]

Rex Palmer
OccupationRadio personality, record producer 
Employer

Life

Palmer was the first person appointed to the BBC's predecessor, the British Broadcasting Company, by Lord Reith. On leaving the BBC in 1929, to join the Gramophone Company, he was described by the Evening News as "one of the original five members of the BBC".[2]

At the Gramophone Company, where he rose to be general manager of the International Artistes' Department,[3] he oversaw recordings for the His Master's Voice (HMV) label, by conductors and composers including Sir Edward Elgar and Arturo Toscanini.[2] On 11 October 1931, he introduced the first English-language radio programme in France, which was sponsored by HMV and made by the International Broadcasting Company.[4] He left HMV in 1940.[3]

He also narrated films for British Pathé.[5]

Palmer served with the Royal Flying Corps under Edmund Allenby in Palestine, and rejoined the Royal Air Force (as it had become) in World War II, eventually becoming a Wing Commander.[2]

He appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 10 February 1958.[6]

In November 2008, his papers were auctioned by Bonhams.[2]

References
  1. Hennessy, Brian Anthony (2005). Emergence of Broadcasting in Britain. Southerleigh. p. 120. ISBN 9780955140808.
  2. "Bonhams : BROADCASTING and RECORDING - REX PALMER". Bonhams. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  3. Dyment, Christopher (2012). Toscanini in Britain. Boydell Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-1843837893.
  4. Street, Seán (2009). The A to Z of British Radio. Scarecrow Press. p. 19. ISBN 9780810870130. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  5. "The Magic Box Aka Jack Hylton & HMV". British Pathé. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  6. "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Rex Palmer". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
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