Allan Cartner

Who was Allan Cartner?

Allan Cartner was a television continuity announcer, primarily for Border Television.

Cartner, born and brought up in Carlisle, graduated from Durham University with a BA before starting his career in 1957 as an outside broadcast cameraman based at the BBC's Lime Grove studios in London and latterly, Manchester. He joined Border Television on 5 October 1961, five weeks after the station went to air for the first time. His first on-air link consisted of a five-minute long Farming Prices bulletin.

He would remain at Border Television for the next twenty seven years - twenty six of those as Chief Announcer. Along with other Border TV announcers, Cartner read regular Border News bulletins during the day and until the mid-1980s, the main news round-up within Lookaround. He also presented Border Diary, Pigeon Release Times and The First Day of The Week.

Cartner's voice was also heard on various Border-produced documentaries, networked as part of the daytime About Britain strand on ITV.

As well as working for Border, Cartner was a regular announcer for Tyne Tees Television during the seventies. He returned to the Newcastle station as a freelancer after resigning from Border in 1988. Unlike other such announcers as Bill Steel and Kathy Secker, Cartner opted to make the majority of his announcements on Tyne Tees out-of-vision.