Wincey Willis

Last updated
Wincey Willis
Born
Florence Winsome Leighton

(1948-08-08) 8 August 1948 (age 75)
Gateshead, County Durham, England
NationalityBritish
Television Good Morning Britain , Treasure Hunt
SpouseMalcolm (?-?)

Wincey Willis (born Florence Winsome Leighton; 8 August 1948) [1] [2] is a British television and radio broadcaster who was most active in the 1980s. She is perhaps best known for being part of the line up at TV-am, the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise.

Contents

Early life and education

Willis was born in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. She grew up in Hartlepool and Barnard Castle. [1] [3] [4] She was adopted by older parents, for whom she was an only child. [5] In 2011, Willis said that she had never attempted to find her birth parents. Her poem on this subject, "Adoption", was recorded for a CD to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the BBC's Poetry Please radio series. She described herself as having "quite a strict upbringing", with no alcohol in the house and regular Christian worship. [6] As a child, she wanted to be a vet. [7] Willis left school at 16 and took a year out, before going to France and doing the equivalent of A-levels there. She then got a place at Strasbourg University. [8]

Career

Willis began her career as a travel rep, where she worked in North Africa, before moving to the record library and promotions department at Radio Tees in Newcastle upon Tyne. [5] [8] [9] She joined the city's Tyne Tees Television in September 1981. [5] Willis began presenting the weather for the network, despite admitting that it was not a subject she specialised in. [8] The following year, she hosted her own Granada Television series, Wincey's Pets. [10]

As part of the relaunch of TV-am by its new editor, Greg Dyke, Willis was "poached" from Tyne Tees. She replaced Commander David Philpott as the station's main weekday weather presenter on Good Morning Britain in May 1983. [11] In doing so, she became ITV's first national female weather presenter. [12] In addition to this, Willis hosted other segments on TV-am, such as those featuring pets and animals. [11]

In 1985, she joined the game show Treasure Hunt as an adjudicator, working with Anneka Rice and Kenneth Kendall. [1] Willis's first book, It's Raining Cats and Dogs, written about her animals, was published in 1986, with an introduction by naturalist Gerald Durrell. [13] [14] The same year saw the launch of The Weather Game, a board game made by Waddingtons and devised by Willis. [15] [16]

In 1987, she left TV-am to focus on other television work and conservation projects. [1] [11] She appeared in the title role in the Dick Whittington pantomime at City Hall in St Albans, alongside the Chuckle Brothers, in 1988. [17] In 1989, she co-starred with Simon Groom in Dick Whittington at the Epsom Playhouse. [18] Her second book, Greendays, was published in 1990. This was a diary with facts about environmental issues, featuring suggestions of relevant activities and projects. [19] Her regular appearances on national television came to an end that year. [20]

Willis took several years out to be a conservation volunteer around the world, at one point living in a tent on a Greek beach for six months whilst she guarded the local turtle population. She returned to television as a wildlife presenter in 1993 when she was given a slot on Tyne Tees Weekend. [7] [21] In 1999, it was reported that Willis was working for a worm composting company, and had said that her television work "had just dried up". [22]

Willis was the presenter and narrator of Left-handed children: a guide for teachers and parents, a 2010 educational video guide; she herself is left-handed. [23] [24] That year, it was announced that she would be presenting The Big Day Out, a Saturday morning radio programme on BBC Hereford & Worcester. [12] Willis hosted the show from August 2010 until September 2012. [25] She appeared as a contestant on the BBC television quiz show Celebrity Eggheads in December 2011. [26]

Personal life

Willis previously lived in the former Winston railway station in County Durham, which was on the closed Barnard Castle line. [27] Known for her love of animals, she had over 50 of them living in her home. [5] While at TV-am, Willis also lived in a flat in Camden, north west London, returning to Barnard Castle every other weekend. [28] She later moved to Hereford. [27] She is an advanced scuba diver. [12]

During her period of television fame, Willis was married to Malcolm, who worked in sales. [8]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Yorkshire</span> British TV service for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was primarily the historic county of Yorkshire and parts of neighbouring counties served by the Emley Moor transmitter. Following a reorganisation in 1974 the transmission area was extended to include Lincolnshire, northwestern Norfolk and parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, served by the Belmont transmitter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TV-am</span> British national television broadcaster (1983–1992)

TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise. Its daily broadcasts were between 6 am and 9.25 am.

<i>Treasure Hunt</i> (British game show) British game show

Treasure Hunt is a UK game show, based on the format of the French show La Chasse au Trésor, created by Jacques Antoine. It appeared on Channel 4 between 28 December 1982 and 18 May 1989 and was revived by BBC Two between 16 December 2002 and 2 August 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabby Logan</span> Welsh TV/radio presenter and rhythmic gymnast (born 1973)

Gabrielle Nicole Logan is a Welsh television and radio presenter, and a former rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted Final Score for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She has also presented live sports events for the BBC, including a revived episode of Superstars in December 2012 and the London Marathon since 2015. Since 2013, she has co-hosted Sports Personality of the Year for the BBC and she presented the second series of The Edge in 2015.

Bob Johnson is a meteorologist and former regional television weather presenter, now retired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bilsdale transmitting station</span> Telecommunications transmission site in North Yorkshire, England

The Bilsdale transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, located at Bilsdale West Moor above Bilsdale, close to Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England. The original facility included a guyed steel tubular mast that was primarily used for radio and television transmission. The height of the mast was 314 metres (1,030 ft) to the pinnacle. Until a fire disabled the transmitter on 10 August 2021 it was among the most powerful transmitters in the UK. The power for analogue was 500 kW ERP and it was 100 kW / 50 kW for digital. The mast was equipped with aircraft warning lights, in the form of arrays of red LEDs. The station was owned and operated by Arqiva. After the main mast was disabled a temporary 80 metres (260 ft) mast was installed at the site. The temporary mast commenced operations on 13 October 2021.

Robert Jeffrey Stelling is an English television presenter. He presented Gillette Soccer Saturday for Sky Sports from 1994 until 2023 and hosted coverage of the Champions League between 2011 and 2015.

<i>ITV News Tyne Tees</i> British regional television news programme

ITV News Tyne Tees is a British television news service produced by ITV Tyne Tees & Border and broadcasting to the Tyne Tees region.

Debbie Greenwood is a British television presenter and a former beauty queen who won the title of Miss Great Britain in 1984.

Pamela “Pam” June Royle is a British television journalist and presenter.

Alex Hall is a British actress and radio presenter. She currently presents weekly programmes for BBC Radio Tees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pip Tomson</span> English journalist and presenter

Philippa "Pip" Tomson is an English journalist and presenter on GB News.

Marian Foster is an English television and radio presenter. She is best known for presenting BBC One's Pebble Mill at One from 1972 to 1986 and Garden Mania on BBC Radio Newcastle and BBC Radio Tees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siân Welby</span> Presenter

Siân Welby is an English television presenter and radio host, best known for her work with Channel 5, BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Welby used to host her own national radio show on Heart every Monday to Thursday from 7–10 pm. Welby now fronts Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp and Chris Stark.

Kathy Secker was a British broadcaster, best known for her work at Tyne Tees Television and BBC Radio Newcastle. During her early broadcasting career at Tyne Tees (1976-1984) she was usually credited as Cathy Secker.

Carol Malia is a broadcaster and journalist who has presented the north eastern version of the BBC regional news programme Look North since 1997.

This is a timeline of the British breakfast television station TV-am which provided the ITV nationwide breakfast-time service from 1983 to 1992.

Katherine Jayne Secker is an English journalist and newsreader for Sky News. She has presented Sky News Today on the channel since September 2014, formerly alongside Colin Brazier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winston railway station</span> Disused railway station in Winston, County Durham

Winston railway station served the village of Winston, County Durham, England, from 1856 to 1965 on the Darlington and Barnard Castle Railway.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Tait, Derek (2019). 1980s Childhood. Amberley. ISBN   978-1-4456-9242-5. OCLC   1132344892.
  2. ↑ "Resignation of a president". Lincolnshire Echo . 1985-08-08. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  3. ↑ Ledwith, Gavin (16 December 2022). "Heroes of Hartlepool: 32 famous names who were born, lived or studied here". Hartlepool Mail . Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  4. ↑ Davenport, Shirley (1986-02-19). "Wincey's weather winner!". Liverpool Echo . p. 8. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Heeps, Donna (1986-09-15). "The wisdom of Wincey Willis". The Journal . p. 10. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  6. ↑ Willis, Wincey (2011-10-31). "The Wincey Willis Blog: I Never Knew My Mother". The Wincey Willis Blog. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  7. 1 2 Jones, Tony (6 May 1993). "Turtle-y crazy about her animal friends" . Newcastle Journal . p. 17. Retrieved 7 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Wincey's world of telly". Evening Post. 1986-10-23. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  9. ↑ Deane, Avril (1983-05-23). "Looking on the bright side". The journal. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  10. ↑ "Wincey's Pets (1982)". BFI. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  11. 1 2 3 "Presenters". TV-am. 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  12. 1 2 3 "New radio show for Wincey Willis". BBC News . 2010-08-20. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  13. ↑ "It's raining cats and dogs". WorldCat. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  14. ↑ Finn, Mary (11 October 1986). "Squeaky clean except for one" . Irish Independent . p. 11. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  15. ↑ The Weather Game, 1986. Willis, Wincey. Waddingtons.
  16. ↑ "Review - The Weather Game". 11 January 2015. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  17. ↑ "1988 pantomime handbills". pantoarchive. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  18. ↑ "Dick Whittington" . Leatherhead Advertiser. 6 December 1989. p. 48. Retrieved 7 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  19. ↑ "Greendays". WorldCat. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  20. ↑ "Wincey Willis". BFI. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  21. ↑ Dufton, Keith (23 May 1993). "Paul Sits On The Fence" . Sunday Sun (Newcastle) . p. 59. Retrieved 7 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  22. ↑ "Watering - a job that must be done" . Bedworth Echo . 24 June 1999. p. 8. Retrieved 7 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  23. ↑ "Left-handed children : a guide for teachers and parents". WorldCat. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  24. ↑ "Left-Handed Children: A Guide for Teachers and Parents". Alexander Street, part of Clarivate. 2013. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  25. ↑ "BBC Hereford & Worcester - Wincey Willis - Episode guide". BBC. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  26. ↑ "BBC Two - Celebrity Eggheads, Series 4, Episode 2". BBC. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  27. 1 2 Amos, Mike (18 July 2017). "Mike Amos: Is the former Tyne Tees weather girl about to make a comeback in Coronation Street?". The Northern Echo . Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  28. ↑ "Game for weather". Sunday Sun . 1986-02-23. p. 15. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.