North East TV favourites sharing a joke 45 years ago
THOSE who recall North East television in the 1960s and 70s will have fond memories of these two gentlemen.
Mike Neville and George House were photographed in December, 1973, sharing a joke at a public appearance.
The two newsreaders were synonymous for many years with BBC North East’s evening news programme Look North - and they were great pals away from the TV cameras.
Neville, as the main news anchor, and House were fine newsmen, but their unscripted on-screen banter was much loved by viewers.
In 1968, Geordie humorist Scott Dobson sent a letter to Look North suggesting George and Mike perform a skit on the then popular language series Parliamo Italiano.
The resulting series Larn Yersel’ Geordie was first a Look North sketch, then a bestselling book and LP.
It also spawned the popular Geordierama shows, fronted by George and Mike, which toured for 17 years.
Sadly, neither man is with us in 2018.
George House died six years ago, aged 84. He was first hired by the BBC as a newsreader in 1959.
His daughter Katherine told us after his death: “He was a local reporter to start with (on the Chronicle’s sister paper The Journal) and it was in his blood until the end.”
The region was saddened in September last year when it was announced Mike Neville had died at the age of 80.
Mike presented the local news - on both BBC and ITV - for more than four decades, becoming one of the region’s best-known faces.
In 2006, he signed off from his last news programme with the Geordie phrase “Keep aha’ad!” It was the end of an era.