Peter Dickson (announcer)

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Peter Dickson
Born
Peter Dickson

Knock, Belfast, United Kingdom
OccupationVoice-over artist
Known forBritain's Got Talent
The X Factor
E4

Peter Dickson is a Northern Irish voice-over artist. After spending a period working on hospital radio, he became a newsreader at BBC Northern Ireland and worked for Good Morning Ulster. After tiring of covering The Troubles, he moved to BBC Radio 2 in London, spending ten years there before going freelance. He is best known for announcing The X Factor, though has also announced various other talent shows and game shows and the channel E4.

Life and career

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Peter Dickson was born in Knock, Belfast[1] to a father who had a clerical job at Harland & Wolff and a mother,[2] he attended Belfast Royal Academy, where he sat A-levels in geology, physics, and geography. He moved to Queen's University Belfast in 1975, where he met his future wife; he graduated in 1979, having written his thesis on childhood memory development.[3] He spent a period working as a porter at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast[2] and then time broadcasting on hospital radio.[4]

Dickson became a newsreader at BBC Northern Ireland, where he worked on Good Morning Ulster.[1] Several sources claim that he was the youngest newsreader ever and that he got the job aged 17;[5][6][3] however, he has stated that he got the job while studying at university.[1] His first job at BBC Northern Ireland was reading fatstock prices to farmers at 6am;[2] a subsequent job there entailed breaking the news of the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.[6] After tiring of reporting on The Troubles, he moved to BBC Radio 2 in London in 1982, where he worked with Terry Wogan[6] and presented the comedy series Peter Dickson's Nightcap, which ran for four years.[5]

Dickson moved next to Chequers in 1991, where he has lived next to several Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom.[2] Around the time he moved in, he launched Melody 105.4 FM, on which he presented the breakfast show for four years.[7] He left the BBC in 1992 to go freelance;[2] around this time, he appeared in Harry Enfield & Chums.[8] Dickson began his voiceover career after providing voices for Steve Wright's radio show, for which he would create characters,[7] and was subsequently hired for Bruce Forsyth's version of The Price Is Right.[7] By 2003, he had developed the nickname "Peter Diction" for his careful enunciation.[9]

Dickson began providing a bombastic voiceover for The X Factor in 2004,[10][11][12] where his job was to introduce the contestants to the stage and to shout "It's time to face the music".[13] He has stated that he got the job after a sound supervisor on Test the Nation suggested that he audition.[14] His pronunciation of the name of one series six contestant, Rachel Adedeji, became especially popular.[15][16] Writing in July 2015, The Independent wrote that Dickson's voiceover was integral to the series' success and that his "over-enunciation of commonplace syllables lent the show a pomp and pageantry which it could never have earned otherwise".[17]

Dickson took over the voiceover for E4 in 2006 following the death of Patrick Allen.[8] Two years later, he narrated The Mental Spa, a podcast presented by Emma Clarke and Dan Whittaker,[18] and Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice, a parody of talent shows such as The X Factor. He stated in his 2020 autobiography Voiceover Man that The X Factor's creator Simon Cowell had been initially annoyed by Dickson's involvement in the latter but cooled after seeing how popular the show was with viewers.[19] As a member of Peter Dickson & The Shakettes, he released the August 2010 single "Shake It", a promotional vehicle for the milkshake bar Shakeaway.[20] Around this time, a different Peter Dickson bought the firm.[21]

In 2011, Dickson provided the voiceover for a Staffordshire University student's masters dissertation on the requirements of successful comedians[22] and his own app, Peter Dickson's Pocket Announcer.[23] Around this time, he was seeking employment as an announcer for movie trailers in Los Angeles.[24] In 2013,[2] after tiring of people asking him how to enter the voiceover industry,[25] he and his friend Hugh Edwards co-founded Gravy for the Brain, a training academy based in Banbury.[2][26] The following year,[27] Dickson produced a relaxation tape for use in a Buttery Brown Monk sketch[28] and appeared on the BBC One Northern Ireland panel show Monumental.[29]

By July 2015, Dickson's voice had become synonymous with The X Factor and he had announced Britain's Got Talent, Family Fortunes, All Star Mr & Mrs,[13] and Live at the Apollo.[30] He left The X Factor that month[13] but returned for that year's live finals,[8] leaving the previous week's Judges' Houses for Redd Pepper.[31] In 2017, he played a disgruntled phone-in caller on John Cleese Presents...;[32] by April 2018, he had narrated 100 television shows and 30,000 adverts.[2] His voice has been mimicked by impressionists including Britain's Got Talent contestants[33][34] and Joe Lycett.[35]

Works

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Filmography

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Year Series Episode(s) Role
1994 Harry Enfield & Chums Episodes 2 and 5 Ensemble actor
1995 The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer Episodes 1 and 3 Announcer
1995–2007 The Price Is Right Eight series Announcer
1995 Quote... Unquote Series 19 Reader
1995–2006 They Think It's All Over 20 series Announcer
1996-7 Tellystack Series 1 Announcer
1997 Last Chance Lottery Series 1 Announcer
2000–02 Family Fortunes Series 20–21 Announcer
2007–15 All Star Family Fortunes All series Announcer
2001 It's Not the Answer Series 1 Announcer
2002 Catchphrase Series 17 Announcer
2002–06 Test the Nation 15 episodes Announcer
2003 Monkey Dust Series 1 Various (voice)
2004–06 The Department Series 1–3 Ensemble actor
2004–14, 2015–19 The X Factor 16 series Announcer
2004–09 The Paul O'Grady Show Series 1–11 Announcer
2005 The Big Call Series 1 Announcer
2005 Hit Me, Baby, One More Time Series 1 Announcer
2005–07 Gameshow Marathon Two series Announcer
2006 Not Today, Thank You Series 1 Ensemble actor
2007 Hedz Series 1 Various (voice)
2007–16, 2018–present Live at the Apollo Series 3–12, 14–present Announcer
2007–present Britain's Got Talent All series Announcer
2007 Soapstar Superstar Series 1 Announcer
2007 Soapstar Superchef Series 1 Announcer
2008–16 All Star Mr & Mrs Eight series Announcer
2008 Britain's Got the Pop Factor... Series 1 Announcer
2008 Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong Series 2 Announcer
2008 Hole in the Wall Series 1 Announcer
2009 No Signal! Series 1 Various
2009–11 Chris Moyles' Quiz Night Five series Announcer
2009 Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow Two series Announcer
2009 Harry Hill's TV Burp Series 9, episodes 9 and 11–14 Announcer
2009–15 OOglies Three series Announcer
2010–16 Channel 4's Comedy Gala Seven series Announcer
2010 Edinburgh Comedy Fest Live Five series Announcer
2010 The King Is Dead Series 1 Announcer
2010 Comedy Central at the Comedy Store Series 1 and 3 Announcer
2010 Celebrity Juice Series 4, episode 8 and "The Best Bits" Self
2010 The King Is Dead Series 1 Announcer
2010 Magic Numbers Series 1 Announcer
2010 Mission: 2110 Series 1 Announcer
2012 Alan Carr: Chatty Man "Alan Carr's Summertime Specstacular" Announcer
2013 Births, Deaths, and Marriages Series 2, episode 2 Peter
2013 Funny Old Year Series 2 Announcer
2014 Monumental Series 2, episode 1 Self
2015 Miffy's Adventures Big and Small Series 1, episodes 1–12, 17–23, 25 Uncle Pilot
2017 John Cleese Presents... Series 1 Ensemble actor
2017 Pointless Celebrities Series 10, episode 31 Self
2018 Obsessions Series 1, episode 4 Self
2020 Isolation Song Contest Series 1 Announcer

Singles

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Year Title Credit Ref
2009 "What a Bunch of Bankers" Voiceoverman & The Credit Crunchers [36][37]
2010 "Shake It" Peter Dickson & The Shakettes [20]

Bibliography

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  • Voiceover Man – The Extraordinary Story of a Professional Voice Actor (Provox Publishing)

References

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