ALAN TOWERS R.I.P

26-05-2008

One of the best known faces in Midlands telly Alan Towers has died following a heart attack at his home in Studley on Saturday. Stirrer editor Adrian Goldberg remembers a broadcasting icon.

When I first met Alan, he was down on his luck – casting around for radio work at the BBC’s Pebble Mill studios.

At the time, I was presenting a couple of weekly slots for Five Live from Birmingham, and he was sounding me out about reporting opportunities.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t in any position to help, and could only sympathise with his frustration at being left on the shelf after so many years as a front line reporter.

He hadn’t made life easy for himself, mind, walking out of Midlands Today in 1997 after castigating the “pygmies in grey suits” who now ran the Corporation.

Although no one ever suggested that he was banned by the Beeb, he was never able to re-establish himself and clearly found it hard to come to terms with his professional decline.

It was a sad end to what had a successful career.

Alan’s big break came on Nationwide when he reported on a skateboarding duck – the ultimate news programme “and finally” that has become the benchmark by which all others are judged.

He went on to host Midlands Today throughout the '70s and '80s with a range of co-presenters including Kathy Rochford, Sue Beardsmore, and Kay Alexander.

There were also guest appearances in an episode of the Birmingham made TV series Doctors in 2000 and back in 1975 he turned up in Gangsters.

Alan was a tireless charity fundraiser, walking across the Great Wall of China and riding a motorbike across Canada.

Fan Alastair Stevens wrote on Facebook that “Alan Towers was a brilliant tv presenter and he had a warmth and authenticity that shone through the screen.

"He was from a time when tv spoke to everyone rather than to narrow little groups.

"I hope his family get some comfort from the thought of how valued he was by his audience.

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