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Mike Neville
Mike Neville was born on October the 17th 1936 in Willington Quay. (He moved to Whickham in 1962.) He attended school in Howden.
His first job was as an office slave in the Northern Guild of Commerce and Chamber of Trade for £1.25 per week.
Later he managed to get himself a job as a Junior Editorial Assistant in the Newcastle office of the Daily Mail. (He had studied shorthand typing and English at night school three nights a week for 18 months). The job came to an end in April 1955, when he was called for National Service.
He was put in the Royal Army Pay Corps and posted to the 1st Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment in Warminster which was later posted to Cyprus. He was demobbed in 1957 after reaching the rank of Corporal.
While working as an insurance agent he was invited to take part in a couple of plays at Newcastle Playhouse and eventually asked to join the Repertory company full time, which he did shortly after his 21st birthday in October, 1957.
He remained an actor, playing theatres all over the country, and loving the life until, at the beginning of 1962, he was told that Tyne Tees Television were looking for an announcer/newsreader, was he interested? He applied for the job and got it!
A couple of years later he was made presenter of their new nightly magazine programme, then called "Newsview". After a month or so he was approached by the BBC and offered the presenter's job on "Look North", which he accepted. He stayed for 32 years, until 1996, when he finally accepted an offer to return to Tyne Tees! He finally retired in 2005.
Mike Neville has been married to Pam for 38 years, and they have three wonderful grandchildren - Jordan, Jessica and Joshua.
He was awarded the MBE for services to broadcasting on 31st, December, 1990, in the New Year Honours List, and was presented to Her Majesty The Queen at the Investiture at Buckingham Palace in March, 1991.