Eric Wallace(16 July 1938 – 28 April 2004) was a reporter and presenter forBorder Televisionand an independent film director inCumbria,England.He was born inCarlisleand spent his whole life there. For over twenty years, he was the main anchor of the regional news programme,Lookaround.
Broadcasting career
editAt the age of 27, Wallace left his first job atMcVitie'sbiscuit factory in Carlisle (where he had worked for ten years) to take a three-year course in Film and Television at the College of the Venerable Bede atDurham University.[1]On graduating, he joinedBorder Televisionon 9 September 1968 as a news reporter - he would remain at Border for the next 30 years, presentingLookaroundand many of the station's regional programmes, including his own chat showWallace.
After his retirement, he returned to make a number of guest and cover stints as aLookaroundpresenter and reporter, until illness prevented him from doing so in 2002. Upon leaving Border, Wallace freelanced atBBC Radio Cumbria,presenting a Saturday morning show.
Independent film career
editWhilst working for Border TV, Wallace - an ardent film enthusiast - directed, produced and funded several independent films includingStrange Company(1972 - a portrait ofLindsay KempandJack Birkett),I Can Lick Any Girl in the House(1976 - a pseudo-biography of female wrestler Mitzi Mueller) andStimmung(1987 - a homage ofGerman expressionismfilms).[2]
For Border, he also wrote and presented a profile of directorKen Russell,and as an arts enthusiast, he played the role of a newsreader forIan Breakwell's video work,The News,in 1980. Wallace himself was the subject of a 1986 film,The One and Only,produced byMichael Cumming,(Brass Eye,King Rocker,Toast Of London) then a film student at theRoyal College of Art,London.
Death
editEric Wallace died atCarlisle's Eden Valley Hospice on 28 April 2004 fromcancer.He was 65 and had been married for 40 years with two children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.[3]
That night's edition ofLookaroundbroke the news of Wallace's death and featured an extensive tribute. Following the tribute, anchorwoman and close friendFiona Armstrongwept openly on air.[4]
References
edit- ^"Ayrshire Arts Archive".Archived fromthe originalon 4 March 2016.Retrieved9 May2014.
- ^The One and Only - A film portrait of Eric WallaceonYouTube
- ^"The Voice Online - Obituaries".Archived fromthe originalon 1 October 2004.Retrieved2 April2006.
- ^Griffiths, Nick (30 April 2004)."Fiona's TV tears for friend and colleague Eric".The Cumberland News. Archived fromthe originalon 28 September 2007.
 | This biographical article related to British television is astub.You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |