Ian Handford: When this influential broadcaster came to the Bay

Richard's first visit to Torbay was in 1939 when Broadcasting the CPRE National Conference for the BBC.

He would often return to our area and while in Devon  would purchase a second home at Dittisham. It was two years since Richard had married Dilys Violet Constance Thomas on June 26th 1937 and they eventually produced three sons and a daughter. Today, we see two of their boys on BBC in journalistic roles when David is more usually the son on television. 

Richard would undertake another first for BBC by covering the Royal Tour of Canada in 1939 and shortly after was "upgraded" when appointed BBC sole "war correspondent in uniform". Based in France he now found it a country "raging a phoney war" - which was not well received by the BBC as they were funding his huge expenses claimed.

When recalled to London in 1942 he found an internal war was raging between the War Cabinet Office and its Middle Eastern Command, a time when the BBC created a second "upgrade" making him their sole "Air Correspondent". In 1943 he was sent on a major assignment flying out to Berlin with a Lancaster bomber crew and later was made Director of the BBC's War Reporting Unit. 

Now he crossed the Rhine as part of a contingent of British troops in 1944 that entered Belsen and was the very first journalist to enter Belsen Camp. Decades later, son Jonathan repeated what his father had said at the time  -“he was witness to the most unforgettable, definitive statement about human atrocity”. 

Once the war ended Richard was privileged (or was it) to sit in Hitlers high Chair still amongst the rubble of what had been the Führer's Chancellery Office in Berlin. Now he made his last BBC commentary to our Nation in Germany.  Returning to Britain and being outspoken, he saw fit to request a rise of "one hundred pounds due to the upgrades". which the BBC immediately rejected as his being "audacious". Fair to say Richard was earning £1000 per annum -a significant sum for that time. 

The Corporation must have known that the headstrong and independent Richard would resign after being refused the increase. He later said "he thought he would take his chance by becoming a freelance writer of scripts, although soon discovered the commercial world was not for him".  Now it became his uniqueness of style which aided him. Radio presenters had been noting his  progression and thought he might prove to be the person to front their new "BBC Twenty Questions" programme. He was the first presenter though did move on to the "Down Your Way" programme -the first ever live interview show on air. 

Eventually he was invited back to Television by the BBC when needing a live on-air presenter for the lying in-state of His Majesty King George V1. Once again it was what some called “an excitement words” that proved Richard would cope with any crisis on live television or radio.  He simply added appropriate words and detail to his underlying meticulously researched story which always paid off.  He knew research was essential and would later make his reporting unique. Today his  methods have shaped and influenced how most broadcasts are made. That insatiable appetite for news from print or when heard was crucial.

Many of us recall entering a neighbours home to watch the televised Coronation of Elizabeth which in spite of flickering pictures, lost sound or often lost transmission most of us remained in awe of this new medium television. Richard chose to adopt a "hushed voice" where his words virtually painted a picture for avid radio listeners and millions of television viewers.

Although most families could not yet afford to have a home television the Richard Dimbleby Broadcast of the Royal Coronation of Queen Elizabeth 2, now became the turning point for many who would soon purchase a television.