Keith Fordyce
Biography
Born in Lincoln on 15 October 1928, Keith Fordyce Marriott presented "Housewives' Choice" for the BBC, who let him go saying there was "no indication of extra entertainment potential." His career took off on Radio Luxembourg in the 1950s, and Keith Fordyce went on to host the talent show Thank Your Lucky Stars, and is perhaps best known as the compere of Ready Steady Go! He had a regular show on the Light Programme, and hosted Radio 2's Beat the Record programme into the early 1990s. Fordyce said that he wanted to keep broadcasting until his death, but Alzheimer's disease forced his retirement in 2009. He died in March 2011, aged 82.
Trivia
One of his other hosting roles was the Thames TV gardening show Kitchen Garden (1976-9), in which he demonstrated how to grow food, and Claire Rayner showed how to cook it.