Horace Batchelor

A generation can recite his name and spell the place where he is based. The name is Horace Batchelor – and his home is in K – E – Y – N – S – H – A – M.

Mister Batchelor advertised frequently on Radio Luxembourg in its '50s and '60s heyday, He believed he could predict pools wins with his ‘Infra-Draw method’, although there is a danger that those claims might not pass muster with today’s RACC. He spelt out the address on-air so that listeners would be sure to get it correct. That 'twist', though, is an enduring lesson of how inserting something unusual in a script makes it memorable.

Horace voiced the ads himself; and is thus maybe remembered almost as well as Pete Murray and all the other presenters of the era. Do ask grandma. She'll know how to spell Keynsham. Guaranteed.

Maybe it's because of Horace that, even to this day, some advertisers on commercial radio ask if they might voice their own commercials. Gee, thanks a bunch, H.

Horace died in 1977.