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~ WHO'S WHO ~

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Martin John Ballard

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THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE:

(Equity Member: M00134821)

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Martin became interested in the theatre at school and following parts in annual musicals and Gilbert & Sullivan shows, he got involved with various amateur companies. Leading roles in shows ranging from OLIVER to Brecht's CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE followed and he went on to appear in several pantomimes, some of which he wrote and directed. �

The Performing Arts degree course gave Martin the opportunity to study, in a very practical sense, every aspect of theatre from Greek tragedies to Farce, Shakespeare to Medieval Mystery Plays. He spent some time at the National Theatre with the director, Michael Bogdanov, the subject of a dissertation and a course secondment at the Oxford Playhouse led to a brief stay as an Assistant Stage Manager.

Martin is a member of Equity and has� worked with audiences in the street, shopping centres, at the City Of Leicester Show and compered everything from Charity Gala's, and a Miss United Kingdom Semi-Final to Fashion Show's and Big Band concerts. He is a regular on-stage presenter at major BBC Radio Leicester roadshow events like Children In Need. He recently appeared in a series of shows as the compere of An Audience With Danny La Rue. This Christmas he will be appearing in his twelfth season in pantomime, playing the Dame in Hansel & Gretal at the Loughborough Town Hall theatre.

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The characters Martin has played include: The Cook (Mother Courage by Bertolt Brecht), Gloucester (King Lear by William Shakeapere), The Rector (The Virgin & The Gipsy by D H Lawrence), Mr Bumble (Oliver by Dickens/Bart), Azdak (The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht), The Doctor (Woyzeck by Buchner), John The Baptist/Judas (Godspell), Christopher Columbus (Christopher Columbus by Michel De Ghelderode), God (Mystery play, Noahs Flood). In Pantomime: The Emperor, Widow Twanky twice (Aladdin), Ugly Sister twice (Cinderella), Bill Jukes (Peter Pan), Dame Trot and Sam Shiley (Jack & The Beanstalk).

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Personal highlights include PETER PAN alongside Brian Blessed as Hook and Kristian Schmid as Peter Pan, ALADDIN with Alfred Marks OBE, Sean Maguire, Rebekah Elmaloglou and Andrew Williams, and CINDERELLA, with Wendy Craig, Steve Mcfadden and Gladiator, "Hunter".

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BROADCASTING EXPERIENCE: 

Martin�s BBC career began in 1983 at BBC Local Radio Stations in the East Midlands. Since then, predominantly at BBC Radio Leicester, He has presented and produced every kind of programme from news & current affairs magazines to a daily phone-in, from light hearted music shows, to a five-hour sports sequence. Martin�s outside broadcasts have included programmes from cup finals at Wembley, Twickenham and Sheffield Arena, on the move from trains, boats and cars and unusual places like Disneyland Paris and listeners lounges!

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During a spell at BBC Radio Nottingham he produced a mid-morning magazine programme and at BBC Radio Leeds as a Senior Programme Editor he was involved in a station re-launch. A highlight of his time in West Yorkshire was a record breaking Children In Need extravaganza, which he produced with BBC TV, which raised �1/2 Million. �

During his time at BBC Radio Training in London, as an Instructor/Advisor, Martin visited more than thirty Local Radio Stations in Britain and Northern Ireland and organised courses on everything from basic radio skills to computer music programming.

On his return to Leicester, Martin presented an afternoon news and current affairs programme and then the mid-morning show which was a madcap mix of fun competitions, outside broadcasts and celebrity guests. Martin has also had two spells as a sports producer and has presented and commentated on football, rugby and basketball from venues including Wembley, Twickenham, Sheffield Arena and Cardiff Arms Park. He is currently the courtside commentator at the Sainsbury�s Classic Cola Basketball Centre for all of the Renault Leicester Riders basketball games.

In his time as a broadcaster, he�s covered elections, budgets, the Falklands conflict and Gulf War, royal visits, major sporting occasions and tragic news stories including breaking the news of the death of Jill Dando. In March 2000 he presented a season of the regional Late Show across the nine midlands BBC local stations.

Martin is currently presenting a three-hour lunchtime magazine which combines news, features, fun competitions and a half-hour In Depth interview each day. So far more than two hundred famous names have appeared on this one-to-one interview from Max Bygraves to Danny La Rue, Patrick Moore to Sir David Attenborough and Eric Sykes to Norman Wisdom. He is at his best when talking to people, whether it�s an unsuspecting victim telephoned "on air" with a wind-up or a celebrity guest. He conducted one of� the last interviews with both Larry Grayson and Geoff Hamilton �

He has also had the opportunity to do some voice-over work for BBC TV and occasional work for Cable TV including Basketball commentary. He has appeared several times on BBC TV in the East Midlands for Children In Need and as a reporter on East Midlands Today.

Martin produced BBC Radio Leicester's holiday programme 'Postcard' and presented radio programmes and travel features for BBC Radio 5 and BBC World Service from destinations including Greece, Florida, Paris, California and Hawaii. He still does some occasional travel writing.

One of Martin�s favourite and funniest broadcasting moments was at a Royal outside broadcast in the 1980�s when the Prince and Princess of Wales visited Leicestershire. He was due to commentate on the departure of the Princess of Wales and waited patiently in his best suit at a vantage point in front of the barrier. There seemed to be more equipment strapped to his back than Neil Armstrong had carried onto the moon including a very heavy transmitter and a four foot ariel. The Royal Motorcade arrived and the cheers rang out but he couldn't see a thing. While commentating "live", he decided to make his way around the corner where he was� greeted by an embarrassed smile from the Princess and several long arms of the law directing him to retreat. He will never know if the Princess of Wales was smiling to be polite or if it was because he looked like a character from Dr Who in formal dress.

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In his spare time, Martin plays Badminton, Basketball and Football. He enjoys the theatre, writing and cinema and is a keen fan of the Leicester Tigers, Renault Leicester Riders and Manchester United. He is also a co-opted� governor at Babington Community Technology College. �

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