Bryan Martin, who died on March 4 2009 aged 73, was one of the voices
of BBC Radio 4; he announced the death of Elvis Presley in 1977, news
of the Iranian embassy siege in 1980, and became the network's senior
newsreader.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/5033728/Bryan-Martin.html

As well as his routine newsreading duties on the Today programme and
other current affairs sequences, Martin appeared in The News Quiz,
occasionally introduced The Goon Show, and read the spoof "news
bulletin" which always featured in the middle of the comedy The Men
From the Ministry.

By 1990 Martin had begun to feel the strain, not so much of the hours,
but of the irregularity of his shifts. Furthermore he was unhappy
about the decline in BBC standards of his great love – the English
language – especially the near-demise of the adverb. In 1992, he
decided to take early retirement.

In the course of 30 years behind the microphone, there had been many
lighter moments. One bulletin reading: "Sugar shortage – Sainsbury's
say there should be sufficient supplies in the shops by Saturday" sent
him into a heaving paroxysm.



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