Robert Dougall

English broadcaster and ornithologist (1913–1999)
the footballer

Robert Neill Dougall (27 November 1913 – 18 December 1999) was an English broadcaster and ornithologist, mainly known as a newsreader and announcer. He started his career in the BBC's accounts department before moving on to become a radio announcer for the BBC Empire Service in 1934. Dougall covered the first three years of the Second World War for the corporation, before resigning in 1942 to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Service. Dougall returned to the BBC after demobilisation, first for the Far Eastern Service in Singapore and then for the BBC Light Programme in London. He started his career in television as a newsreader in the 1950s and retired in December 1973. Dougall served as president of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) for five years, from 1970 to 1975, during which time the charity's membership increased from 50,000 to 250,000. He was appointed Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1965 Birthday Honours.

Dougall was born on 27 November 1913 in South Croydon, Surrey. He was the son of a City of London worker from Glasgow, Scotland. Dougall had two older sisters, and moved frequently in his childhood before settling in the seaside town of Brighton because he had asthma. he attended Whitgift School in Surrey; he did not carry on to university despite having some talent in languages, specifically French and German. Through his father's contacts in the city, Dougall took a short course in Russian in Harwich, where he completed his basic training, after learning that volunteers were needed for special duties at a Northern Russia base. Following demobilisation, Dougall returned to the BBC as an announcer and newsreader for the BBC Home Service. Dougall began working as a television newsreader in 1954, and is thought to have been the only person from the BBC's early radio service who had an enduring career in television. He and other BBC newsreaders such as Kenneth Kendall and Richard Baker were not visible until the September 1955 debut of ITN led Chief News Editor Tahu Hole to agree to broadcast their faces but not their names on screen. It was then that he and other newsreaders could be named. He was the first person to present the long running BBC Nine O'Clock News in 1970, continuing in this role until his retirement from the newsroom on 31 December 1973. Dougall's autobiography, In and Out of the Box, was published in October 1973 and has been reprinted six times.

From 1970 to 1975, he was president of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), having been a member of the organisation since 1949. The RSPB's membership increased from 50,000 to 250,000 during Dougall's presidency, He was the narrator of two of RSPB's wildlife films and raised money for the Royal National Institute for Deaf People through television appeals. He appeared in an advertising campaign for the jewellers Prestons of Bolton in the 1980s. Dougall was a member of the Royal Society of Literature between 1975 and 1983 as well as the Garrick Club. He was replaced by newsreader Martyn Lewis. Dougall was a contributor to newspapers and magazines such as The Sunday Telegraph Magazine, the Daily Mail, The Spectator and High Life. He was appointed Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1965 Birthday Honours. Dougall died in his sleep in Southwold, Suffolk on 18 December 1999.

A bromide print portrait of Dougall taken by Anthony Buckley in 1969 was bequeathed to the National Portrait Gallery, London and put on public display in 2002.