32 Facts About Raymond Baxter

Raymond Frederic Baxter OBE was an English television presenter, commentator and writer.

Raymond Baxter is best known for being the first presenter of the BBC Television science programme Tomorrow's World, continuing for 12 years, from 1965 to 1977.

Raymond Baxter provided radio commentary at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the funerals of King George VI, Winston Churchill and Lord Mountbatten of Burma, and the first flight of Concorde.

Raymond Baxter did not go on to a college or university.

Raymond Baxter first flew Supermarine Spitfires with No 65 Squadron RAF in Britain, based in Scotland.

Raymond Baxter joined No 93 Squadron RAF, flying over Sicily in 1943, where he was mentioned in dispatches.

Raymond Baxter returned to England in 1944 as an instructor and was later a flight commander, returning to active service with No 602 Squadron RAF in September 1944.

On 18 March 1945, Raymond Baxter took part in a daylight raid on the Shell-Mex building in The Hague, which was then the German headquarters for V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks on southern England.

Raymond Baxter later flew North American Mustang and Douglas Dakota aircraft for a year, then worked in Forces Broadcasting Service from 1945 to 1949, based in Cairo and then Hamburg, becoming its deputy director.

Raymond Baxter was demobbed in 1946 as a flight lieutenant.

Raymond Baxter provided radio commentary on the funerals of King George VI in 1952 and Winston Churchill in 1965, the former commentary given while suspended from the ceiling of Westminster Abbey.

Raymond Baxter reported at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, reporting from Trafalgar Square.

Raymond Baxter was an accomplished rally driver and competed in the Monte Carlo Rally twelve times, six of them as a member of the BMC Works Team.

Raymond Baxter competed in numerous Alpine, Tulip and RAC Rallies, which was satirised in the character Roland Thraxter in Peter Ustinov's Grand Prix du Rock.

Raymond Baxter was a crew member in the New Zealand Air Race in 1953, in a British European Airways Vickers Viscount.

Raymond Baxter was the BBC's motoring correspondent from 1950 to 1966, including at least twenty Formula One races, the Le Mans 24-hour race, and the Monte Carlo Rally.

Raymond Baxter presented the BBC's coverage of Farnborough Airshows from 1950 to 1986.

Raymond Baxter reported on the first flight of Concorde and was the first reporter to broadcast from an aeroplane, ocean liner and underwater.

Raymond Baxter presented the opening ceremony of the 1960 Summer Olympics, deputising for an indisposed Richard Dimbleby.

Raymond Baxter presented the science series Eye on Research from 1959 to 1963, and was the first host of the long-running popular science show Tomorrow's World for 12 years from July 1965, reaching an audience of up to 10 million viewers.

Raymond Baxter was the presenter of the first live transatlantic broadcast from the US via Telstar in 1962, the first live telecast from Australia in November 1966, and interviewed South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard by telephone in 1967, within hours of the completion of the world's first heart transplant operation.

Raymond Baxter was the presenter for the launch of Gillette's G2 Razors held at the Heathrow Hotel, London, in 1973.

Raymond Baxter left the Tomorrow's World programme in 1977, after disagreements with its new editor, Michael Blakstad, who described Baxter as "the last of the dinosaurs", while Baxter reputedly said he could not work with someone who arrived at the BBC each day on a bicycle.

Raymond Baxter was surprised to find that he was the first recipient.

In 1975 Raymond Baxter narrated The Hammond Organ 40th Anniversary Album, issued by Ad-Rhythm Records.

Raymond Baxter narrated The Story of Rolls-Royce, a 1988 film about the history of the world's most prestigious motor car, made by the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club.

Raymond Baxter presented and narrated two fire safety training films in the 1970s; the first for Consort Films, entitled Fire Danger in Hospitals in 1972, about what fires can break out due to carelessness and another, undated, entitled Hospital Evacuation and You.

Raymond Baxter was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of London in 1978 and awarded the OBE in 2003.

Raymond Baxter was a member of the Committee of Management of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from 1979 to 1997, and Vice-President from 1987 to 1997.

Raymond Baxter was on the Council of the Air League from 1980 to 1985.

Raymond Baxter married his American wife, Sylvia Kathryn Johnson, in 1945.

Raymond Baxter died on 15 September 2006 at the age of 84 at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, close to his home in Henley-on-Thames.