Biography

Robert Neill Dougall MBE (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.