Witty broadcaster and journalist who attracted an international following with his spoof Welsh pirate station, Radio Brynsiencyn
Ian Skidmore, who has died aged 84 of cancer, was a versatile broadcaster, journalist and author, renowned for bringing ready wit, plain speaking and a touch of eccentricity to every subject he tackled. On BBC Radio 4, he made his mark in 1987 by succeeding John Ebdon as presenter of the Archive programme and going on to present the nostalgic Times Remembered.
However, his most striking work was done in Wales. The village where he lived on the island of Anglesey gave its name to his spoof pirate station, Radio Brynsiencyn, parodying the commercial broadcasters of the time. Recorded in the kitchen of his cottage and given a final polish by BBC Radio Wales, the programme created the illusion of coming from an independent outfit and gained an international following during the 1980s.
The former BBC foreign correspondent Angus McDermid was Skidmore's "foreign editor": they had first met while working on the local paper in Bangor, Gwynedd, on the other side of the Menai Strait, and McDermid delighted in telling of the Bangors he had visited in other countries. The Skidmores' cleaner, Rose Roberts, appeared as Attila the Hoover; there was a vocal quartet, the Oscars, first heard at a lifeboat charity event; and the breaking of his own celebrated treble voice left the teenage Aled Jones keen to gain experience as an interviewer.
Skidmore's books came at the rate of around one a year for much of his career, ranging from comic novels to several on the history of north Wales. His autobiography, Forgive Us Our Press Passes (1983), was read on Radio 4 and the World Service. The actor Ian Carmichael described it as a "comic masterpiece" and nursed hopes of a TV series in which he could play Skidmore. A new version, more than twice the original length, was published in 2008.
Born and brought up in Manchester, Ian was the son of Irene and her policeman husband, Edward. He left Didsbury Central school at the age of 12 when his mother took him to Derbyshire to avoid the second world war bombing raids, although he always maintained he quit because he feared the teachers would interfere with his education. His love of reading saw him spend countless hours in public libraries: he described his qualifications as "a sort of MA (Penguin)".
His father responded to his journalistic aspirations by getting him a job as an apprentice printer on the Evening Chronicle (later merged into the Manchester Evening News). At the age of 18 he was called up for national service, undertaken with a total lack of distinction in the Black Watch, his stint including 56 days in a military prison. Upon his release, he dodged a vengeful sergeant major by diving through the first available door: that of the army public relations unit. Mere mention of the Chronicle had the staff there assuming that he was a reporter, and so he was posted to Berlin as a sergeant with the 7th Armoured Division. He was assigned to covering the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49, and within a year had made his first British Forces Radio broadcast.
After leaving the army, he joined the Manchester City News, another title of the past, progressing to the Yorkshire Evening Post, the Daily Dispatch in Liverpool and the Daily Mirror in Manchester. Despite his lack of formal education, no shorthand skills and a poor grasp of spelling and punctuation, he progressed to Fleet Street, where he became one of the youngest night news editor, with spells at the News of the World, Daily Mirror, Sunday Pictorial, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People. Then he worked as a freelance based in Chester, where in 1966 he covered the Moors murders trial of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.
He married fellow journalist Celia Lucas, his second wife, in 1971, and they moved to Anglesey. Two years later, a chance meeting with Lord Langford led to the first of his more than 30 books. Escape from the Rising Sun: The Incredible Voyage of the Sederhana Djohanis tells the story of the then Geoffrey Alexander Rowley-Conwy's escape from the Japanese invasion of Singapore and his eventful journey to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
Skidmore's newspaper columns and reviews led to broadcasting opportunities. In 1978 he joined the newly launched BBC Radio Wales, where for 15 years he hosted the interview series In Conversation, as well as making entertaining contributions to the quiz chaired by Vincent Kane. Skidmore's 15 television series were made mostly for HTV Wales and Granada, and he was a popular guest on chat shows.
Underneath a cantankerous facade, he was a thoughtful, sensitive interviewer who had the rare ability to turn an argument into a pleasure. He had no strong political allegiances, but no party or institution escaped his wrath. If asked where his political loyalties lay, he would typically reply, "I'm non-political, that's why I vote Plaid Cymru," although in reality he had no time for Welsh nationalism or Welsh-language fanatics.
In 1998, after more than 1,000 programmes, he was awarded a Golden Microphone for services to broadcasting, but a fortnight later was controversially dropped by BBC Radio Wales. This he put down to growing anti-English prejudice by the station's management.
In 2003, he retired to March, in Cambridgeshire, where he continued to write from his luxurious and well-equipped shed. His blog, Skidmore's Island, was named after one of his old radio series.
He is survived by Celia, and by the two daughters, Gay and Lynn, and son, Nicholas, from his first marriage, to Leah, which ended in divorce.
• Ian Edward Skidmore, broadcaster, journalist and author, born 16 May 1929; died 3 October 2013
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