Hordley Acres
Hordley Fulwell Acres (1894–1955) was an announcer on the Irish radio station Radio Athlone and was the first voice to be heard when it began broadcasting in 1933.
Hordley was born in Once Brewed in Northumberland, England, to a wealthy family of landowners and was educated at Sedbergh School. After serving for the Northumberland Fusiliers during the First World War he took a job as a journalist on The Irish Times, based in Dublin.
The embryonic Irish broadcasting system set up in the town of Athlone, generally thought to be the very centre of the island of Ireland, and Hordley, through his friendship with one of the original board members and because of his high standing in Irish journalism, became the first announcer on the new station.
His very correct English diction was widely admired and his trademark "Good Evening. This is Athlone" was heard throughout Europe for many years. He retired in 1948 to take over the family farm in Northumberland where he lived until his death in 1955. His domestic companion throughout the later years of his life was Jasper Butterfield-Close, who was a lifelong friend and confidante, and who looked after the farm until his unfortunate demise in a livestock stampede in 1958.
In Haydon Bridge, Northumberland, there is a street named in Hordley's honour.
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