Bert Newton marks 70 years in entertainment
TV legend Bert Newton has been a familiar face on Australian television for decades, but at the ripe old age of 81, and after 70 years in the business, the prolific entertainer says the show must still go on.
Fiona Byrne
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TV legend Bert Newton has marked an extraordinary anniversary of 70 years since he launched his entertainment career.
Newton had his first on-air appearance on radio station 3XY aged 11 on June 10, 1950.
The show was Peter’s Pals.
“Myself and another kid were invited in and I finished up being asked to sing,” Newton said.
“I had a go at a song called I’ll String Along with You.
“Unfortunately I did not know all the words so I sang the line ‘I’ll string along with you’ about three times. The host stopped me and said, ‘That was quite good’.
“I kept going (to the station) each day and I finished up reading the commercials for Peter’s Ice Cream across the board.
“When I left school, I went to 3XY and got a job as a turntable operator playing the records and they wanted me to train as an announcer. I finished up getting on air at 15, which was then the youngest announcer in Melbourne, and that was the start or everything.”
Newton moved to Channel 7 at the end of 1956, the year commercial television launched in Australia.
“When I became a young announcer at 15 I thought, ‘Well, that might be the end of it’, because at that time rock ’n’ roll was about to come in and I knew I wouldn’t be suitable for that. But in the meantime, television came along andI started on air with Seven in 1957.
“They were heady days because no one knew anything about television and the advantage was that included the audience, they did not know what to expect,” he said. “In those early days in the city about 300 people would be sitting outside an electrical store enjoying television because they didn’t have a set.”
Newton’s career moved to Channel 9 for 28 years where he formed legendary on-air partnerships with Graham Kennedy and then Don Lane. He then spent 14 years at Channel 10 before returning to Channel 9.
Now 81, Newton considers himself resting rather than retired.
“I feel if I had any criticism of what has turned out to be my show business life, I should be seen as a very unsatisfied man,” he said.
“If I never work again I would never be in a situation where I would be annoyed or angry or wish for the good old days, because I had them and I was very lucky to get them.”