Funny how Eamonn was a familiar face on British television for some 30 years or so, yet he didn't seem to leave much of a legacy - most people seem to have more or less forgotten he even existed. But he started off on Irish radio in the 1940s, when he wrote to them at the age of 19 to ask them if he could be a boxing commentator. They said yes and he became a star in Ireland before moving over to the Beeb in the 1950s. There he was given WHAT'S MY LINE and then THIS IS YOUR LIFE to front - famously being the subject of the first ever 'Life. Both were massive at the time (once Bob Monkhouse appeared on What's My Line with an eyepatch, and the papers went nuts, for some reason). He also did CRACKERJACK, of course, and always seemed pissed off with the kids - and all this while running RTE. Both of his peak-time shows were axed in the early 60s, and a pissed-off Eamonn went to ITV, where they invented WORLD OF SPORT for him, as well as a late night chat show which, by all accounts, he was crap at; Eamonn started his interview with Muhammad Ali by talking about why he'd changed his name from Cassius Clay, and then referred to him as "Cassius" all the way through.

In 1969 ITV revived This is Your Life. Roy Bottomley seriously wanted to call the new series This Is Your Colourful Life to emphasise the new version's big difference, but thankfully good sense prevailed. When What's My Line came back in the early 1980s, Eamonn was then doing more or less exactly the same stuff he'd been doing thirty years beforehand. Indeed, the new What's My Line was broadcast live, seemingly just because that's how they used to do it in the '50s. Well, yeah, but by that logic they may as well have filmed it in black and white as well. Both series seemed to be on every week forever, with Eamonn bantering non-stop with George Gale, Barbara Kelly, Jilly Cooper and Ernie Wise. All the bloody time. Eamonn died suddenly in 1987, with both the shows continuing under new presenters (obviously, as a Thames production, Penelope Keith took over What's My Line). Since then he seems to have been more or less forgotten. In a way, Eamonn was the Carol Smillie of his day - always there, but not really registering.

Fiona Armstrong joined ITN just after Pamela Armstrong (see below) left, presumably being hired so they didn't have to change the captions much. She read the news during the late '80s and early '90s, as well as doing a bit of moonlighting for Border Television, making the odd rural documentary. In 1993 she left Gray's Inn Road to be the launch presenter of GMTV. In the early days, she appeared in front of the real log fire with the moustachioed Mike Wilson on Mondays-Thursdays (Eamonn Holmes and Anne Davies did Fridays to give it "that weekend feel"). However, like Rippon and Ford before her, Fiona wasn't able to make the transition from newsreader to all-purpose presenter, and there was much discussion over whether she had the "F-factor" for breakfast viewing. When Greg Dyke took over, Fiona was the first casualty, and her last appearance on breakfast telly came when Mark Lamarr went round to her house to try and get her to appear on THE BIG BREAKFAST. Later in the year she appeared alongside Chris Evans on HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU, with the regulars egging her on to say "fuck". Since then, she was last spotted back on Border fronting LOOKAROUND.

Another ITN refugee, leaving the newsroom in 1986 to go off to the BBC. The programme she fronted when she got there was what Bob Langley had referred to when he assured everyone "there will be programmes from Pebble Mill in the future, I really must emphasise that" on the last ever PEBBLE MILL AT ONE. Said show was the imaginatively-titled PAMELA ARMSTRONG, a chat show thingy on BBC2 most afternoons at 4pm, of which the typical billing would be "Today, Pamela Armstrong's guests are all female, discussing whether you need to be a powerhouse to make it in the 1980s". Axed after a year, Pamela then launched lunchtime space-filler DAYTIME LIVE in 1987, introducing that comedy song from Rosser and Davies on the first show that even today we still can't get out of our head. During the summer breaks she helped out presenting BREAKFAST TIME with an ill-cast Jeremy Paxman. However after being Mrs BBC for a few years, she just seemed to vanish, and was last seen by TV Cream reading the news on THE BIG BREAKFAST.

When people refer to the great TV presenters, few mention Mike Aspel, which is a shame as he's done absolutely shitloads of stuff, and all with wit and charm. He started off as an actor just after the war, but then drifted into announcing. Doing between-shows links for the Beeb, he once got a bollocking after editorialising while announcing a price increase for the Radio Times ("Mind you, it's worth a tanner!"). When in-vision announcers were discontinued, Mike read the news, being the first person ever to read the regional news on BBC Wales. He left the newsroom in the late '60s, and then in a career move we doubt Michael Buerk will repeat, he took over on CRACKERJACK, cultivating a game but slightly pissed-off air and wincing when the kids screamed "Crackerjack!!!" at him. Much more his scene were MISS WORLD("None of the girls could speak English and there were hundreds of technical problems, but all anyone would say was 'Cor, he's the luckiest bloke alive!'") and ASK ASPEL. And there was THE GOODIES, of course. Went off to ITV later to front GIVE US A CLUE- where he was better than Parky, because he remembered to ping the bell, for a start - and then become Mr LWT, introducing influential capital-only Friday night fest THE SIX O'CLOCK SHOW. We won't mention CHILD'S PLAY, for obvious reasons.

Throughout the 1980s he presented umpteen series of ASPEL AND COMPANY. There were other guests apart from Oliver Reed, but they all seem to have merged into one. He also took over THIS IS YOUR LIFE in 1988 when Eamonn Andrews died. The last series of Aspel and Company was broadcast live, and wasn't much cop at all, reaching a low when the owners of Planet Hollywood agreed to appear as long as the show was a 45-minute commercial for the restaurant. In 1994, This is Your Life moved back over to the Beeb, and Asp then got the job on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, and it suits him down to the ground. Oh, and he did a great impression of Ernie Wise on FRANK SKINNER, too.