Fred Harris (presenter)

Fred Harris
Born7 May 1947 Edit this on Wikidata
OccupationTelevision presenter, comedian Edit this on Wikidata
WorksPlay School Edit this on Wikidata

Fred Harris (born 7 May 1947) is a British comedian[1] and children's television presenter. Formerly a schoolteacher, he began his television career as a presenter of the BBC children's programme Play School, on which he appeared regularly between 1973 and 1988. During this time he was also a presenter on Ragtime and Chock-A-Block.[citation needed]

During the rise of the microcomputer in the early 1980s he fronted several home computing BBC programmes, including Micro Live (which formed part of BBC's ongoing Computer Literacy Project).[2] He also presented a number of educational and schools programmes on the subject of maths, including ATV's Figure it Out (memorable for having a set which included a giant pocket calculator), Central Television's Basic Maths and Channel 4's Make It Count. In 1980, Harris appeared as a contestant on the first episode of The Adventure Game.

His career in comedy involved regular appearances in radio shows such as Huddwinks, The Half-Open University, The Burkiss Way and Star Terk II and in the television show End of Part One.

In the 1990s, he presented the Radio 4 programme The Litmus Test.

From the late 1990s until circa 2009, he worked on the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) children's programme Room 785.[3] On this show he presented the "Broom Cupboard" slot introducing the forthcoming programmes.

He is the father of playwright Ed Harris.

  1. ^ Guide, British Comedy. "Fred Harris". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  2. ^ "BBC Computer Literacy Project Archive". Computer-literacy-project.pilots.bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  3. ^ Room 785: Meet the Gang, BFBS (via archive.org, archived 6 January 2009)