Robert C. Danvers Walker ("Bob")

Bob Walker was an Australian who worked as an announcer for Radio Normandy from 1932 to 1939, and afterwards as an announcer for Pathe Gazette and the BBC from 1940 to 1946. In September 1941 Walker appeared in ‘ANOTHER OPEN LETTER TO MR. SCHICKELGRUBER,' in Pathe Gazette No.41/76, introducing Quentin Reynolds. In March 1944 Walker also interviewed Terry Ashwood for ‘BATTLE DIARY OF CAMERAMAN TERRY ASHWOOD,' in Pathe Gazette No.44/18. Later that month he appeared in uniform in ''SALUTE THE SOLDIER’' in Pathe Gazette No.44/23. When Howard Thomas reconstructed the Pathe Gazette in December 1945, renaming it Pathe News, he appointed Walker as acting editor. However, this appointment seems to have lasted less than a year, and Thomas recalled that on the appointment of Clement Cave [qv] as editor, Walker ‘returned happily to commentary.' He is certainly credited as the reel’s commentator in 1949. Walker’s earliest surviving credits are as ‘Robert Walker’ or ‘Bob Walker,' but in 1956 he did receive one credit as ‘Danvers Walker,' and seems afterwards to have changed his name to ‘Bob Danvers-Walker.' He was certainly using this name in 1957. In January 1963 Danvers-Walker appeared in the story ‘SARDINIA’ in Pathe Pictorial No.421, and in October 1964 he appeared interviewing members of the public for ‘DRAMATIC ELECTION REPORT’ in Pathe News No.64/85.

Sources

T. Ramsaye (ed) ‘1947-48 International Motion Picture Almanac (New York, 1947), p.914: P. Noble (ed) ‘British Film Yearbook 1949-50’ (London, 1949), p.275 [as C. Danvers Walker]: Film Review, April 1957, pp.22-3, ‘Filming the Grand National - With Pathe News’: H. Thomas ‘With an Independent Air’ (London, 1977), p.131; ABC Film Review (December 1954).