FRED Dinenage recently celebrated his 77th birthday.

Of those 77 years, he has spent 50 of them as one of the most recognisable faces on our television screens.

Fred joined Southern Television in 1964.  When big news stories came along, Fred delivered the facts in his own unique style.

He presented the news through the Southern TV years. 

In 1984 he joined TVS to present Coast To Coast with Fern Britton, and now he can be seen nightly with Sangeeta Bhabra On ITV News Meridian.

His other shows include quiz show's Gambit, Tell The Truth and both incarnations of the Children's series How!

He also deputised for Dickie Davies  on the long running World Of Sport programme.

His appearances on World Of Sport earned his a famous appearance alongside Chris Tarrant and Sally James on Tiswas.

Alongside his television career, Fred has written several factual books, including ghosting on autobiographies My Story and Our Story for the Kray twins.

Fred has reported on many famous Basingstoke-related stories which include the Clapham rail crash in 1987 and the Mecantile Credit fire at Churchill Plaza in 2000.

Fred also recalls interviewing a young girl called Tanita Tikaram, who lived in the town in the 1980s.

He said: “She'd a won a competition for the TVS  Coast to Coast Junior Newsreader of the Year."

"She was a singer-songwriter who later went on to have two hits in 1988 - Twist My Sobriety and Good Tradition.

"I remember interviewing her at Brighton Hill school.

"A very able and confident young lady - though none of us had any idea she'd become rather more famous as a singer - rather than a TV newsreader!”

In February 2014 Fred celebrated his 50th anniversary as reporter/presenter with ITV, and said at the time he has no plans to retire in the near future. 

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