Background
A farmer"s son, Joice was educated at Culford School before taking over his father’s tenancy on the Norfolk estate of the Marquess Townshend in 1940.
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Dick Joice
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He was a director of Anglia television in the company"s infancy and its head of local programmes. lieutenant was a chance conversation with his landlord in 1958 that launched his career into television Townshend, chairman of the new Anglia company, recognised that programmes for the farming community would be a vital part of the service and asked Dick to help.
From 1959 Dick Joice presented Anglia’s weekly as well as becoming the first host of the regional news magazine programme in 1960.
lieutenant was, however, his programme that had a tremendous impact in the region (despite being little known outside) and established him as a much-loved presenter. Each half-hourly edition of explored East Anglian history and traditional crafts and featured mystery objects, about which Joice asked viewers, "Does anyone know what this was used for?" In two particularly memorable programmes (Horsemen and The Harvest), Joice assembled teams of men - some in their eighties - to demonstrate their now-lost skills with horses and in the fields.
In his autobiography, Full Circle, Joice wrote that he ‘..was born with a naturally acquisitive and inquisitive nature, always wanting to find out how things worked and where they came from;’ and his own collection of bygone agricultural and domestic items was enormous. In 1979 this lifetime collection came to rest in the old stable block at Holkham Hall after Lord Leicester acquired it to complement his exhibition celebrating the contribution of the Coke family to the Agricultural Revolution of the late 18th and 19th centuries.
The award was collected by Joice"s wife Jean, with whom he had purchased and rebuilt a Norfolk watermill during the 1990s.
Joice was featured in a British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4 series, Norfolk Manitoba broadcast in 1988.
Achievements
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Born
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Died
1999 (aged 78) -
Nationality
United Kingdom