Career
From Norwich, it"s the quiz of the week" at the start of each edition of the United Kingdom"s long-running Sale of the Century, which ran on Independent Television from 1971 to 1983. In the early 70"s John Benson also hosted on a rota basis "Late Night Extra" on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 2 - British Broadcasting Corporation Producer Tony Luke and entertainment news broadcaster Julian Bray. Although John Benson spent most of his career working as an announcer for Anglia Television, he was also the chief staff announcer for American Broadcasting Company Television between 1957 and 1966.
He was also a relief announcer for Rediffusion London and freelanced at Westward, Thames and TVS. During the 1960s, he presented the weekly Top Twenty Show, a one-hour British popular music charts count-down broadcast in Northern Germany every Saturday on the BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service).
Amongst his other game show credits are Strike lieutenant Lucky, Gambit, What"s My Lincolnshire and the long-running 3-2-1. He also acted as the in-vision announcer and "comedic foil" to Jonathan Ross on The Last Resort, an irreverent, late night talk show (broadcast on Channel 4) and modelled on America"s Late Show with David Letterman.
He also made sporadic appearances as an actor in shows such as the British Broadcasting Corporation sitcom, Birds of a Feather and Cilla, with Cilla Black. He died in Norfolk in 1995 at the age of 67.