Hobley (pronounced to rhyme with "nobly") was the son of Charles McDonald Hobley, the naval chaplain at the cathedral in Stanley and his wife Gladys, née Blanchard. He began his acting career in repertory theatre, under the stage names Val Blanchard and Robert Blanchard, using his mother"s maiden name, and toured before the Second World War in J. B. Priestley"s Time and the Conways.
He was christened Dennys Jack Valentine McDonald-Hobley and attended Brighton College, a public school, from 1931-1936.
During the Second World War he served with the Royal Artillery. He was involved in an ultimately abandoned plot to abduct Adolf Hitler and bring him to Britain. He also served in Ceylon with the British Forces Broadcasting Service.
After being demobbed, he was selected as an announcer for the post-war revival of British Broadcasting Corporation Television.
He was also one of the comperes on the British Broadcasting Corporation"s Come Dancing programme and appeared on various other shows as himself. He headed the team of British Broadcasting Corporation television"s early continuity announcers, which included Peter Haigh and Sylvia Peters.
Hobley was also a presenter of British Broadcasting Corporation television"s Foreign Deaf Children from 1953 to 1955, and lieutenant"s A Knockout in 1966. During that year, he also returned to radio, fronting the "Coffee Break Show" on the pirate station Wonderful Radio London.
He later re-appeared in November 1986 as an in-vision announcer on BBC2, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of British Broadcasting Corporation Television.
On radio he was chairman of Does The Team Think? He left the British Broadcasting Corporation to join Granada Television in 1956 for its opening. Later Hobley appeared in London"s West End in the farce Number Sex Please, We"re British and other drama and comedy roles in television Just before his death, he returned to the Falklands for a Channel 4 broadcast about the then British South Atlantic Dependencies.
In July 1987 he was rehearsing the world premiere of Anthony Marriott and Bob Grant"s play "Home is Where Your Clothes Are" produced by David Tudor.
He had extreme difficulty learning his lines, which was unusual, and David Tudor had to release him from his contract. A few days later he died of a brain tumour.
He famously once introduced the politician Sir Stafford Cripps as "Sir Stifford Crapps".
