News on Screen

For more than 15 million listeners pinned to their postwar radio sets, Duncan Carse was Dick Barton, Special Agent. He was also an expert on polar exploration, a passion he combined with his work as a professional radio broadcaster and actor.

After various exploration adventures, Carse joined the BBC in 1937. He was already established as a presenter and announcer when war broke out and in 1942 he joined the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman.
Immediately after the war Carse succeeded to the role of Dick Barton in the BBC’s first daily radio series. During this period, he also recorded the commentary for issue No.6 of the London Transport Executive’s [qv] Cinegazette in 1950.

When ‘DICK BARTON SPECIAL AGENT’ was replaced by ‘THE ARCHERS’ in 1951, Carse spent the first of four southern summers leading and organising the South Georgia Survey. In the late 1960s he provided the commentary for several issues of the colour cinemagazine series Look At Life, including the final release No.507, released in February 1969. In 1973 he attempted to retrace Sir Ernest Shackleton’s route across the island but was defeated by severe conditions on the high glacier.

Carse continued with the BBC as a producer and presenter until the mid-1980s, the Antarctic featuring strongly in his work. His significant contribution to the region was acknowledged by the naming of Carse Point on the east coast of George VI Sound and of Mount Carse (2,300m) in the southern part of South Georgia.

Sources

http://www.antarctic-circle.org/obituaries.htm; Accessed 11/5/2006: NoS Number 349265; Cinegazette Number 6; Date released 1950: NoS Number 349266; Cinegazette Number 6; Date released 1950: NoS Number 349267; Cinegazette Number 6; Date released 1950: NoS Number 350709; Look At Life Number 507; Date released 16/2/1969.