Sylvia Peters

Sylvia Lucia Petronzio (26 September 1925 – 26 July 2016), better known as Sylvia Peters, was an English actress, and from 1947 to 1958 a continuity announcer and presenter for BBC Television. She introduced the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and later advised the Queen as she prepared for her first televised Christmas Message in 1957.

Early life Peters was born in Highgate, north London, to Romolo Petronzio, an Italian ebony goods manufacturer who owned a clock-making business, and Ethel Edwards, an English ballet lover. The family later moved to Finchley, north London. She began dancing lessons at the age of three, and later performed in musicals at the Coliseum Theatre in London.

BBC career On reading a newspaper advertisement in June 1947 for a continuity announcer for BBC Television, Peters's mother encouraged her to apply because she did not like Peters being on the stage.

Personal life On 28 August 1950, she married Kenneth Milne-Buckley, who had been her first studio director at the BBC, gaining two stepchildren. They had one daughter, Carmella. Peters died of esophageal cancer at Kew House nursing home, Wimbledon on 26 July 2016, aged 90.