Angela Catterns (1971)
Angela Catterns (1971) is one of Australia’s most loved broadcasters and media personalities. With a diverse career in film, television and radio she has broadcast nationally, in Sydney, in country NSW and in Washington DC.
Angela enrolled at Â鶹ÊÓƵ School in 1957 into Nursery at the age of 4 and spend her entire schooling life at Â鶹ÊÓƵ School, graduating in 1971. For a brief time in the mid 2000s, Angela’s daughter Mimi was also a student before a relocation meant a new school. Of her time at Â鶹ÊÓƵ School, Angela said “While I didn’t know it at the time, Â鶹ÊÓƵ School was teaching me everything I know. Of course, I’ve learned a few more things along the way but Â鶹ÊÓƵ School made me the woman I am today. And so I’m very proud to call myself an Old Girl of this school.”
Today Angela is primarily known for her work on Simon Townsend’s Wonder World! and Australian radio: she has presented Mornings on Triple J, the National Evening Show on ABC Local Radio, and Breakfast on 702 ABC Sydney. She is also a podcaster, writer, interviewer, MC, facilitator, narrator and voice over artist. She presented a holiday season version of the Breakfast Show on 702 ABC Sydney with Australian humourist and broadcaster Wendy Harmer which led to the highly successful podcast Is It Just Me…?. In April 2022, Angela Catterns and Ian Rogerson released Suddenly Senior, a new podcast series challenging ageism.
During her time at 702 Sydney first presenting ‘Breakfast’, Angela achieve number one in the listener survey ratings in 2004 and “briefly knocked the Parrot, Alan Jones, off his perch” as she humourously stated during her Welcoming Address at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ School 125 Year Gala Dinner.
Angela has also held broadcasting roles at Australian commercial radio stations 2SM and Vega 95.3 in Sydney, 2UE and at WKYS in Washington DC. A few years ago Angela left Sydney for the northern NSW coast where she currently presents Saturday Breakfast with Angela Catterns on ABC North Coast radio.
Angela’s warmth, humour and intelligence make her one of the country’s most engaging and popular radio broadcasters and podcasters. Her success has been attributed to her “perfectly measured combination of intellect and personality” (Elle magazine interview, 2001), her listening and interviewing skills, and a voice described as being as “smooth as chocolate” (The Sydney Morning Herald, 1997) or “as if her vocal cords have been marinated overnight in plum brandy and golden syrup” (Elle Magazine, 2001).
In 2003, Angela initiated the ABC 702 ‘Knit-In’ in collaboration with the charity , and by harnessing the knitting prowess and goodwill of 702 listeners, the annual knitting event at ABC Headquarters began. The ‘Knit-In’ was an annual ABC event for a decade. At the final ‘Knit-In’ event in 2012, Angela stated that it had been “the most beautiful event and one of the great highlights of my career, ever.”
In addition to her involvement with , Angela is an ambassador, volunteer and supporter of the charity and .
In 2014, Angela was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) ‘for significant service to the broadcast media industry as a radio presenter, and to social welfare organisations’.
Extract from the Welcoming Address delivered by Angela Catterns at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ School 125 Year Gala Dinner in 2011.
You might know I’ve had a pretty successful career in the media, with more than 18 years working on and off at ABC Radio, on various networks. A few years ago I went to Number 1 doing the breakfast show on 702 ABC Sydney, and briefly knocked the Parrot, Alan Jones, off his perch.
My career success has been due, in part at least, to the fact that I can speak properly. I know how to enunciate. I can also write well. And as a matter of fact, I consider myself to be one of the best spellers in New South Wales. I know where to put apostrophes. I can speak a little French and a little German, and I know a bit about the history of different countries and their cultures.
I can tell an igneous rock when I see one, have a little-used talent for embroidery and can take up a hem perfectly well by hand.
I’m a fantastic swimmer and this summer, engaged in a diving competition with some of the kids at the local pool. I can play tennis, hockey and tunnel-ball, know Shakespeare and Noel Coward, and all the instruments in a symphony orchestra.
Unfortunately my talent for marching has gone to complete waste, but I can sing harmonies and am a dab hand at floral arranging.
I can sit still for hours on end, without fidgeting, dance like one of the stars of RiverDance, and find myself performing random acts of kindness to complete strangers without even thinking about it. I can be cool, calm AND collected. And I always try to Aim High.
These things, I learned at Â鶹ÊÓƵ School.
My years there have been indelibly etched in my memory. These days I mightn’t remember what I did yesterday, but I remember Mrs Gentle, my elocution teacher, Madame Lambert the French teacher, Miss Russo, my diving coach, Mrs Papadopolous the English teacher, Miss Tyson the Science Teacher, (famous for her collection of foetuses in formaldehyde) Mrs Johnson the maths teacher with the plaits over her head, Miss Daisy Rose Violet Hooker, the singing teacher, and even Miss Purdie the sweet lovely Kindergarten teacher who took me home for the holidays. I don’t think she’d be allowed to do that now.
While I didn’t know it at the time, Â鶹ÊÓƵ was teaching me everything I know. Of course, I’ve learned a few more things along the way but Â鶹ÊÓƵ made me the woman I am today.
And so I’m very proud to call myself an Old Girl of this school.