Raymond BaxterWith his extrovert polish and buoyant optimism, Raymond Baxter, who has died aged 84, did possibly more than any other broadcaster to popularise science and bring new British inventions into the public eye.
In 1965, he became the first presenter of BBC TV's Tomorrow's World. He broadcast from Concorde, in its early stages; he introduced the pocket calculator, microwave, and the barcode - and also less likely hopefuls such as a wheelbarrow designed with a ball instead of a wheel. He remained at Tomorrow's World, which attracted audiences of up to 10 million until, in 1977, a new editor, Michael Blakstad, ushered in an era of more "investigative" reporting.
Glyn Jones, the first editor of Tomorrow's World, had given Baxter the job because his outside broadcast experience, and a capacity to deal with the unexpected, was rare in live studio broadcasting. Colleagues found Baxter the archetypal, unruffled frontman, brilliant at delivering words written by others, although they were not so fulsome about his editorial judgment. A further complication was that Jones had come from the Daily Mirror, which was far from being the newspaper Baxter most favoured. Jones, however, remained of the opinion that Baxter had established himself as a science presenter more firmly than any rival. But with the onset of the Blakstad regime, Baxter, at 55, had allegedly become a "dinosaur", who vulgarised science by talking about it in a tone that suggested - to one newspaper critic - that he was addressing half-witted foreigners.
Baxter's schooldays at Ilford County High school ended early when the second World War broke out. He became a qualified Spitfire pilot by the time he was 18. Baxter served with 65, 93, and 602 squadrons in Britain and abroad, instructed fighter pilots, and made dive bomber raids on German V2 rocket bases in the last year of the war. After the war, he auditioned for British Forces Broadcasting in Cairo, and returned to Britain a year later in an attempt to join the BBC, but was referred back to forces radio for more training. This he did in Germany, finally becoming civilian deputy director of the then British Forces Network. Facilities in Germany were basic and he had to be a jack-of-all-trades. But when he had another crack at the BBC two years later, he was a master of his craft. At least, he thought so, though the BBC insisted he got regional experience as well in Bristol.
Baxter loved motor racing, and competed in the Monte Carlo, the Alpine, Tulip and RAC rallies; he also took part, as a crew member, in the New Zealand Air Race of 1953. As an outside broadcasts reporter, he was a natural to cover air shows and boat races, while his patrician manner also made him suitable for state funerals (Sir Winston Churchill and King George VI) and the 1953 coronation. Three years after the launch of Tomorrow's World he left the BBC staff to go freelance - though continuing with the programme.
His own departure from the BBC had, he admitted, been bitter. He did not include Tomorrow's World in his Who's Who entry, except for the mention of the books he wrote on it with James Burke and Michael Latham.
However, he carried on working occasionally for the BBC, covering the Farnborough Air Show many times, and was heard in the BBC's programmes in commemoration of D-Day. His American wife, Sylvia, whom he married in 1945, died in 1996. Their children, Graham and Jenny, survive him.
Raymond Baxter, broadcaster, born January 25th, 1922; died September 15th, 2006.