Julian Lynus Simmons (born 20 February 1952) is a Northern Irish broadcaster, best known for his work as a long-serving continuity announcer on UTV. Early life Simmons was born in Kent, England on 20 February 1952. His parents were Pearl and Alan, both from London. Simmons later moved with his parents to Northern Ireland when his father was moved there by his company Morley's. Simmons attended Belmont Primary School and Methodist College. Simmons had an interest in drama at a young age; he held puppet shows at his home. Before his broadcasting career began, Simmons worked for McCalla Travel, and later worked for Air Canada in Belfast and London between 1978 and 1997, combining this with his announcing work for UTV. Broadcasting career Simmons' career in broadcasting began when he appeared in amateur drama productions in Belfast while working for Air Canada at their offices in the city. In Julian (a documentary produced for the Belfast community television station NVTV), he observed: "Somebody saw me in a Belfast comedy, and said that 'You should be on TV, I know somebody who you should speak to'. So I sent my letter in, and duly arrived up at Havelock House, with amateur tapes that I had made of comedy sketches that I was performing in my kitchen, and bathroom, and bedroom... and I presented those and they listened to them and said, 'Yes, those are quite funny, but there's no opening for that sort of thing here at the moment. Here's a news bulletin, let's hear you read that.'" Simmons was then offered a six-week trial as an announcer at Ulster Television. When he started working at UTV, Simmons' job involved reading news and sports bulletins as well as introducing the channel's programmes, but he felt uneasy with newsreading. "I didn't know what I was talking about... My main worry when I was reading the news was...you are worried about making a mistake, but I was also worried I was going to laugh. I have this thing if I'm hearing bad news, or someone goes to tell me something grave... it must be a nervous thing, I feel myself starting to smirk. So I was always terrifed that when I was reading the news that I was going to laugh." Initially working as a freelancer at the Havelock House studios in Belfast, Simmons joined the station's presentation department as a staffer in