Ken Barrie

Biography

Leslie Hulme known professionally as Ken Barrie, was an English, British voice actor and singer best known for voicing the titular character and several other characters in the children's television series Postman Pat (1981-2017), as well as singing the theme tune for the series. He also sang the theme tunes of the BBC Television programmes Hi-de-Hi! and Charlie Chalk in the 1980s. Over his career his singing, narrating voice and whistling was heard in many movies and television commercials. Barrie provided singing voices in many feature films for many actors, including George C. Scott, in Jane Eyre (1970), Horst Buchholz in The Great Waltz (1972), and Larry Hagman in Applause (1973). He also recorded the soundtracks for the films Sharks' Treasure (1975), Emily (1976) and Silent Scream (1979). Barrie was married to Doreen Pye in 1954 until her death in 2009. Together they had two children, a son named Paul Hulme and a daughter named Lorraine Hulme Peterson. Barrie's son Paul Hulme was a music engineer who went on to work for the music departments for many films, although Hulme tragically died in a road accident in 1998 at the young age of only 38.