Tony Barber

Anthony Ferraro Louis Barber OAM (born 28 March 1940) is a British Australian Gold Logie award-winning television game show host, radio announcer, singer and media personality, who has been active in the industry since the early 1960s.

He has said that he "owes much of his enthusiastic and driving personality to a loving Irish grandma and a whole street full of aunts who kept the spirits high during the dark years of World War II."

By the end of 1962, Barber was a leading radio announcer in Perth, as well as the star of a weekly floor show at the Charles Hotel and another twice-weekly event at the Lido Coral Room where he performed impressions of Johnny Mathis and Paul Anka.

This was in addition to holding down a regular job as an advertising executive, where at one point he cast himself as the "Cambridge Whistler", a central character in a 1960s cigarette commercial which brought him national recognition.

Screened nationally on the Nine Network, Barber hosted the show from 1980 until 1991, supported by a roster of co-hosts during his time including Victoria Nicolls (1980–82), Delvene Delaney (1982–85) and Alyce Platt (1986–91).

Barber decided to leave the show in 1991 after being offered only a 12-month contract renewal period instead of his usual three-year deal; Platt left at the same time, he was replaced by Glenn Ridge as host, with co-host Jo Bailey.

After Jeopardy, Barber succeeded John Burgess as host of Wheel of Fortune on the Seven Network in July 1996 following the show's relocation from Adelaide to Sydney as part of an attempted revamp.