{{Short description|British television presenter (1937–2021)}} {{Use British English|date=April 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Lady Solti | honorific_suffix = | image = | caption = | birth_name = Ann Valerie Pitts | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1937|8|19}}<ref>{{cite news| last =| first =| title = Birthdays| newspaper = The Guardian| location =| pages = 33| language =| publisher = Guardian News & Media| date = 19 Aug 2014| url =}}</ref> | birth_place = Leeds, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2021|3|31|1937|8|19}} | death_place = London, England | alma_mater = | occupation = {{hlist|presenter|philanthropist}}actress | years_active = | spouse = {{marriage|James Sargant|1960|1966|end=divorced}}<ref name=times/><br />{{marriage|Georg Solti|1967|1997|end=died}} | children = 2 }}
'''Ann Valerie, Lady Solti''' (née '''Pitts'''; 19 August 1937 – 31 March 2021) was a British television presenter who was one of the BBC's original team of presenters during the 1950s. She left the programme in 1960 to marry James Sargant who was stage manager of the Sadler's Wells Opera Company.<ref>[http://tvannouncers.thetvroomplus.com/channel-1.html Pitts at the TV Announcer's website, includes image] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120717173908/http://tvannouncers.thetvroomplus.com/channel-1.html |date=2012-07-17 }}</ref> She also worked at Granada Television. She later married the conductor Sir Georg Solti.
==Life and career== In 1961 Pitts appeared as a patient in the comedy film Dentist on the Job. She met Georg Solti in September 1964 when she interviewed him, fortuitously, as a last minute alternative to replace a missing news item.<ref name="Vulliamy 2012">{{cite web | last=Vulliamy | first=Ed | title=Georg Solti: the making of a musical colossus | website=The Guardian | date=8 September 2012 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/sep/09/georg-solti-centenary-lady-valerie | access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref> Solti pursued her romantically and finally persuaded her to leave her husband.<ref>Robinson, p. 38</ref><ref>Solti, p. 137</ref> They married on 11 November 1967, and had two daughters, Gabrielle and Claudia. She appeared on children's television, as a presenter of ''Play School'' and then at Granada a series for older children, ''ExtraOrdinary'', which covered strange-but-true stories from science and the arts. She gave up her career as a presenter, though she continued to appear occasionally on television (such as on the quiz show, ''Face The Music)'' and worked with Solti for various charities.
Pitts was the patroness of the World Orchestra for Peace, which her husband founded and whose first concert at the United Nations he conducted. In addition, she has devoted time to other cultural organizations, including the Sadler's Wells Theatre Trust, the Mariinsky Theatre Trust, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Musica Nel Chiostro, Batignano Italy, the Hungarian Cultural Centre (London), Liszt Academy (Budapest), the Harrogate International Festivals as Vice Patron, and the W11 Opera children's opera company in London.
After Sir Georg Solti's death on 5 September 1997, Pitts and her two daughters began The Solti Foundation to assist young musicians. In 2002, a website dedicated to Georg Solti was launched, under the instigation of Lady Solti.
Lady Solti died at home in London in March 2021 at the age of 83.<ref name=times>{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/lady-solti-obituary-77c957rmm|title=Lady Solti obituary|date=6 April 2021|website=The Times|access-date=6 April 2021|language=en}}</ref>
==See also== * Petites Promenades (CSO Children's Concert Series) * Sir Georg Solti International Conductors' Competition
== Archives == * [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/accessions/2006/06returns/06ac1971.htm Unpublished sound recordings (C1227) at the British National Archives]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/accessions/2006/06returns/06ac1971.htm|title=The National Archives {{!}} Search other Archives {{!}} Accessions to Repositories {{!}} Major Accessions to British Library, Sound Archive, 2006|website=www.nationalarchives.gov.uk|language=en|access-date=2017-06-01}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * {{cite book|last= Robinson |first= Paul |year= 1979|title =Solti |location= London |publisher= Macdonald and Jane's |isbn= 978-0-354-04288-8}} * {{cite book | last=Solti | first=Georg |author2=Harvey Sachs | title=Solti on Solti| location=London | publisher=Chatto and Windus | year=1997 | isbn=978-0-7011-6630-4}}
== External links == * {{IMDb name |nm1860506}} *[http://www.worldorchestraforpeace.com/content/Lady_Solti_Biography.pdf Biography from World Orchestra for Peace] <!--*[http://www.georgsolti.com/main.html Sir Georg Solti website]--> *[http://www.soltifoundation.com/ The Solti Foundation website] *[https://archive.today/20120717173908/http://tvannouncers.thetvroomplus.com/channel-1.html Image of Pitts at the TV Announcer's website] *[https://csoarchives.wordpress.com/2021/04/01/remembering-lady-solti/ Remembering Lady Solti at ''From the Archives'' blog]
{{Authority Control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitts, Valerie}} Category:1937 births Category:2021 deaths Category:BBC television presenters Category:British television presenters Category:English television actresses Category:Actresses from Leeds
{{UK-tv-bio-stub}}