Alvar Lidell, Was  the British Broadcasting Corporation announcer whose measured tones informed the people of Britain of the abdication of King Edward VIII and the outbreak of World War II, 

He started his career in 1932 when BBC announcers wore evening dress to deliver the radio news. He announced the abdication of Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, in 1936, and in September 1939 he was summoned to 10 Downing Street to introduce Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for the declaration of war with Germany. A Calm Voice During Blitz

During the blitz, Britons gathered around their ''wireless'' sets to hear the news delivered in Mr. Lidell's calm voice, always preceded by: ''This is the news, and this is Alvar Lidell reading it.''

After retiring in 1969, the Oxford University-educated Mr. Lidell busied himself recording ''talking books'' for the blind. He was critical of contemporary newscasters for their ''self-important, opinionated, argumentative mediocrity,'' and he said the public was being choked with too much news.

A BBC executive recalled Mr. Lidell's unflappability. During a wartime broadcast, a bomb fell only a few yards from the BBC's Portman Place studio. Despite the huge explosion, Mr. Lidell carried on unruffled.

He did make occasional mistakes, but apologized impeccably. He once described Joseph Goebbels as ''the narty paper ... I'm sorry, the nasty party ... I do beg your pardon, the Nazi Party propagandist.''