Kenneth Robinson (broadcaster)

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Kenneth John Robinson (26 April 1925 – 26 March 1994) was an English pianist, architect, journalist and broadcaster from Ealing best known for his acerbity. He presented BBC One's Points of View between 1965 and 1969 and was a panellist and occasional host of BBC Radio 4's Start the Week between 1971 and 1986.

Early life[]

Kenneth Robinson was born on 26 April 1925 in Ealing,[1] and was educated at Ealing Grammar School.[2] During the Second World War, he was a pianist in ENSA concert parties, though realised he was not good enough to make a career of it and so after the war, he wrote for the Croydon Advertiser,[2] where he wrote caustic, Tynan-like reviews; his dismissal, according to his obituary in The Independent, was for refusing to learn shorthand and typing,[1] though he said in a 1976 interview that he was fired for saying that And Then There Were None was "a play in which members of the cast are strangled and poisoned one by one - it is a pity more plays of this kind are not available to the amateur"[3] before writing for [2] and then spending ten years with the Architectural Press, ending up as chief assistant editor for the Architects' Journal.[3] In the mid-1950s he joined , where he found that lecture-goers preferred the humorous content of his lectures to the architectural content;[2] he reasoned that this was because the "official" language and tone of voice differed from his own.[3]

Career[]

Robinson started his career by presenting solo pieces on the foibles of architecture and language.[3] He presented BBC One's Points of View between 1965 and 1969, and was the second of three Robinsons to present the programme (immediately following and preceding a returning Robert Robinson, and before Anne Robinson);[4] he was fired from that programme due to the show's producer objecting to the frivolous way in which he referred to bananas.[1] He had a stint as a presenter of religious programmes, but the producer found his tone too ironic for the subject matter.[1] In 1971 he became a guest panellist and occasional host[5] of BBC Radio 4's Start the Week[6] and hosted its children's spin-off, If It's Wednesday It Must Be….[7] He was notorious for acerbity,[8] particularly towards women;[6] he rowed with Anna Raeburn and Esther Rantzen,[1] brought Angela Rippon to tears after dismantling her book about horses and disgusted Pamela Stephenson enough for her to empty her water down his neck.[6] He was suspended for six weeks in 1984 for making a joke about disabled people's sex lives (that a disabled people's dating agency would mean "you could hear the wheelchairs banging all night in some parts of the country"[6]), for which the BBC issued a grovelling apology,[2] and was fired on-air in 1986.[6] In addition, he had a stage show, The Worst of Kenneth Robinson,[3] a compilation programme of which, The Best of the Worst of Kenneth Robinson, aired on ITV in January 1975.[9] He was also an occasional player on Just a Minute,[10] and narrated Les Shadoks.[11]

Personal life[]

Robinson was married to Mary Hargreaves, a banana heiress, from 1955 until his death. They had a son and a daughter. He died on 26 March 1994[1] from a short illness[2] in Kingston Hospital.[8]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Obituary: Kenneth Robinson". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Full text of "The Times , 1994, UK, English"". Internet Archive. 1994. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Going solo". The Guardian. 27 August 1976. p. 11.
  4. ^ "Points of View". BBC Press Office. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Start the Week with Kenneth Robinson". The Radio Times. BBC Genome (2960): 45. 31 July 1980. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Career notes: Start the Week". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  7. ^ Hogg, James; Sellers, Robert. Hello, Darlings!: The Authorized Biography of Kenny Everett. Random House.
  8. ^ a b "Kenneth Robinson". The Herald. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  9. ^ "Kenneth Robinson on James Bond and the unrealism of 1974 » 28 Dec 1974". The Spectator. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Just A Minute: A Further Classic Collection: 22 archive episodes of the much-loved BBC radio comedy game". Apple Store. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  11. ^ "Jacques Rouxel". The Independent. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
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