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Bamber Gascoigne

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Arthur Bamber Gascoigne Template:Post-nominals (Template:IPAc-en, 24 January 1935 – 8 February 2022) was an English television presenter and author. He was the original quizmaster of University Challenge, which initially ran from 1962 to 1987.

Early life and education

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Gascoigne was born in Richmond, Surrey (now in London), on 24 January 1935.<ref name="burke">Template:Cite book</ref> He was the elder son of Lieutenant-Colonel Derek Ernest Frederick Orby Gascoigne by his marriage in 1934 to Mary ("Midi")<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Louisa Hermione O'Neill.

Gascoigne was educated at Sunningdale School in Berkshire before successively winning scholarships to Eton College and to Magdalene College, Cambridge (1955), where he read English literature.<ref name="Brown">Template:Cite web</ref> He initially wanted to become an actor, but found it tiresome to play the same part for more than a week, so instead turned to writing. Whilst at Magdalene he initially submitted scripts to the Footlights sketch troupe, though these were never performed. However, in his second year he wrote a college revue that was seen by the producer Michael Codron. Codron liked it enough to put it on in the West End in 1957, as a musical titled Share My Lettuce.<ref name="Times"/> It was performed by Maggie Smith and Kenneth Williams (with music by Keith Statham and Patrick Gowers).<ref name=Times/><ref name="Stevens">Template:Cite book</ref>

Gascoigne then spent a year as a Commonwealth Fund scholar at Yale University (1958–59). He carried out his National Service in the Grenadier Guards, including six months of duty at Buckingham Palace, before being posted to Germany.<ref name="Times"/> After completing his National Service he became employed as a theatre critic, first for The Spectator and later for The Observer.<ref name="Brown"/><ref name="Times"/>

He met his wife, Christina Ditchburn, at Cambridge, and they married in 1965.<ref name=":0"/><ref name=":1"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Ancestry

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Gascoigne's family were originally Norman, arriving in England in the early 13th century.<ref name="Times"/> Gascoigne's mother was a daughter of Captain the Hon. Arthur O'Neill and Lady Annabel Hungerford Crewe-Milnes.<ref name="burke"/>

His father was the son of Brigadier-General Sir Ernest Frederick Orby Gascoigne and Laura Cicely, daughter of General Edward Henry Clive, of that family of Styche Hall, Shropshire, from which also came the soldier and administrator of India Robert Clive (Clive of India).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book Vol. 1, p. 362 & Vol. 3, p. 3205.</ref>

Gascoigne's great-grandfathers included Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe, and Edward O'Neill, 2nd Baron O'Neill.<ref name="burke"/> He was a nephew of Sir Julian Gascoigne, who was in charge of the Household Division during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and of Terence O'Neill, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (1963–1969).<ref name="Coronation">Template:Cite web</ref>

Gascoigne was a direct descendant of the 18th-century Lord Mayor of London Sir Crisp Gascoyne and the Tory politicians Bamber Gascoyne (the elder) and Isaac Gascoyne. Isaac's son General Ernest Frederick Gascoyne, of Raby Hall, Liverpool (1796–1867),<ref name="Conqueror 170">Template:Cite web</ref> was his great-great-great-grandfather.<ref name="Conqueror 170"/> The name Bamber was the surname of the Lord Mayor's wife, and was given to their son.<ref name="Times"/>

University Challenge

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Gascoigne was the original presenter (from 1962) of the television quiz show University Challenge,<ref name="Stevens"/> based on the US series College Bowl. He held the position for 25 years, until the end of the initial run in 1987.<ref name="About"/> As well as presenting the show, he also set all the questions in its first series.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His questioning manner was regarded as firm yet polite.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Phrases he often used which became catchphrases include: "Fingers on buzzers", "your starter for ten", "no conferring", and "I'll have to hurry you."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The show was at first planned to last for only 13 episodes, but was such a hit that Gascoigne eventually presented 913 episodes.<ref name="Times"/> Some contestants later became notable in their careers, including David Lidington (whose team won)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Miriam Margolyes.<ref name="Times"/> When the show was revived in 1994, Gascoigne declined to apply to present it again, for he was involved with other projects; Jeremy Paxman took on the role.<ref name="Times"/>

In 1984 University Challenge was lampooned in the "Bambi" episode of the alternative comedy series The Young Ones, in which Griff Rhys Jones parodied Gascoigne.<ref name=BBC_obit/> In 1998, Gascoigne presented a parody titled Universe Challenge, based on the sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gascoigne is portrayed by actor Mark Gatiss in the 2006 comedy-drama film Starter for 10 and by Robert Portal in the 2024 stage musical adaptation.<ref name="Times"/>

Television and books

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Gascoigne was the author of Murgatreud's Empire, a 1972 satirical novel concerning an entrepreneur who finds an island of pygmies and trades them arms for treasure, recreating the development of European medieval weaponry and armour.<ref name="indy">Template:Cite news</ref> This was originally written as a script, although the play was abandoned because of the impossibility of finding suitable performers for a cast of forty pygmies.<ref name="Times"/>

In 1977, Gascoigne wrote and presented The Christians,<ref name="Midgley"/> a 13-hour television documentary series on the history of Christianity, produced by Granada Television and broadcast on ITV. The same year he wrote a companion book, under the same title, with photography by his wife, Christina Gascoigne, published by Jonathan Cape. In 2003 it was revised and republished as A Brief History of Christianity by Robinson Publishing.<ref name="Christianity">Template:Cite web</ref>

Gascoigne wrote Quest for the Golden Hare, a 1983 account of the internationally publicised treasure hunt associated with the publication in 1979 of Kit Williams' book Masquerade.<ref name=Times>Template:Cite news</ref> On 8 August 1979, Gascoigne was witness to the burial by Williams, in an earthenware jar "somewhere in Britain", of a unique jewelled, solid gold pendant in the design of a hare. The book documents the search and a scandal associated with the pendant's eventual discovery.<ref name=Times/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1987, Gascoigne presented a documentary series of six 30-minute programmes on Victorian history, Victorian Values, produced by Granada Television. The programmes looked at how Victorian society put in place the infrastructure of the modern welfare state.<ref name="indy"/>

In 1988, Gascoigne devised and presented a BBC Two arts quiz called Connoisseur, for which he also set the questions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gascoigne was the writer and presenter of the TV series The Great Moghuls (1990), a study of the Mughal Empire of India.<ref name="Moghuls">Template:Cite news</ref> The series was based on Gascoigne's 1971 book of the same name, which features photographs by his wife.<ref name="Moghuls"/>

In 1994 Gascoigne held the Sandars Readership in Bibliography and presented "From priceless perfection to cheap charm: stages in the development of colour printing."

Other activities

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Gascoigne established an online history encyclopaedia, HistoryWorld,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> based on British history. He had already published a hard copy of this encyclopaedia, but he saw the internet as an opportunity to reach millions more people than would see the book.<ref name="Times"/> He also established TimeSearch,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which presents multiple searchable timelines collected from various websites.<ref>Start the Week, BBC Radio 4, 12 March 2007</ref>

Gascoigne was a lifelong supporter of the Liberal Party and subsequently the Liberal Democrats. He publicly endorsed the latter during their 2019 general election campaign.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In August 2014, Gascoigne was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On the death of his great-aunt Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe, in 2014,<ref name="Obituary notice">Template:Cite web</ref> Gascoigne inherited an estate at West Horsley, Surrey, including West Horsley Place, a large country house dating from the 16th century.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Accidental">Template:Cite news</ref> Gascoigne sold some of the late Duchess's possessions and used the proceeds to restore the house. This was followed by the building of an opera house in its grounds, the Theatre in the Woods, which serves as the home base of the Grange Park Opera.<ref name="Sherwood"/><ref name="Art Daily">Template:Cite news</ref> An original pencil-and-chalk study for the painting Flaming June by Sir Frederic Leighton was found on the back of a bedroom door in the house. Art historians knew a sketch had existed, for it was published in an art magazine in 1895, but did not know who had owned it; it was probably bought by the Duchess's paternal grandfather after Leighton's death.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> From 2018 until 2023, West Horsley Place was used as the filming location for the fictional Button House in the BBC TV comedy series Ghosts.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External interests

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Gascoigne was elected in 1976 as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.<ref name="RSL Fellows">Template:Cite web</ref> He was a trustee of the National Gallery, a trustee of the Tate Gallery, a member of the council of the National Trust, and a member of the board of directors of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.<ref name = "About">Template:Cite web</ref> He was also a patron of the Museum of Richmond.<ref name="Living and Dying">Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life, honours and death

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Gascoigne was married, for 57 years,<ref name=Times/><ref name="Sherwood">Template:Cite news</ref> to Christina (née Ditchburn), daughter of civil servant Alfred Henry Ditchburn.<ref name="burke"/><ref name="Conqueror 170"/> He met Christina at Cambridge. They lived in Richmond, London, from the late 1960s onward.<ref name="Midgley">Template:Cite news</ref> She is an artist working in ceramics, silks and other media.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The couple did not have any children.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> With regard to religion, he described himself as "a perfectly friendly agnostic".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gascoigne was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to the Arts.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

In January 2022, Gascoigne was hospitalised for three weeks with pneumonia. Following his hospitalisation, his health drastically declined.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He died at his home in Richmond on 8 February 2022, at the age of 87.<ref name=BBC_obit>Template:Cite news</ref> Stephen Fry, another famous University Challenge alumnus,<ref name="Times"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> led the tributes to Gascoigne, saying he was "such an elegant, intelligent man". Victoria Coren Mitchell, host of BBC quiz show Only Connect, said: "No quiz host has ever seemed more like they could answer all the questions themselves."<ref name=BBC_obit/>

Selected publications

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References

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