Robert Robinson (broadcaster)

Robert Henry Robinson (17 December 1927 – 12 August 2011)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was an English radio and television presenter, game show host, journalist and author. He presented Ask the Family for many years on the BBC.

Biography and career

Robinson was born in Liverpool, England <ref name="G obit">Template:Cite news</ref> the son of an accountant father, and educated at Raynes Park Grammar School<ref name="Scotsman">Template:Cite web</ref> in south London and Exeter College, Oxford.<ref name="Britannica">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> He then became a journalist, as TV columnist for the Sunday Chronicle, film and theatre columnist for the Sunday Graphic, radio critic and editor of Atticus column for the Sunday Times and film critic for The Sunday Telegraph.

He began working on television as a journalist in 1955. During the 1960s and 1970s, he presented the series Open House, Picture Parade,<ref>Template:Usurped The Independent (London), 12 Sep 2002 by Gerard Gilbert</ref> Points of View,<ref name="Scotsman" /> the leading literary quiz Take it or Leave it, Ask the Family,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> BBC-3 – including the discussion during which Kenneth Tynan became the first person to say "fuck" on British television (Robinson told Tynan that this was "an easy way to make history")<ref>Herald obituary of Robinson</ref> – and Call My Bluff.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1967, Robinson presented the edition of The Look of the Week in which classical musicologist Hans Keller was brought face to face with the young Pink Floyd. He wrote and presented The Fifties on BBC1. Robinson was the presenter of The Book Programme on BBC2 from 1973 to 1980<ref name="Britannica" /> and a number of spin-off documentaries, such as B. Traven – A Mystery Solved (1979). He wrote and presented several BBC1 documentaries under the title Robinson's Travels, among them The Mormon Trail (1976), Cruising and Indian Journey. In 1986 he wrote and presented The Magic Rectangle,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> one of the BBC documentaries marking the 50th anniversary of television.

On radio, he presented Today, BBC Radio 4's flagship morning news show, and Stop The Week, a fiercely competitive talk programme.<ref>Skip All That, p.221</ref> Robinson fronted Brain of Britain on BBC Radio 4 for many years, but was replaced by Russell Davies during the 2004 series owing to illness.<ref>Paul Donovan "Radio waves: Brain drain", The Times, 9 September 2007</ref> He returned to host the new series in 2005 until handing over the reins to Peter Snow in 2007. In September 2008 Robinson chaired the special Brain of Brains and Top Brain editions of the quiz and returned to host the series in 2008; Davies then replaced him for the 2009 shows.<ref>Paul Donovan "[Brain of Britain:] A precious relic", The Times, 4 October 2009</ref> In August 2010 it was announced that Robinson was to step down permanently from Brain of Britain to be replaced by Davies.<ref>Tara Conlan "Robert Robinson quits Brain of Britain", The Guardian, 3 August 2010</ref>

Robinson was known for his comb-over hairstyle.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> Private Eye used to lampoon Robinson under the nickname Smuggins. In a sketch on the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News he was impersonated by an actor wearing a cricket box over his forehead. Robinson was also the subject of a sketch by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie in the second series of A Bit of Fry & Laurie, and Fry occasionally did an affectionate impression of Robinson when hosting the quiz show QI. He was also lampooned by comedy duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb in the second series of That Mitchell and Webb Look, where he was shown as the presenter of an early version of their fictional gameshow Numberwang. He appeared in a Viz comic strip under the name Robin Robertson.

Personal life

Robinson married actress Josephine Richard, whom he had met while a student at Oxford, in 1958. They had three children including the actress Lucy Robinson.<ref>Robinson, Lucy Film & TV Database, British Film Institute (accessed 6 October 2008)</ref> The couple remained together for more than fifty years, until Robert's death. He died aged 83<ref name="G obit" /> in St Mary's Hospital, Paddington on 12 August 2011 after a long period of ill health.<ref name=Death>Template:Cite news</ref>

Books

• Inside Robert Robinson (journalism)
• Prescriptions of a Pox Doctor's Clerk (journalism)
• Landscape with Dead Dons (1956) (mystery novel)
• The Conspiracy (1968) (novel)<ref name="Britannica" />
• The Dog Chairman (1982) (journalism)
• The Everyman Book of Light Verse (1984) (as editor)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Bad Dreams (1989) (novel)<ref name="Britannica" />
• Skip All That (1996) (autobiography)
• The Club (2000) (novel)

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• Template:YouTube
• Broadcaster Robert Robinson dies at 83