Russell Harty

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Frederic Russell Harty (5 September 1934 – 8 June 1988)<ref name="Stevens">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was an English television presenter of arts programmes and chat show host.

Early life

Harty was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, the son of greengrocer Fred Harty, who ran a fruit-and-vegetable stall on the local market, and Myrtle Rishton.<ref name="odnb">Template:Cite ODNB</ref> He attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Blackburn. It was there that he met English teacher Ronald Eyre, who directed him in a school production of The Tempest.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Thereafter he studied at Exeter College, Oxford, where he obtained a degree in English literature.<ref name="odnb"/>

Teaching career

On leaving university, Harty taught briefly at Blakey Moor Secondary Modern School in Blackburn, then became an English and drama teacher at Giggleswick School in North Yorkshire.<ref name="odnb"/> "I got a first-class degree, and was a hopeless teacher," Harty later said. However, his friend and Oxford contemporary Alan Bennett commented in his 2016 memoir Keeping On Keeping On that Harty "had a third-class degree and taught brilliantly".Template:Cn Template:Efn

Among Harty's pupils at the Giggleswick School were the journalist and television presenter Richard Whiteley<ref name="rampton">Template:Cite news</ref> and the actors Graham Hamilton and Anthony Daniels.Template:Cn In the mid-1960s Harty spent a year lecturing in English literature at the City University of New York.<ref name="auto"/>

Broadcasting career

He began his broadcasting career in 1967 when he became a radio producer for the BBC Third Programme, reviewing arts and literature.<ref name="timesobit"/><ref name="auto"/>

He got his first break in 1970 presenting the arts programme Aquarius,<ref name="Stevens"/> that was intended to be London Weekend Television's response to the BBC's Omnibus. One programme involving a "meeting of cultures" saw Harty travelling to Italy in 1974 to engineer an encounter between the entertainer Gracie Fields and the composer William Walton, two fellow Lancastrians then living on the neighbouring islands of Capri and Ischia.<ref name="Walton1988">Template:Cite book</ref> A documentary on Salvador Dalí ("Hello Dalí"), directed by Bruce Gowers, won an Emmy.<ref name="fiddick"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Another award-winning documentary was "Finnan Games" (1975) about a Scottish community, Glenfinnan, where "Bonnie Prince Charlie" raised his standard to begin the Jacobite rising of 1745, and its Highland Games.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1972, he interviewed Marc Bolan, who at that time was at the height of his fame as a teen idol and king of glam rock. During the interview, Harty asked Bolan what he thought he would be doing when he was forty or sixty years old, Bolan replied that he didn't think he would live that long.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (Bolan subsequently was killed in a car crash at age 29 on 16 September 1977).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Also in 1972, he was given his own series, Russell Harty Plus (later simply titled Russell Harty), conducting lengthy celebrity interviews, on ITV, which placed him against the BBC's Parkinson.<ref name="Stevens"/> Parts of Russell Harty's interview with the Who in 1973 were included in Jeff Stein's 1979 film The Kids Are Alright, providing notable moments, such as Pete Townshend and Keith Moon ripping off each other's shirt sleeves.<ref name="lawson"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1973 and in 1975 he interviewed David Bowie.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1975, he also interviewed Alice Cooper.Template:Cn Harty's interviewees included high-profile show business figures such as Danny Kaye, Rudolf Nureyev, Rita Hayworth, Diana Dors, Elaine Stritch and Ralph Richardson.<ref name="screenonline"/><ref name="tellyobit"/><ref name="fiddick"/><ref name="rampton"/> In 1973 Harty won a Pye Television Award for being male personality of the year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

He remained with ITV until 1980,<ref name="auto"/> at which point he transferred to the BBC.<ref name="fiddick">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn His first show was an arts programme, All About Books, but after a pause his chat-show activities resumed.<ref name="fiddick"/><ref name="tellyobit">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="screenonline"/> In November 1980 he interviewed the model and singer Grace Jones.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="indygrace">Template:Cite news</ref> Jones was nervous and distracted during the interview before a live studio audience and Harty found the interview an uneasy one to conduct, and appeared to be intimidated by Jones, commenting nervously to the audience regarding her demeanour on stage as "It's coming to life, it's coming to life!"Template:Cn Joined later on stage by other guests including Walter Poucher and Patrick Lichfield, Harty was compelled by the seating arrangement on stage to turn his back on Jones for an extended period.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="indygrace"/><ref name="lawson"/> After several protests she repeatedly slapped him on the shoulder.Template:Cn The incident generated so much press coverage that Harty later joked the headline for his obituary would read "Grace Jones Man Dead".<ref name="lawson"/>

Initially shown on BBC2 in a mid-evening slot,<ref name="fiddick"/> Russell Harty ran until May 1983<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> before being moved to an early evening BBC1 slot in September of that year; it was now simply titled Harty.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The show ended in December 1984,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> though Harty would continue to present factual programmes for the BBC for some time afterwards.<ref name="screenonline"/> In 1985, Harty was invited to the Prince's Palace of Monaco, by Prince Rainier, to conduct his first interview since the death of his wife, the actress Grace Kelly, in 1982.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1980,<ref name="lancstelly">Template:Cite news</ref> when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the London department store Selfridges while dressed as Santa Claus giving out presents to children.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1986, he interviewed Dirk Bogarde at his house in France, for Yorkshire Television.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some journalists thought the programme intrusive;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="tellyobit"/> some have cited Harty's achievement in getting the famously reclusive Bogarde to open up as a highpoint in his career as an interviewer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="rampton"/><ref name="screenonline"/>

In 1979, before his full-time return to the BBC, Harty had taken over from Desmond Wilcox as host of BBC Radio 4's Midweek;<ref name="tellyobit"/> from September 1987 until his final illness, he presented Start the Week on the same station.<ref name="lawson"/><ref name="timesobit"/> Also in 1987, he took over the TV programme Favourite Things from Roy Plomley; one of his interviewees was Margaret Thatcher.<ref name="lawson"/><ref name="timesobit">Template:Cite news</ref> His last TV programme, Russell Harty's Grand Tour, was broadcast by the BBC in 1988.<ref name="lawson"/>Template:Sfn

Writing

After writing occasional pieces for The Guardian, Harty wrote a weekly column for The Observer from 1977 to 1981, then from 1986 one for The Sunday Times.<ref name="hillmore">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="fiddick"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="lawson"/> In 1980 his adaptation of a short story by Muriel Spark, Black Madonna, was broadcast as part of the series BBC2 Playhouse.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="lawson">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="odnb"/>

Personal life

For the last six years of Harty's life his partner was the Irish novelist Jamie O'Neill. Latterly they resided in Harty's cottage in Giggleswick, North Yorkshire.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 1 March 1987, The News of the World ran an article exposing Harty as homosexual and claiming he used rent boys; the paper sent a male prostitute with a hidden tape recorder to his flat.<ref name="odnb"/><ref name="grauniadobit">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn In the hope of further revelations, reporters converged on Giggleswick, sat on Harty's doorstep, went through his dustbins, chased his car, forced their way into the school where he had once been a teacher, and even attempted to bribe the local vicar.Template:Sfn Harty's career and his popularity were not immediately affected by the coverage, and he continued writing for The Sunday Times (a sister paper to The News of the World).<ref name="nevin">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn Nonetheless, the incident was controversial, and was one of several instances cited in the debate about journalistic ethics in Britain that led to the Calcutt committee.<ref name="nevin"/><ref name="fraser">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Harty was a friend of the playwright Alan Bennett,<ref name="screenonline">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> whose first cabaret performance (while they were students at Oxford) was at a show Harty put together.Template:Sfn Bennett spoke of Harty's friendship with Bennett's own family, in the essay "Written on the Body" taken from his autobiographical collection Untold Stories.

Russell's shock-horror exposure in the tabloids, and the so-called revelations about his sex life, come long after my father is dead and my mother is incapable, but if they'd been around they might well have just shrugged it off. Dad certainly wouldn't have wanted him to stop coming round, as it would put an end to him playing his violin with Russell on the piano.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>{{#if:|

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Death

Early in May 1988, Harty became ill with hepatitis B. He collapsed and was admitted to the intensive care unit at St James's University Hospital, Leeds.<ref name="matthews">Template:Cite news</ref> Scrutiny from Britain's tabloid newspapers continued while Harty was seriously ill:<ref name="wainwright">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn they claimed that the disease was "related to an HIV/AIDS" infection,<ref name=gay>Clews, Colin. Gay in the 80s: From Fighting for our Rights to Fighting for our Lives, Troubador Publishing, 2017, Template:ISBN</ref> something his family and the hospital authorities denied to the press.<ref name="matthews"/><ref name="nevin"/>Template:Efn Journalists took a flat opposite the hospital and used a long-lens camera to photograph him on his deathbed, so that nursing staff had to keep the shutters closed;<ref name="wainwright"/><ref name="fraser"/><ref name="rampton"/>Template:Sfn they sent a large bouquet of "Get Well Soon" flowers to another patient in the ICU, containing money and the number of a newsdesk in Manchester (though the patient was too frail to be able to read this),<ref name="wainwright"/>Template:Sfn and tried to bribe porters and nurses in the hope of a scoop.<ref name="wainwright"/><ref name="fraser"/><ref name="rampton"/> One journalist put on a white coat and managed to invade the ICU, pretending to be a junior doctor, so he could read Harty's medical notes.<ref name="wainwright"/>

He died in St James's on 8 June 1988 at the age of 53 from liver failure caused by hepatitis.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His body was buried in the graveyard of St Alkelda Church at Giggleswick.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At a memorial service at St James's Church, Piccadilly attended by Harty's friends and colleagues from showbusiness, Alan Bennett commented in his eulogy that "the gutter press had finished Harty off."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=gay/>Template:Efn Another memorial service, for family members and local friends, took place at Blackburn Cathedral where Harty had been a server as a boy. His friend Michael Parkinson delivered the address, and told the media "Russell was a very funny man and a damn sight nicer than anyone who wrote about him".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="lancstelly"/>

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

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• Interview with Debbie Harry
• Interview with Dirk Bogarde