Kenneth Allsop (29 January 1920 – 23 May 1973) was a British broadcaster, author and naturalist.

Early life

Allsop was born on 29 January 1920 in

Holbeck Holbeck is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins on the southern edge of Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 postcode district. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is t ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

. He was married in

St Peter's Church, Ealing St Peter's Church, Ealing, is an Anglican parish church in Mount Park Road, North Ealing, in the Diocese of London, regarded by Sir John Betjeman as an example of a Victorian-built church "of which we can be proud". Held to be one of the premie ...

, in March 1942. He served in the R.A.F. in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and had a leg amputated after an injury on an assault course, which left him in constant pain.

Career

In 1958 he wrote an account of 1950s British literature, ''The Angry Decade'', at the end of which he remarked that: "In this technologically triumphant age, when the rockets begin to scream up towards the moon but the human mind seems at an even greater distance, anger has a limited use. Love has a wider application, and it is that which needs describing wherever it can be found so that we may all recognise it and learn its use." Allsop was a regular reporter for the BBC current affairs programme ''

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

'' during the 1960s. He was also Rector of Edinburgh University and won the

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or drama) by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kin ...

. He was an obvious choice as a guest in the first series of the long-running naturalist radio programme ''Sounds Natural'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

on 24 May 1971.

Death and legacy

The

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a cor ...

into his death recorded an open verdict, despite having found that it was brought about by an overdose of barbiturates. He is buried at Powerstock in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. The Kenneth Allsop Memorial Trust, a registered charity, was launched in 1973 with an appeal for funds, at first intending to acquire and conserve Eggardon Hill in Dorset. Instead, in 1976 the trust bought the island of Steep Holm in the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...

for £10,000, and runs it as a nature reserve. ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' instituted a Kenneth Allsop Memorial Essay Competition, which took place annually until 1986. The Allsop Gallery, an exhibition space in Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset, is named after him.

List of works

*''The Sun Himself Must Die'' (1949) *''Silver Flame'' (1950) *''The Daybreak Edition'' (1951) *''The Last Voyages of the Mayflower'' (1955) *''The Angry Decade'' (1958) *''Rare Bird'' (1959) *''Question of Obscenity'' (1960) (with Robert Pitman) *''The Bootleggers'' (1961) *''Adventure Lit Their Star'' (1949) (the 1950 winner of the

) *''Scan'' (collected journalism) 1965 *''Strip Jack Naked'' (1972) *''Harriet Beecher Stowe'' (1971) *''Hard Travellin': The Hobo and his History'' (1967) *''In the Country'' (1973 and 2013) *''Letters to his Daughter'' (1974) *''One and All: Two Years in the Chilterns'' (1991)

References

# 'Keeping The Barbarians At Bay: The Last Years Of Kenneth Allsop, Green Pioneer' by David Wilkinson (2013)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Allsop, Kenneth 1920 births 1973 deaths Barbiturates-related deaths English male non-fiction writers English male journalists John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winners Rectors of the University of Edinburgh Royal Air Force personnel of World War II English amputees Drug-related deaths in England