Nigel Rees

Nigel Rees (born 5 June 1944 near Liverpool) is an English writer and broadcaster, known for devising and hosting the Radio 4 panel game '' Quote... Unquote'' (1976–2021) and as the author of more than fifty books, mostly works of reference on language, and humour in language.

Personal life

Rees attended Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby, near Liverpool where he was born, and then studied for a degree in English at New College, Oxford, where he was a Trevelyan Scholar and took a leading role in the Oxford University Broadcasting Society.

Rees is a past President of the Lichfield Johnson Society and was described in ''The Spectator'' as "Britain's most popular lexicographer – the lineal successor to Eric Partridge and, like him, he makes etymology fun."

He is married to Sue Bates and lives in London and Oxfordshire.

Television and radio

After leaving university, Rees went straight into television with Granada in Manchester and made his first TV appearances on local programmes in 1967 before moving to London as a freelance. He worked for ITN's '' News at Ten'' as a reporter before becoming involved in programmes for BBC Radio as reporter and producer.

In 1971, he turned to presenting. He introduced the BBC World Service current affairs magazine '' Twenty Four Hours'' between 1972 and 1979. From 1973 to 1975 he was also a regular presenter of Radio 4's arts magazine ''Kaleidoscope''. From 1976 to 1978, he was the founder presenter of Radio 4's newspaper review ''Between the Lines'' and, from 1984 to 1986, ''Stop Press''.

Rees kept up the revue acting he had started at Oxford by appearing for five years in Radio 4's topical comedy show '' Week Ending...'', in the ''Betty Witherspoon Show'' with Ted Ray, Kenneth Williams and Miriam Margolyes, and then in all six series of the comedy ''The Burkiss Way''. Comedy appearances have also included ''Harry Enfield and Chums'' on BBC TV.

In 1976, he became the youngest ever regular presenter of Radio 4's ''Today'' programme, at the age of 32. He presented the programme for two years with Brian Redhead before leaving in May 1978 at the time of his marriage to Sue Bates, a marketing executive. '' Quote... Unquote'', his quiz anthology on Radio 4, was by then in its third series. Co-developed with John Lloyd, the series continued until 2021.

In 1990, Rees became the first celebrity winner of the Channel 4 quiz show ''Fifteen to One'', finishing with a score of 141 points.

Widely recognised as host and participant in quizzes and panel games, he has been chairman of TV's ''Cabbages and Kings'' (quotations), ''Challenge of the South'' (general knowledge), ''Amoebas to Zebras'' (natural history) and ''First Things First'' (panel game) — all on ITV. For 18 years, he was a regular guest in Dictionary Corner on Channel 4's ''Countdown''.

Writing

In 1978, he wrote the first ''Quote... Unquote'' book, which led to a series under varying titles and devoted to aspects of the English language and especially the humour that derives from it. One of his five graffiti collections was a No. 1 paperback best-seller in the UK. Since 1992, he has published and edited ''The Quote... Unquote Newsletter'', a quarterly journal (now distributed electronically) and devoted to the origins and use of well-known quotations, phrases and sayings. In 2011, his autobiography, ''My Radio Times'', was published.

Reference books he has written or compiled include the ''Cassell's Movie Quotations'', ''Cassell's Humorous Quotations'', ''A Word in Your Shell-Like '' and ''Brewer's Famous Quotations''. In ''The Yale Book of Quotations'', Fred Shapiro describes Rees as a "pioneering quotation scholar".Fred Shapiro, ''Yale Book of Quotations'' (2006): "The books of Nigel Rees have been an important source of information for this work ... Rees has been a pioneering quotation scholar who was one of the first to make it clear that the material in the standard reference works for many of the best-known and most interesting quotations can be improved upon."

Selected bibliography

*''Graffiti Lives OK'' (1979)
*''Cassell Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins'' (1987)
*''The Bloomsbury Dictionary of Popular Phrases'' (1990)
*''Politically Correct Phrasebook'' (1993)
*''Cassell's Movie Quotations'' (2000)
*''Cassell's Humorous Quotations'' (2001)
*''I Told You I Was Sick'' (2005)
*''A Word in Your Shell-Like'' (2005)
*''Brewer's Famous Quotations'' (2006)
*''A Man About a Dog – Euphemisms &c'' (2006)
*''All Gong and No Dinner – Homely Phrases and Curious Domestic Sayings'' (2007)
*''Don't You Know There's a War On?'' (2011)
*''My Radio Times'' (2011)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Nigel
1944 births
English writers
English radio personalities
English game show hosts
Living people
Alumni of New College, Oxford
People from Crosby, Merseyside
People educated at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby