Robert "Barry" Barraby Bucknell (26 January 1912,

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

– 21 February 2003,

St Mawes St Mawes () is a village on the end of the Roseland Peninsula, in the eastern side of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth harbour, on the south coast of Cornwall, England. The village, formerly two separate hamlets, lies on the east bank of the Carri ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, aged 91) was an English TV presenter who popularised

Do It Yourself "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, wikt:modification, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals ...

(DIY) in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Bucknell was educated at the

William Ellis School William Ellis School is a voluntary aided secondary school and sixth form for boys located in Gospel Oak, London, England. Admissions The School is located near Hampstead Heath in north London. It is situated just east of Parliament Hill an ...

, Camden, and served an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

with

Daimler Daimler is a German surname. It may refer to: People * Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900), German inventor, industrialist and namesake of a series of automobile companies * Adolf Daimler (1871–1913), engineer and son of Gottlieb Daimler * Paul Da ...

, after which he joined his father's building and electrical firm in

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in North London. It was originally a medieval Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the are ...

. He was a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

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 ...

, working in the

National Fire Service The National Fire Service (NFS) was the single fire service created in Great Britain in 1941 during the Second World War; a separate National Fire Service (Northern Ireland) was created in 1942. History The NFS was created in August 1941 by t ...

during

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

and later. In the 1950s he served as a Labour Party member of St Pancras Borough Council.

Home improvement shows

After his first child was born, Bucknell was asked by a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

radio producer to give a talk on becoming a parent. It was after this that he was asked to demonstrate home improvements on TV.

About the Home

Initially, he was one of a number of experts answering viewers' questions, but his manner, both magisterial and welcoming, was so much liked he was given his own spot on ''About the Home'' in 1956, demonstrating tasks such as putting up shelves and making a tool box.

Barry Bucknell's Do It Yourself

In the late 1950s he began presenting the long running BBC TV series ''Barry Bucknell's Do It Yourself'' which at its peak attracted seven million viewers. The programmes were presented live and, despite rehearsing his projects at home with his wife timing him, occasionally resulted in on-screen mishaps with Bucknell saying "This is how not to do it!"

Bucknell's House

The 1962 series ''Bucknell's House'' followed a 39-week BBC project renovating a house, bought for £2,250, in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

. According to the 2008 Channel 4 programme ''How TV Changed Britain'' the house was now said to be worth £800,000.

Other television appearances

Bucknell appeared in a public information film ''Energy Sense is Common Sense'' in 1976.

Criticism

Bucknell often demonstrated techniques to 'modernise' older properties, most typically using cheap materials including

hardboard Hardboard, also called high-density fiberboard (HDF), is a type of fiberboard, which is a ''pressed wood'' or ''engineered wood'' product. It is used in furniture and in the construction industry. Description Hardboard is similar to particle ...

and

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

to cover up architectural detail such as period doors and fireplaces, which at that time were considered unfashionable. This earned Bucknell the moniker 'Bodger' Bucknell. By the 1990s, some critics argued that he was largely responsible for millions of home owners altering their properties to a style that, in turn, is now considered dated again.

Sailing interest

From the mid-1960s Bucknell became increasingly involved in

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

and he and Jack Holt designed the popular

Mirror Dinghy The Mirror is a type of popular dinghy sailing, sailing dinghy with more than 70,000 built. The Mirror was named after the ''Daily Mirror'', a United Kingdom, UK newspaper with a largely working-class distribution. The Mirror was from the start ...

. He also designed a two-man canoe for the

Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat (rescue), lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on s ...

, a

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

for his wife and himself which he moored next to his house in

References

External links

Whirligig TV
website
BBC News Online obituary
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bucknell, Barry 1912 births 2003 deaths People educated at William Ellis School English conscientious objectors English television personalities British boat builders