Kenneth Kendall (7 August 1924 – 14 December 2012) was a British broadcaster. He worked for many years as a newsreader for the

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 ...

, where he was a contemporary of fellow newsreaders Richard Baker and Robert Dougall. He is also remembered as the host of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

game show '' Treasure Hunt'', which ran between 1982 and 1989, as well as the host of ''

The World Tonight ''The World Tonight'' is a British current affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4, every weekday evening, which started out as an extension of the 10 pm news. It is produced by BBC News and features news, analysis and comment on dome ...

'' in the 1968 science fiction film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''.

Early life

Kendall was born in India where his father, Frederic William Kendall (d. 30 May 1945), worked. He was brought up in

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, ...

. Kendall was educated at Felsted School in Essex, England. He read Modern Languages at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

, for one year before being called up to the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Military service

Kendall joined the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

where he was commissioned as a lieutenant. He arrived in

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

ten days after

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

but was wounded about a month later. In 1945, he was among 100,000 British military personnel sent to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. In 1946, he was demobilised from the Guards as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Broadcasting career

After leaving the army, Kendall returned to Oxford to complete his Modern Language degree. He hoped to join the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

but instead joined the BBC in 1948 as a radio newsreader. In 1954, he transferred to television. Although he was not the first newsreader on

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

, Kendall was the first to appear in front of a camera reading the news in 1955. As he was employed on a freelance basis by the BBC, he also worked as an actor for a repertory company based in

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...

, and briefly at the menswear retailer Austin Reed in

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George IV of the United Kingdom, George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash (architect), J ...

, where he met actor John Inman and offered him a job in the Crewe theatre company. Kendall became known for his elegant dress sense and was voted best-dressed newsreader by ''Style International'' and No.1 newscaster by ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' readers in 1979. He left the BBC in 1961, and from 1961 to 1969 was a freelance newsreader, working occasionally for

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

and presenting

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited. However, in 1966, during the application pr ...

's ''Day By Day''. He also made

cameo appearances A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking one ...

as himself in television dramas; he featured in the 1966 '' Adam Adamant'' episode "The Doomsday Plan", in which he is kidnapped and impersonated, and he also appeared in the 1966 ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' serial '' The War Machines''. He rejoined

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

in 1969, and finally retired from newsreading on 23 December 1981; Kendall was unable to read his final news bulletin because he slipped on ice and broke his arm. Kendall's retirement allowed him to work on the popular

programme '' Treasure Hunt'' throughout its first run (1982–1989), which featured Anneka Rice as a "skyrunner". He also presented the television programme ''

Songs of Praise ''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns, worship songs and inspirational performances in churches of varying denominations from around the UK alongside interviews and stories reflecting how Ch ...

''.

Later life

Soon after retirement from news reading, Kendall lent his voice to the

BBC Micro The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a family of microcomputers developed and manufactured by Acorn Computers in the early 1980s as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project. Launched in December 1981, it was showcased across severa ...

as part of

Acorn Computers Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England in 1978 by Hermann Hauser, Christopher Curry (businessman), Chris Curry and Andy Hopper. The company produced a number of computers during the 1980s with asso ...

' hardware speech synthesis system. In 2010 he took part in BBC's series ''The Young Ones'' in which six well-known people in their 70s and 80s attempt to overcome some of the problems of ageing by harking back to the 1970s.

Personal life

Kendall lived in

Cowes Cowes () is an England, English port, seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked b ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

with his partner Mark Fear, with whom he had been since 1989. Fear was the owner of a marine art gallery and a

beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees, a profession known as beekeeping. The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees in beehives, boxes, or other receptacles. The beekeeper does not control the creatures. The beekeeper ow ...

. The couple entered into a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...

in 2006.

Death

Kendall died on 14 December 2012, following a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

a few weeks previously. On 29 April 2013, his partner Mark Fear was found hanged aged 55. An inquest concluded that he had died by suicide because he was "overcome by grief".

Filmography

*'' The Reckless Moment'' (1949) – Man (uncredited) *'' The Day The Earth Stood Still'' (1951) – TV Newscaster (uncredited) *'' Scotland Yard Evidence in Concrete'' (1961) – TV news reader on Decca television screen *'' The Brain'' (1962) – TV Newscaster (uncredited) *''

: The War Machines'' (1966) – Himself (Credited, TV cameo) *'' They Came from Beyond Space'' (1967) – Commentator *''The Exorcism'' – from the '' Dead of Night'' BBC TV series. (1972) (Credited) *'' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) – BBC-12 Announcer (uncredited)

References

External links

*
Interview with Kenneth Kendall in 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kendall, Kenneth 1924 births 2012 deaths Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford BBC newsreaders and journalists British Army personnel of World War II British game show hosts British male journalists Coldstream Guards officers British LGBTQ broadcasters British LGBTQ journalists People educated at Felsted School Television personalities from Cornwall Gay military personnel British LGBTQ military personnel British people in colonial India