Robert Trelford McKenzie (11 September 1917 – 12 October 1981) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

professor of

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

, and a psephologist (one who does

statistical Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

analysis of

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

s). He is perhaps best known in Britain as one of the main presenters of 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 ...

's General Election programmes.

Early life

Born in

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British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada, the son of William Meldrum McKenzie and Frances (née) Chapman, he was educated at King Edward High School and the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

from which he graduated with a BA.Who's Who 1974, London : A. & C. Black, 1974, p. 2091 He was a lecturer at the same university from 1937 to 1942. In 1943, he joined the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army () is the command (military formation), command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also re ...

and a year later, with the rank of captain, was sent to London where he remained for the rest of his working life. Leaving the services three years later, McKenzie enrolled at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

to study for a doctorate. In 1949, he was given a sociology lectureship, and was promoted to professor in 1964.

Television

He was widely known in the UK for his televised reports on

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

results as they were announced on the

. He is popularly associated with the

swingometer The swingometer is a graphics device that shows the effects of the Swing (United Kingdom), swing from one party to another on United Kingdom, British UK General Elections, election results programmes. It is used to estimate the number of seats th ...

device used in such broadcasts. The swingometer was first introduced in 1955 by Peter Milne, and was later refined by McKenzie and David Butler and used nationally in the 1959 General election for the BBC. At first Butler used the meter, but in 1964 McKenzie enthusiastically took over. He appeared on all BBC election nights from 1955 to 1979, and was later replaced by

Peter Snow Peter John Snow (born 20 April 1938) is a British radio and television presenter and historian. Between 1969 and 2005, he was an analyst of general election results, first on ITV and later for the BBC. He presented ''Newsnight'' from its lau ...

in 1983 due to McKenzie's death in 1981. In 1980, he introduced and moderated the discussions in each episode of

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and ...

's television series '' Free to Choose''. McKenzie famously interviewed Lord Hailsham on the BBC programme ''Gallery'' in 1963, asking questions on the then recent scandal involving Conservative cabinet minister

John Profumo John Dennis Profumo ( ; 30 January 1915 – 9 March 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo affai ...

. Hailsham became increasingly fractious as the interview progressed regarding McKenzie's line of questioning, even though Hailsham was strongly critical of Profumo's conduct.

Other work

He wrote many academic books and papers during his career, including ''British Political Parties: The Distribution of Power within the Conservative and Labour Parties'' and ''Angels in Marble: Working Class Conservatives in Urban England'', but it was through television and radio that his name became known. His broadcasting career began when he was requested by the

to give occasional talks on the Overseas Service; he was later invited to become involved in dramatic radio and TV, such as appearing as himself on an episode of the British series ''

Yes Minister ''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes f ...

''.

Death

McKenzie died from cancer in 1981.McKenzie's Lore.
BBC video first broadcast 12 May 1987.

Publications

*''British Political Parties : The Distribution of Power Within the Conservative and Labour Parties'', 1955; 2nd ed., 1963. *''Angels in Marble: Working Class Conservativism in Urban England'' (with Allan Silver), 1968.

Notes

External links

Entry about McKenzie
from the

BBC Archive - SwingometerBritish Political Parties — Thirty Years after Robert McKenzieDon't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Robert 1917 births 1981 deaths Psephologists Deaths from cancer Canadian sociologists Canadian military personnel from British Columbia BBC television presenters Academics of the London School of Economics Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Canadian emigrants to England Canadian Army personnel of World War II Canadian Army officers Canadian expatriates in the United Kingdom Canadian political scientists