Kenneth Kendall
 |
Kenneth Kendall | |
|---|---|
| File:BBC Nine O'Clock News 1973.jpg Kenneth Kendall presenting The Nine O'Clock News in 1973 | |
| Born | 7 August 1924 India |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, Presenter |
| Notable credit | BBC Nine O'Clock News |
Kenneth Kendall (born 7 August 1924, British India) is a retired British broadcaster. He was a contemporary of Richard Baker and Robert Dougall. Although he worked for many years as a newsreader for the BBC, he is perhaps better remembered in recent years as the host of the game show Treasure Hunt (1982–89).
Early life
Kendall was born in South India, where his father worked, into a Cornish family with strong naval traditions and a history reaching back into the Crusades, and was brought up in Cornwall. He is also related to the Canadian pianist and composer Simon Kendall.
Education
Kendall was educated at Felsted School, an independent school in the village of Felsted near Great Dunmow in Essex, followed by Corpus Christi College at the University of Oxford in Oxford, where he studied Modern Languages.
Career
Kendall served as a schoolmaster and later as a Captain in the Coldstream Guards during World War II and was injured on D-Day. He joined the BBC in 1948 as a radio newsreader and transferred to television in 1954. Though he was not the first person to read the news on BBC television, Kendall was the first newsreader to appear in vision (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, and briefly at Austin Reed in Regent Street, where he met the actor John Inman and offered him a job in the Crewe company [1].
Kendall became known for his elegant dress sense and was even voted best-dressed newsreader by Style International and No.1 newscaster by Daily Mirror readers in 1979. He left the BBC in 1961. From 1961 to 1969 he was a freelance newsreader, working occasionally for ITN and presenting Southern Television's Day By Day. He appeared as himself in the Adam Adamant episode "The Doomsday Plan" where he is kidnapped and impersonated. He appeared in a cameo role as a newsreader in 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as in the Doctor Who serial The War Machines.
He rejoined the BBC in 1969 and finally retired from newsreading in 1981, allowing him to work on the very popular Channel Four programme Treasure Hunt throughout its first run (1982–1989), which featured Anneka Rice as a "skyrunner". He has also presented the television programme Songs of Praise.
Personal life
Kendall now lives in Cowes on the Isle of Wight where he has been the owner of a marine art gallery, and is a keen beekeeper.
References
External links