Kenneth Kendall

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Kenneth Kendall (born August 7, 1924 in British India , † December 14, 2012 in Cowes , Isle of Wight , United Kingdom ) was a British film actor and news anchor (broadcaster) . He worked for many years as a news anchor for the BBC and, along with his contemporaries Richard Baker and Robert Dougall, was one of the so-called "Big Three" of the BBC.

Early years

Kenneth Kendall was born in British India, where his father, Frederic William Kendall († May 30, 1945) worked as a metallurgist . At the age of 10, Kendall started school at the Felsted School in Essex , England. But his parents stayed in India, so that he rarely saw them. “My parents stayed in India, so I had to stay with relatives during school holidays because this was before the Second World War when it wasn't really possible to fly easily between England and India. So quite often I didn't see my parents for two or three years at a time. " ( “My parents stayed in India, so I had to stay with relatives during the school holidays, because it was the time before the Second World War , when it was not possible to fly back and forth between England and India. And so I got mine Parents often not seen for two or three years. ” ) After graduating from school, Kendall began studying Modern Languages at Corpus Christi College at the University of Oxford , but was drafted into the British Army , the Coldstream Guards , a year later .

military service

Kendall was a lieutenant in command of a platoon and landed in Normandy ten days after D-Day in 1944 . He was wounded a month later. “My battalion went over there 10 days after the Normandy landings, but after only a month I was wounded and had to come home. So I didn't see too much of the war, but it was still plenty! " ( "My battalion went over ten days after landing in Normandy, but after only a month I was wounded and was sent home. So I didn't see that much of the war, but it was [more than] enough!" ) After the end of the Second World War, he remained in the Royal Army for two more years and was stationed in Palestine in 1946 when the British government increased the number of troops to around 100,000 soldiers because of the increased tension there. At the end of his service, Kendall retired from the British Army with the rank of captain.

With radio or television

After his military service, Kendall initially returned to the University of Oxford to complete his studies in Modern Languages . He then applied to the Foreign Service, but was not one of the five percent of applicants who were accepted into the service. A friend thought Kendall had a very clear, expressive voice and suggested that he apply to the BBC. And after an entrance test, Kendall was hired as the BBC's Home Service announcer in 1948. In 1955, Kendall joined BBC Television and became the first in-vision newsreader on September 4, 1955. In the early days of BBC TV, the news anchors did not appear on the screen because it was feared that the speaker's facial expressions could affect the objectivity of the news. Instead, the information was read out and viewers saw a series of still images and maps on the screen. It was not until 1955, when the imminent launch of ITN ( Independent Television News ) was expected to have a less formal news service, that the BBC decided to have its newscaster in-vision appear on the screen. In September 1957, it was determined that Kenneth Kendall, Richard Baker and Robert Dougall would be the team that regularly read the BBC News ("The Big Three"). Kendall soon became known for his flawless looks, stylish, elegant attire, and was voted the best-dressed news anchor by readers of the Daily Mirror in 1979 .

In 1961, Kendall was of the opinion that he did not want to be a news anchor for the end of his days and moved to the television planning department of the BBC. After a short time he began to hate the job so much that he left the BBC in 1961 and began freelance work (1961-1969). I.a. During this time he presented: BBC TV quiz show Pit Your Wits (1961–1963); Fascinating Facts (October / December 1963 and February – May 1964); BBC TV's regional magazine Town and Around (1969). In the mid-1960s, he hosted Day by Day, Southern Television's (ITN) night magazine. He also appeared as an actor, including in Troubleshooters (1965 and 1967), Dr. Who, Adam Adamant. Sometime from 1966 to 1968 he played a BBC television news anchor in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 film : A Space Odyssey .

He also worked for a Crewe- based repertory company and, for a short time, at the Austin Reed textile merchant on Regent Street in London .

In 1969 he returned to the BBC and worked again as a newscaster - together with Richard Baker and Robert Dougall.

On December 23, 1981, he finally retired from the news business.

Retired

Retirement enabled Kendall to appear on Tresure Hunt , a Channel 4 show , from 1982 to 1989 . In 2010, Kendall appeared on TV for the last time in the BBC series The Young Ones . In the series, six prominent figures of the 1970s or 1980s (in addition to Kenneth Kendall, these were the tabloid journalist and broadcaster Derek Jameson, the entertainer Lionel Blair, the former cricket referee Dickie Bird and the actresses Liz Smith and Sylvia Syms ) tried various problems, that aging brings, by going back to the 1970s.

Personal

Kendall lived in Cowes on the Isle of Wight with his partner Mark Fear, with whom he had been dating since 1989. Together they ran an art gallery. In 2006 the couple entered into a civil partnership. Kendall died on December 14, 2012 as a result of a stroke he had suffered a few weeks earlier. On April 29, 2013, his partner Mark Fear was found dead. An investigation found that he had committed suicide because he was "overwhelmed with grief".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BBC December 14, 2013: Broadcaster Kenneth Kendall dies
  2. ↑ a b c Kenneth Kendall - Island Life Aug / Sep 2011 | Island Life Magazine
  3. ^ The Army Museum: The British Army in Palestine
  4. ^ Franz-Josef Brüggemeier: History of Great Britain in the 20th Century. Munich 2010, p. 234
  5. ↑ a b c d The Telegraph December 14, 2012: Kenneth Kendall, who has died aged 88, was the first BBC newsreader to appear on television.
  6. ↑ a b c Showreel September 1, 2018: Kenneth Kendall
  7. ^ The Telegraph September 14, 2010: The Young Ones: you're only as old as the era you love
  8. ↑ BBC October 29, 2013: Kenneth Kendall's partner committed suicide 'overcome by grief'
personal data
SURNAME Kendall, Kenneth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British news anchor
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH British India
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 2012
Place of death Cowes , Isle of Wight , United Kingdom