The Week - UK (2022-02-19)

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THEWEEK19 February 2022

Obituaries

BamberGascoigne,whohas

diedaged87,wasawriter,

broadcaster,historianand

arts connoisseur –buthewill

be rememberedastheoriginalhostofthelong-

runningTVquizshowUniversity Challenge,

saidTheTimes. Whereas hissuccessor,Jeremy

Paxman,hastendedtoadoptasomewhat

acerbic,impatienttonewiththe student

competitors(“Ohcomeon!”),Gascoigne –

whowasonly27 whentheshow launchedin

1962 – wascourteous,encouraging(a“softy”,

by his own estimation).Withhis patricianvoice

anddonnishappearance,hewasanunlikely

starof commercialtelevision; yethe regularly

attracted11 million viewers,andhis

catchphrases–“Fingers onthebuzzer”;“Your

starter for10”;“I’m sorry,I’llhave tohurry

you”–livedon longafter heleft theshowin

1987.HewasparodiedonThe YoungOnes;

andin 2003 DavidNichollswroteanovel

calledStarterforTen,whichrevolvedaround

University Challenge.Itwaslaterturnedintoahitfilm,in which

GascoignewasplayedbyMarkGatiss.

ArthurBamber Gascoignewasborn in1935, thesonofLt Col

DerickGascoigneandhiswife,Midi O’Neill.Thefamilyhad

Normanroots and couldtraceitshistorybackto the14th

century;Bamberwasthe nameofanIrishancestor. Hewona

scholarship toEton,then spent apleasant twoyearson National

Servicein theGrenadierGuards. Hisduties,he said,alternated

betweenguardingBuckinghamPalaceand escortingdebutantes

to balls.In 1955,he went uptoMagdaleneCollege,Cambridge,

where hereadEnglishliterature and joinedFootlights. He’d

loved actingat school,butdecided that beingin thesameplay

every nightwasboring,andturned towritingskits instead.

ProducerMichaelCodron persuaded him towriteawhole revue,

andin 1957 Share MyLettuceopened inthe WestEnd,starring

twounknowns: KennethWilliamsand MaggieSmith.Later,he

workedasatheatrecriticforTheSpectator andTheObserver.In

the early1960s,Gascoigne got aletter asking

himif hewouldliketo audition foranewquiz

showfor Granada,basedon theAmerican

showCollege Bowl.“Theletter virtually said,

‘If you wanttobeon TV, ringthisnumber.’”

Althoughthe firstseries waswonbythe

Universityof Leicester,the showwas

dominatedbyOxfordandCambridge,as they

wereeach allowedto field five colleges. (In

197 5, thistriggered aprotest byateam from

ManchesterUniversity:inanefforttomake

the quiz unbroadcastable,theyanswered every

question“CheGuevara”,“Marx”,“Trotsky”

or “Lenin”. There were alsocomplaints that

polytechnics wereexcluded.)Gascoigne was

himselferuditeandnaturallyintellectual:in the

earlydays,hesetallthe questions himself.But

heworehislearninglightly and smilingly,said

MarkLawson inTheGuardian.Infact,hewas

the perfecthostto prove that viewerenjoyment

didn’tnecessarilydepend onbeingableto

answerthe questions. Hischarmand“easygoingintellect”made

it possible for“viewers toenjoythe clevernessofothers”.

HedescribedUniversity Challengeas likea“richgodfather”:it

didn’tpayafortune,butit providedhimwitharegular income,

which enabledhimtopursuehismanyotherinterests.He

presentedTVdocumentaries,includingTheChristiansandThe

GreatMoghuls;wrotebestsellingbooksbased onthem;and

established hisownpublishinghouse,whichspecialised inbooks

of rare prints.In 201 4, hewassurprisedto discoverthathis

99-year-oldaunthadbequeathedhimhercrumblingmedieval

manorhouseinSurrey.“Everytimethere wasanewdrip,she

thought:getanew bucket,” heobserved.Rather thansellthe

house, andbankmillions,heand hiswifeChristina,a

photographer and ceramicist,puttheestateintothe hands of

acharitabletrust. West HorsleyPlaceisnowacommunityarts

centre andthehomeofGrangeParkOpera. Theirownhome

wasabook-linedhouse overlookingtheThamesinRichmond.

Bamber

Gascoigne

1935-2022

Knownasthe NightingaleofIndia

forthe purity ofher voice,Lata

Mangeshkar,whohasdiedaged

92,wasthe queenofBollywood

playback singers:overseveraldecades, she recorded

songsfor thousandsoflip-synchingfilmstars. And

thoughherfacewas notfamiliar to everyone, her

voice certainlywas.Aswell as singing in around

1,000films, saidBBCNews, she recorded tensof

thousands of songs in 26 languages,andinIndia

they couldbeheardeverywhere: in shops,

restaurants, taxisandonthe radio. She washerself

awomanwithahuge range of enthusiasmsand

interests, from fast carsand cricket to Sherlock

Holmesand JamesBond.Her favouriteHollywood

filmwasTheKing andI,while her eclectic musical

tastesranged from Mozart, Beethoven andChopin

to NatKing Cole, BarbraStreisandand theBeatles.

“I always think: happiness is forsharing with the

world,andsorrow is for keepingtoyourself,”she once said.

If she hadany competitionasaplayback singer, it wasfromher

sister Asha(the subject of theCornershopsongBrimfulofAsha).

But they wereclose, andMangeshkarinsistedthat theywere

neverrivals. BorninIndore,inwhat is nowMadhya Pradesh

state,she wasthe daughterofamusician andateacherwho ran

atouringtheatrecompany.Shedidn’t goto

school, saidTheGuardian,because shewasn’t

allowedtobringher babysister Ashato class.

Muchofher childhoodwasspentsingingat

religious gatheringsalongsideher father.He

diedin 1942, however,leavingLataasthe sole

breadwinner,aged13. Sheauditioned for film

roles,andwonafew. Butshe didn’t enjoybeing

in front of the camera; she wasn’t comfortable on

busyfilmssets, andwas shocked when adirector

asked hertotrimher broadeyebrows. So she

decidedto tryher hand as aplaybacksinger.In

1949,she recordedthe songAayega Aanewalafor

the filmMahal.Itbecameahugehit, saidThe

Daily Telegraph, andshe neverlooked back. Over

the next fewdecades, she sang for most of Hindi

cinema’s biggest stars, from Meena Kumariand

Madhubala in the earlydays of Bollywood,to the

modern entertainer PriyankaChopra.Shesold

tensof millionsof records, wonscoresofawardsand performed

all over theworld.Freddie Mercury wasamong thosesaidto

havebeeninfluencedbyher. Shewon allofIndia’s civilian

honours; andin 2007, France conferred on her its highestcivilian

award,Officier de la Légiond’honneur. In 1981,thewriterGopal

Krishna said: “Cricket,Lata Mangeshkarand thetransistormake

India one nation.”

Lata

Mangeshkar

1929-2022

Genialpolymath who hosted UniversityChallenge

Gascoigne:worehis learninglightly

Mangeshkar:influential

Playbacksinger knownas the Nightingale of India

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