Gilbert Charles Harding(5 June 1907 – 16 November 1960) was a British journalist and radio and television personality. His many careers included schoolmaster, journalist, policeman,disc jockey,actor, interviewer and television presenter. He also appeared in several films, sometimes in character parts but usually as himself – for example inExpresso Bongo(1959).
Gilbert Harding | |
|---|---|
 Harding photographed byJohn Gay,1949 | |
| Born | Gilbert Charles Harding 5 June 1907 Hereford,England |
| Died | 16 November 1960(aged 53) Marylebone,London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Queens' College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, radio and television personality |
Harding had a sizeable role alongsideJohn Millsin the 1952 filmThe Gentle Gunman,and narrated the introduction to the filmPacific Destiny(1956). He also made a couple of comedy records in the 1950s.
Early life
editHarding was born inHerefordwhere his parents, Gilbert Harding and May King, were employed as "master" and "matron" of the city'sworkhouse.[1][2]His father died in 1911 at the age of thirty following anappendicitisoperation,[3]and so his mother sent their son to board at theRoyal Orphanage of Wolverhampton,"an excellent academy" which prepared him for his subsequent education atQueens' College, Cambridge.Due to the circumstances of his upbringing, Harding was fond of the "half-true" claim to have been "born in a workhouse and educated in an orphanage".[4]His paternal grandparents, Gilbert William and Mary Priscilla Harding, were superintendents of the Children's Home at Caerleon, Newport, Wales; his maternal grandfather, Charles King, was in charge of the Hereford Union Workhouse, having previously worked at the workhouse inAylesbury,Buckinghamshire.[5][6]
After Cambridge, Harding took jobs teaching English in Canada and France. He returned to Britain and worked as a policeman inBradford,before taking a position asThe Timescorrespondent inCyprus.In 1936 he again returned to Britain and began a long-term career with theBBC.
BBC career
editHe was a regular on BBC Radio'sTwenty Questions[7]and was voted Personality of the Year in the National Radio Awards of 1953-4.[8]Harding regularly appeared on the BBC television panel gameWhat's My Line?as a panellist, having been the presenter of the very first episode in 1951.
Harding was notorious for his irascibility and was at one time characterised in the tabloid press as "the rudest man in Britain". His fame sprang from an inability tosuffer fools gladly,and many 1950s TV viewers watchedWhat's My Line?less for the quiz elements than for the chance of a live Harding outburst. An incident on an early broadcast started this trend when Harding became annoyed with a contestant, and told him that he was getting bored with him. Harding's rudeness off-screen was also commented upon; at a wedding reception at which a guest remarked that the bride and groom would make an ideal couple, Harding replied "You should know, you've slept with both of them".[citation needed]He became increasingly unable to move anywhere in public without being accosted by adoring viewers. On one occasion he asked a mother with two children if "your children are crippled", because they had stayed seated on a railway bench.[citation needed]
In 1960 he was reduced to tears on an edition of theFace to Faceseries,[9]after being questioned by the hostJohn Freeman.As the focus of the interview moved on to the subject of death, Freeman asked Harding if he had ever been in the presence of a dead person. At this point, in replying in the affirmative, Harding's voice began to break and his eyes watered. Freeman later said he had not anticipated the effect this would have; Harding had witnessed his mother's death in 1954.[10]Freeman appeared to be unaware that Harding was referring to his mother, for later in the interview he asserted that Harding's mother was still alive. Harding contradicted him, and Freeman moved quickly on. This version of events has been contradicted by the producer,Hugh Burnett.[clarification needed][11]
Freeman publicly expressed regret about this line of questioning; its emphasis on Harding's "closeness" to his mother has since been seen by at least one commentator as a tactless attempt to expose hishomosexuality,[12]though the viewing public did not become aware of it, and he was seen as merely a lonelybachelor.Harding kept his sexuality secret because male homosexual behaviour was a criminal offence in the UK. Harding also admitted in the programme that his bad manners and temper were "indefensible". "[I'm] profoundly lonely", he stated, later adding, "I would very much like to be dead."
Death
editHarding died a few weeks after theFace to Faceprogramme was broadcast, collapsing outsideBroadcasting Houseas he was about to climb into a taxi. The cause was anasthmaattack. He was 53 years old.
He was buried inSt. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery,Kensal Green,west London.[13]
Media
editBehind Harding's gruff exterior there was a lonely and complex man who constantly donated to charity, visited the sick and helped many in need.[citation needed]But such details, in conflict with the public image, became public only after his death. In 1979, radio presenter Owen Spencer-Thomas on BBC Radio London'sGilbert Hardingdescribed him as "Enigma tic... bad-tempered and rude, yet his friends counted him as one of the kindest, and most generous."[14]
TheFace to Faceinterview was rebroadcast onBBC Fouron 18 October 2005, following a repeated episode ofWhat's My Line?.It was also broadcast in part on the BBC Four series 'Talk at the BBC'. A three-hour programme,The Rudest Man in Britain,was broadcast onBBC Radio 4 Extrain 2014 and has been repeated several times. This included interviews with people who knew and worked with Harding, and explored his life, personality, sexuality and influence in a non-judgemental way. It included theFace to Faceinterview in full, as well as episodes of programmes in which Harding was either Chairman or panel member. It ended withStephen Wyatt's playDr Brighton and Mr Harding.[citation needed]
References and sources
edit- References
- ^Denis William Brogan(September 2004). "Harding, Gilbert Charles (1907–1960), radio and television broadcaster".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33701.ISBN978-0-198-61412-8.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^"The Workhouse, the story of an institution..."Peter Higginbotham.Retrieved26 May2018.
- ^Harding, Gilbert.Along my Line.London: Putnam, 1953, chapter 2.
- ^Brief Lives, Paul Johnson, Arrow Books, 2011, p. 127
- ^Along My Line, Gilbert Harding, Putnam, 1953, p. 3
- ^Gilbert Harding: A Candid Portrayal, Wallace Rayburn, Angus & Robertson, 1978, p. 8
- ^Kynaston, David(2009).Family Britain 1951-7.London: Bloomsbury. p. 18.ISBN9780747583851.
- ^Kynaston, David (2009).Family Britain 1951-7.London: Bloomsbury. p. 354.ISBN9780747583851.
- ^According to the booklet for theFace to FaceRegion 2 DVD set (p.27) the interview with Harding was recorded on 3 July 1960 and broadcast on 18 September 1960.
- ^Gilbert Harding: A Candid Portrayal, Wallace Reyburn, Angus & Robertson, 1978, p. 82
- ^Frances Bonner,Personality Presenters: Television's Intermediaries With Viewers,Ashgate Publishing Limited, Aldershot, 2011, p.82
- ^Andrew Roberts"Harding, Gilbert (1907–1960)",BFI screen online website. Accessed URL 29 May 2010.
- ^"Gilbert Harding".Find A Grave.Retrieved21 March2012.
- ^Stephen Bourne"Harding, Gilbert"Archived3 March 2016 at theWayback Machine,The Museum of Broadcast Communications website. URL retrieved 29 March 2010.
- Sources
- Grenfell, Stephen(ed.) (1961)Gilbert Harding By His Friends.London: Andre Deutsch (memories)
- Harding, Gilbert. (1953)Along My Line.London:Putnam(autobiography)
External links
edit- Russ J. Graham,"Gilbert Harding"atTV Heroes.
- Andrew Roberts,"Harding, Gilbert (1907–1960)"atScreenOnline,British Film Institute.
- Image of Gilbert Harding
