Robert KeeCBE(5 October 1919 – 11 January 2013)[1]was a British broadcaster, journalist, historian and writer, known for his historical works onWorld War IIandIreland.
Robert Kee CBE | |
|---|---|
 Kee in 1987 | |
| Born | 5 October 1919 |
| Died | 11 January 2013(aged 93) |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist,newsandTV presenterandauthor |
| Spouses | Janetta Woolley
(m.1948;div.1950)Cynthia Judah
(m.1960;div.1989)Catherine Trevelyan (m.1990) |
| Children | 3 |
Life and career
editKee was born on 5 October 1919 inCalcutta,India, to Robert and Dorothy (née Monkman). The family did well but was forced to return to Britain during the depressed early 1930s.[2]
He earned a scholarship toStowe School,Buckingham, and read history atMagdalen College, Oxford,where he was a pupil, then a friend, of the historianA.J.P. Taylor.He considered his Stowe education as having prepared him perfectly for subsequent wartime incarceration.[2]
DuringWorld War IIhe served in theRoyal Air Forceas a bomber pilot. Flying theHandley Page Hampden,he was shot down byflakwhile on a night mine-laying mission off the coast of German-occupied Holland. He was captured and spent three years in a German POW camp. This gave him material for his first book,A Crowd Is Not Company.It was first published as a novel in 1947, but was later revealed to be an autobiography. It recounts his experiences as a prisoner of war and his various escapes from the Nazi camp.The Timesdescribes it as "arguably the best POW book ever written."[citation needed]
His career in journalism began immediately after the Second World War. He worked for thePicture Post,then became a special correspondent forThe Sunday Timesand, later,The Observer.He was also literary editor ofThe Spectator.In 1948, Kee co-founded publishing houseMacGibbon & KeewithJames MacGibbon[3][4]and marriedJanetta Woolley.In 1949 Kee and Janetta were witnesses at the marriage of their friendGeorge OrwelltoSonia Brownell.That same year his daughter Georgiana was born.
In 1958, he moved into television. He appeared for many years on both theBBCandITVas a reporter, interviewer and presenter. He presented many current affairs programmes, includingPanorama,ITN'sFirst ReportandChannel 4'sSeven Days.MacGibbon & Kee was bought byGranadain 1968.[5]He was awarded theBAFTARichard Dimbleby Award in 1976.
Kee wrote and presented the documentary seriesIreland – A Television Historyin 1980. The work was shown both in the United Kingdom and the United States and won theChristopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize.Following the series' transmission onRTÉ,theIrishnational broadcaster, Kee won aJacob's Awardfor his script and presentation.[6]
He was involved in the launch ofTV-amin 1983 as one of the "Famous Five", along withDavid Frost,Anna Ford,Michael ParkinsonandAngela Rippon.Kee was also among those who successfully campaigned for the release of theGuildford Four, the Maguire Sevenand theBirmingham Six.
Works
edit- A Crowd Is Not Company(1947), POW memoirs, issued as a novel first, reissued 1982
- The Impossible Shore(1949), novel
- Beyond DefeatbyHans Werner Richter(1950), translator
- The Five Seasonsby Karl Eska (1954), translator
- A Sign Of The Times(1955), novel
- Vorkuta A Dramatic First Report on the Slave City in the Soviet ArcticbyJoseph Scholmer(1955), translator
- Zero Eight Fifteen. The Strange Mutiny of Gunner AschbyHans Hellmut Kirst(1955), translator
- The Sanity Inspectorsby Friedrich Deich (1956), translator
- Before the Great SnowbyHans Pump(1959), translator
- Broadstrop In Season(1959), novel
- The BetrayedbyMichael Horbach(1959), translator
- Refugee World(1961)
- Officer Factoryby Hans Hellmut Kirst (1962), translator
- Forward, Gunner Asch!by Hans Hellmut Kirst (1964), translator
- The Revolt of Gunner Aschby Hans Hellmut Kirst (1964), translator
- The Return of Gunner Aschby Hans Hellmut Kirst (1967), translator
- The Most Distressful Country(1972),The Green Flagvol. 1
- The Bold Fenian Men(1972),The Green Flagvol. 2
- Ourselves Alone(1972),The Green Flagvol. 3
- Ireland: A History(1980)
- 1939: The Year We Left Behind(1984); in US as1939: In the Shadow of the War
- We'll Meet Again – Photographs of Daily Life in Britain During World War Two(1984) with Joanna Smith
- 1945: The World We Fought For(1985)
- A Journalist's Odyssey(1985), with Patrick O'Donovan and Hermione O'Donovan
- Trial & Error: the Maguires, the Guildford pub bombings and British justice(1986)
- Munich: The Eleventh Hour(1988)
- ThePicture PostAlbum: A 50th Anniversary Collection(1989)
- The Laurel and the Ivy: The Story of Charles Stewart Parnell and Irish Nationalism(1993)
- The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism(2000), one-volume edition
- Another Kind of Cinderella(1997), stories, withAngela Huth
References
edit- ^"Author Robert Kee dies aged 93".BBC News. 11 January 2013.Retrieved11 January2013.
- ^abPatrick Maume,'Kee, Robert'.Dictionary of Irish Biography,January 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
- ^"Letters: Remembering Robert Kee".The Irish Times.15 January 2013.Retrieved11 April2020.
- ^Webb, W. L. (4 March 2000)."James MacGibbon".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved11 April2020.
- ^"Records of Macgibbon & Kee Ltd, publishers, London, England - Archives Hub".archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk.Retrieved11 April2020.
- ^"Kee wins award for TV history of Ireland",The Irish Times,11 April 1981.