Thursday, August 18, 2011

Robert Robinson 1927 - 2011

"I won't really believe Robert is gone from this show until the day he dies." - From a post I wrote on August 12, 2010 about the supposed retirement of Brain Of Britain host Robert Robinson.

Unfortunately, that day has come. Veteran British broadcaster and game show host Robert Robinson has died at age 83.

While I'll always remember Robert for Brain Of Britain (he was the official host of that show from 1972 to 2010), this was far from his only credit. If we stick with game shows, he hosted Ask The Family (a quiz show featuring family teams) from 1967 to 1984 and had a lengthy stint as host of the British version of Call My Bluff (one of many game shows to be built around the "guess the correct definition of the word" mechanic). Moving away from game shows, he hosted everything from newscasts to comedy shows. Most infamously, he hosted the comedy show BBC3 (which aired on BBC1 - there was no channel called BBC3 at the time). On a 1965 episode of BBC3, Kenneth Tynan became the first person to say "fu**" on British television.

As I reported in the aforementioned August 12, 2010 post, Robert will be replaced on BBC Radio 4's Brain Of Britain by Russell Davies (again, not the producer who developed the revival of Doctor Who - that's Russell T. Davies). BBC Radio 4 will broadcast a special on Robert's life and work on August 20.

Before I go, congratulations to Brian Henegar for winning second place in the Game Show Garbage Create An Induction Contest. His induction for Superstar USA can be read at the official Game Show Garbage site (http://gsgarbage.clw83.com/). The grand prize winner comes out August 19. I never would have thought of Superstar USA as a game show, but then again I keep reporting on talent shows here too.

RIP Robert,

Aaron

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