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Bamber Gascoigne
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Bamber Gascoigne (born 1935) is a British
television presenter and author.
Born in
London on
January 24,
1935, after schooling at
Eton College he studied
English literature at
Magdalene College, Cambridge, followed by a year at
Yale University (1958-1959), and came to fame as the presenter of popular television
quiz show,
University Challenge, in
1962. Although he has written several books, mostly on
history, and presented other television programmes, his name is permanently connected with
University Challenge in the minds of many people -- despite the fact that, since
1994, the show has been presented by
Jeremy Paxman.
In the programme's early days, Gascoigne set all the questions himself. His style of presentation is often held up as an example of excellence. His questioning was firm yet polite, and his judgement scrupulously fair. A phrase he often used became something of a catchphrase: "I'll have to hurry you".
He would return in 1998 to present the
Red Dwarf special
Universe Challenge (a position he acquired by blowing up (
Chris Barrie's impression of)
Jeremy Paxman with a bazookoid, a weapon from the series), a contest between the actors of the show and a set of fans; the fans won.
In the
1970s he presented
The Christians, a television
documentary series on the history of
Christianity.
In recent years he has devoted much of his time in establishing an online
history encyclopaedia called "History World" [http://www.historyworld.net/].
In the early hours of Wednesday
August 8,
1979 Gascoigne was witness to the burial by
Kit Williams, the author of
Masquerade (book), of a valuable golden hare in an earthenware jar "somewhere in Britain". The treasure hunt which followed was pursued worldwide and chronicled in the book
Quest for the Golden Hare.
In the
The Young Ones (television series)|Young Ones episode
Bambi (Young Ones episode)|Bambi he is parodied by
Griff Rhys Jones as "
Bambi Gascoigne" (with considerable emphasis being placed on the resemblance of his name to the
The Walt Disney Company|Disney character).
His name appears in one version of the
Monty Python The Lumberjack Song when Michael Palin sings of the "Quercus maximus Bamber Gascoigneii", and in the Python song "
The Lumberjack Song when Michael Palin sings of the "Quercus maximus Bamber Gascoigneii", and in the Python song "
I Like Traffic Lights" the singer points out that his name is not Bamber.
Bamber Gascoigne is also an authority on the history and techniques of
printmaking and graphic reproduction, with publications such as
Milestones in Colour Printing and
How to Identify Prints.
Select bibliography
- Bamber Gascoigne, How to Identify Prints: A Complete Guide to Manual and Mechanical Processes from Woodcut to Inkjet ( ISBN 0500284806 )
- Bamber Gascoigne, A Brief History of Christianity ( ISBN 1841197106 )
- Bamber Gascoigne, A Brief History of the Dynasties of China ( ISBN 1841197912 )
- Bamber Gascoigne, Quest for the Golden Hare, J. Cape, 1983 ( ISBN 0224021168 )
External links
- History world website – see About us
- Magdalene College alumni entry
Category:1935 births
Category:Living people
Category:Cambridge Footlights
Category:Old Etonians
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