Born: August 7, 1924; Died: December 14, 2012.
KENNETH Kendall, the first newsreader to appear in vision on BBC television in 1955, has died aged 88 after suffering from a stroke. Known to many in later years for his role in Channel 4’s Treasure Hunt, Kendall died in hospital in Newport on the Isle of Wight.
In 1975 he fronted the Nine O’Clock News and four years later was voted Most Popular Newsreader by Daily Mirror readers. Not surprisingly, given his sartorial panache, Kendall also picked up a Best Dressed Newsreader Style International Award; his only on-screen aesthetic slip-up one night when a false tooth emerged from his mouth.
Kendall left the BBC in 1981, three years before he was due to retire, complaining about the “sloppily written and ungrammatical” stories he was expected to broadcast.
His stint on the cutting edge of news over, he joined the world of entertainment programming with series such as Treasure Hunt, in which he talked over footage of presenter Anneka Rice jumping in and out of helicopters.
Not surprisingly, the handsome, well-groomed frontman acquired an army of female fans, who deluged him with letters and proposals of marriage.
But the efforts were wasted. Kendall was gay and in later years moved to the Isle of Wight to live with his partner Mark Fear (the couple entered a civil partnership in 2006), co-owning a restaurant and then a marine art gallery.
To read the obituary from the Herald go here