Brian Leonard Redhead (28 December 1929 – 23 January 1994) was a British author, journalist and broadcaster. He was a co-presenter of the
''Today'' programme on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
from 1975 until 1993, shortly before his death. He was a great lover and promoter of the city of
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and the
North West
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
in general, where he lived for most of his career.
Biography
Redhead was born in
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
. He was the only child of Ernest Leonard Redhead, a silk screen printer and advertising agent, and his wife, Janet Crossley (née Fairley). He was educated at the
Royal Grammar School in Newcastle. After
national service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The l ...
, he read history at
Downing College
Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...
,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
.
His career in journalism started in 1954 as a journalist for the ''
Manchester Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' newspaper. He married Jean Salmon (known as Jenni) on 19 June 1954. They had four children: two sons, Stephen and James, and twins, Annabel (known as Abby) and William.
He became northern editor of ''The Guardian'' in 1965, and editor of the ''
Manchester Evening News
The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 201 ...
'' in 1969. After being passed over for the editorship of ''The Guardian'' in favour of
Peter Preston
Peter John Preston (23 May 1938 – 6 January 2018) was a British journalist and author. He was editor of ''The Guardian'' for twenty years, from 1975 to 1995.
Early life
Peter Preston was born in Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, the son of J ...
in 1975, he left to join the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4, replacing
Robert Robinson. He was already an experienced broadcaster, having been 'discovered' around 1960 by a BBC Manchester producer,
Olive Shapley, who was looking for a presenter of a television programme called ''Something to Read'':
I held auditions over two days and there were some promising people. However, on the second day a young man turned up who was clearly highly intelligent and knowledgable ic oozed confidence, communicated effortlessly through the camera, was very funny and never stopped talking. I knew instantly that this was the one.
Later, Redhead presented ''Points North'' on television, and chaired the Saturday night
Radio 4 topical conversation programme ''A Word in Edgeways'' for many years.
He formed a partnership with fellow ''Today'' presenter
John Timpson
John Harry Robert Timpson, (2 July 1928 – 19 November 2005) was a British journalist, best known as a radio presenter.
Early life
Born at Ridgeholme, 53 The Ridgeway, Kenton, Middlesex, he was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, a boys' ...
which lasted for over 10 years. Redhead and Timpson had a series of running jokes on the programme, including the mythical organisations "The Friends of the M6" (long-suffering motorists trapped in its frequent traffic jams) and "The League of Pear-Shaped Men" (of which he and Timpson were the principal members). His sense of humour often appeared in asides in the ''Today'' programme. Talking of a convoy moving at 3 mph, Redhead observed that was probably 3 mph faster than they were moving on the
M25 motorway
The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...
that morning. When working the same slot as
John Humphrys
Desmond John Humphrys (born 17 August 1943) is a Welsh broadcaster. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter for the '' Nine O'Clock News'', the flagship BBC News television programme, and from 1987 until 2019 he presented on the BBC Radio 4 ...
, he gleefully reported that Humphrys had turned up for work on his day off (probably before 6.00am) and was livid. On another occasion, he reported that the weather would be "brighter in the north than the south, like the people".
Sue MacGregor and
Peter Hobday were also co-presenters, and the team was celebrated in 1987
During his time on the ''Today'' programme, Redhead was accused of political bias by
Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
Nigel Lawson
Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, (born 11 March 1932) is a British Conservative Party politician and journalist. He was a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Blaby from 1974 to 1992, and served in the cabinet of Margaret ...
, and in reply enquired "Do you think we should have a one-minute silence now in this interview, one for you to apologise for daring to suggest that you know how I vote and secondly perhaps in memory of
monetarism
Monetarism is a school of thought in monetary economics that emphasizes the role of governments in controlling the amount of money in circulation. Monetarist theory asserts that variations in the money supply have major influences on measures ...
which you have now discarded?" He later had a similar set-to with
Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Lilley
Peter Bruce Lilley, Baron Lilley, PC (born 23 August 1943) is a British politician and life peer who served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parl ...
.
The feeling was that Redhead was to the left of his co-presenter John Timpson. Many years later
Libby Purves
Elizabeth Mary Purves, (born 2 February 1950) is a British radio presenter, journalist and author.
Early life and career
Born in London, a diplomat's daughter, Purves was raised in her mother's Catholic faith and educated at convent school ...
, who also presented ''Today'' at the time, characterised them as classic opposites – Redhead the self-made
Northerner, with social democratic leanings and aspirations to better himself, Timpson the gentle (and, perhaps, gently declining in terms of social prestige) old-school conservative middle class
Southerner. In her words, Timpson "wanted it to be 1950", while Redhead "was more than ready for the New Britain of the 21st century, although he died before seeing its birth". However, Redhead claimed to be more of a Tory
wet, not a socialist, and stated that he had cast a personal vote for
Macclesfield
Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...
's Conservative MP,
Nicholas Winterton
Sir Nicholas Raymond Winterton (born 31 March 1938) is a retired British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Macclesfield from 1971 until he retired from the House of Commons at the 2010 general election.
H ...
.
The death of Redhead's youngest son, William, in a car crash in France in 1982, aged 18, led him to rediscover religious faith, and he became a confirmed member of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
a few months later. In the
Radio 4 series ''The Good Book'', he charted the history of the Bible. In the last years of his life, there was some speculation that after his retirement from ''Today'' he would train for
ordination
Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...
as an Anglican priest. He was also a strong supporter of the
hospice
Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...
movement, ambiguously calling it "the best thing that has happened in this country since the Second World War". He became Chancellor of
Manchester University
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
.
During the
First Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
in 1991, he was a volunteer presenter on the BBC
Radio 4 News FM
Radio 4 News FM was the national BBC station devoted to rolling news service that was on air during the Gulf War from 16 January until 2 March 1991. It was broadcast on Radio 4's FM frequencies, whilst regular scheduled service continued on ...
service.
Sound Matters – Five Live – the War of Broadcasting House – a morality story
/ref>
Death
In 1993, his health started to fail and he was in pain on his left side and leg. He was thought to need hip surgery, but in fact had a ruptured appendix which was leaking toxins, causing liver and kidney failure and other problems. He took leave from ''Today'' in early December, expecting to return after Christmas, but died in January 1994.
Books by Brian Redhead
*(with Frances Gumley) ''The Good Book''. Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, 1987 Hardcover, 1988 Paperback
*(with Kenneth McLeish
John Kenneth Tyrrell McLeish, known as Kenneth McLeish (1940-1997) was a British writer, playwright and translator. McLeish, "the most widely respected and prolific translator of drama in Britain", translated all the surviving classical Greek pla ...
(ed.)), ''The Anti-Booklist''. London: Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint (trade name), imprint of Hachette (publisher), Hachette.
History
Early history
The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs ...
, 1981
* (with Geoffrey Berry) ''A Love of the Lakes''. Constable, 1988
*''The National Parks of England Wales''. Oxford Illustrated Press
The Oxford Illustrated Press Ltd was a book publishing company associated with Oxford, England. The company was based in Shelley Close, Headington
Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overloo ...
, 1988. Hardcover; reissued by Magna Books June 1994
*''Plato to NATO: Studies on political thought''. Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[Harper Collins Publishers
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp ...]
, January 1996. Hardcover
*''Manchester – a Celebration''. London: André Deutsch
André Deutsch (15 November 1917 – 11 April 2000) was a Hungarian-born British publisher who founded an eponymous publishing company in 1951.
Biography
Deutsch was born on 15 November 1917 in Budapest, Hungary, the son of a Jewish dentis ...
Limited, 1993, ; reissued by Trafalgar Square Publishing, 1994
*''North West of England''. BBC Books
BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...
. 1994
References
External links
Obituary
''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
''
Radio Hall of Fame: Brian Redhead
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redhead, Brian
1929 births
1994 deaths
Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne
People educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne
Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge
English male journalists
English non-fiction writers
The Guardian journalists
English radio personalities
British radio people
English television presenters
English male non-fiction writers