David Scott Blackhall was a
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
personality, author and
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
.
Life and career
He was born in
Cirencester,
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
on 9 May 1910 to George William and Annie Blackhall. After an accident in his teens, in which he sustained a detached retina, he lost the sight in his left eye. He underwent an operation in about 1943 to restore some sight in this eye, but the operation was unsuccessful. The eyesight in his right eye began to seriously deteriorate in the 50s and an operation for cataracts was unsuccessful, leaving him totally blind by age 45.
In 1961 his autobiography ''This House Had Windows'' was published in which he explained that it took him three weeks to learn the system of
braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...
. The 'David Scott Blackhall Award for Services to the Blind' was named in his honour by
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
radio's ''
In Touch'' programme, a programme which Blackhall first hosted. Another award started in Blackhall's memory was the Patients' Aid Association's David Scott Blackhall Memorial Award which would award a cash prize to individuals making a positive impact to the blind community. Another blind colleague of Blackhall's at Radio 4 was Jill Allen-King. Blackhall was also a member of
Rotary International
Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...
since 1935 and, in 1942, founded the Rotary Club of
Elstree
Elstree is a large village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is about northwest of central London on the former A5 road, that follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of the ...
&
Borehamwood.
In 1969 during one of his radio editions of "In Touch", he commented on a group of blind people who had climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, and went on to say that Britain's highest mountain was Ben Nevis - if anyone was interested. It seemed they were, as he had a flood of letters from interested listeners who wished to make that climb. With the help of local people in the town of Fort William, a weekend was arranged at the Milton Hotel - appropriately Milton was a blind poet - and a group of 15 visually impaired men and women with local sighted companions and Blackhall at the helm, made the climb, arriving at the summit to the sound of the bagpipes, played by one of the group. It was a proud moment for him and the start of the Milton Mountaineers, who went on to meet annually to climb more of Britain's and Ireland's highest peaks. One of Blackhall's poems, "Prayer", is still recited by the leader of the Mountaineers at each summit. Other works of Blackhall's were ''Dark Is A Long Way'', a radio play about his Blind experiences that was broadcast in Britain in September 1958. Blackhall hosted ''In Touch'' until a week before his death,
on September 14, 1981, aged 71.
He had three daughters: Anne (b. 1936), (Leader of the Milton Mountaineers from 1992 to 2005); Jane (b. 1940) and Susan (b. 1949) and was married to Edna (née Westwood).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackhall, David Scott
1910 births
1981 deaths
English blind people
People from Cirencester
English radio personalities
English autobiographers