Eric Bell Robson (born 31 December 1946) is a television broadcaster, author and documentary film maker who has lived for most of his life in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, where he has a

sheep farm Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat (lamb and mutton), milk (sheep's milk), and fiber (wool). They also yield sheepskin an ...

. For many years he was the main presenter of ''Brass Tacks''.

Early life

Robson was born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and attended

Carlisle Grammar School Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

Career

Robson started at

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, the S ...

(based in

) in 1966. In the 1980s and 90s he was also a reporter on the BBC Scotland ''

Landward ''Landward'' is a long-running Scottish television programme focusing on agricultural and rural issues, produced and broadcast by BBC Scotland. Overview BBC Scotland had first produced its own farming programme, ''Farm Forum'', in 1965. This w ...

'' show. He has been a sheep farmer since 1987. On 20 February 1994 he became the principal chairman of

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' ...

's ''

Gardeners' Question Time ''Gardeners' Question Time'' is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme in which amateur gardeners can put questions to a panel of experts. History The first programme was broadcast in the North and Northern Ireland Home Service of the BBC at 22 ...

'' programme, but announced on 20 March 2019 that he would be handing over his chair to

Kathy Clugston Kathy Clugston (born 22 August 1969) is a Northern Irish presenter, newsreader and continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC World Service. Born in Belfast, Clugston attended Methodist College and then studied French ...

, a BBC newsreader and continuity announcer, on 3 May 2019. Robson had earlier contributed to various regional TV series about

Alfred Wainwright Alfred Wainwright MBE (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991), who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume ''Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'', published ...

's walking guides. In 1980 he presented the final episode of the first series of '' Great Railway Journeys of the World'', produced by the BBC. In 2011, he was accused of a conflict of interest by anti-nuclear protesters opposed to a second generation of nuclear power plants and the possible siting of a high-level waste dump in the Lake District. Robson is the chairman of the Cumbria Tourism organisation, but at the same time is a part owner of Osprey Communications, a PR firm that is advisor to the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership. He is also a Deputy Lieutenant of Cumbria. Robson was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

2021 New Year Honours The 2021 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

for services to tourism as honorary president of Cumbria Tourism.

Personal life

He is chairman of the Wainwright Society and made a series of TV programmes with

in the mid-1980s that looked back over the reclusive writer's life. He lives in

Wasdale Wasdale () is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is occupied by Wastwa ...

, where he farms at Crag House Farm and (with his wife) runs a mail order company named after

Striding Edge Helvellyn (; possible meaning: ''pale yellow moorland'') is a mountain in the English Lake District, the highest point of the Helvellyn range, a north–south line of mountains to the north of Ambleside, between the lakes of Thirlmere and Ulls ...

, specialising in

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

s and

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

s about the countryside, particularly that of Cumbria. He married Mary Armstrong in 1976, but they divorced in 1984. They have a son and daughter. He married Annette Steinhilber in 1988. They have a son and two daughters, one grandson and three granddaughters.

Books

* Co-author, ''Great Railway Journeys of the World'' (BBC) * Editor, ''The Allotment Handbook'' (Arena Press) * Author, ''Outside Broadcaster'' (autobiography), 2007 (Frances Lincoln Ltd)

References

External links

BBC

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robson, Eric 1946 births British radio presenters British television presenters Deputy Lieutenants of Cumbria English farmers Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Carlisle Grammar School People from Carlisle, Cumbria