Erkki Matti Toivanen (18 May 1938 – 21 July 2011) was a Finnish

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

presenter A presenter is a person or organization responsible for the running of a public event, or someone who conveys information on media via a broadcasting outlet. Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a new ...

for

Yleisradio Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

Career

After gaining a master's degree in

political history Political history is the narrative and survey of political events, ideas, movements, organs of government, voters, parties and leaders. It is closely related to other fields of history, including diplomatic history, constitutional history, social ...

from the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

in 1962, Toivanen joined the Finnish section of

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. One of his tasks there was to produce the music to the radio dramas written by

Anselm Hollo Anselm Paul Alexis Hollo (12 April 1934 – 29 January 2013) was a Finnish poet and translator. He lived in the United States from 1967 until his death in January 2013. Hollo published more than forty titles of poetry in the United Kingdom and ...

and

Matti Rossi Matti may refer to: * Matti (given name), people with the given name * Matti (surname), people with the surname * Matti, Karnataka, a village in India * '' Matti: Hell Is for Heroes'', a 2006 film about Matti Nykänen See also * Masa (disambigu ...

. In 1968 he was promoted to newsreader on television and radio, and from 1969 until 1972 he worked as the foreign news editor; in the same year he joined

Yle Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

as a news correspondent and broadcaster. His broadcasting career included commentating on four

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

(1977–1978, 1982 & 1987) and hosting the Finnish coverage of the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

on eight occasions between 1972 and 2000. From 1987 until 1994 he worked as a Yle TV1 news reporter, and from 1995 until 2000 as a special correspondent. He retired from Yle in 2001.

Personal life

Toivanen was openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. He was married to a woman between 1963 and 1966. The marriage gave birth to a daughter in 1964. Since 1972, he was with long-time partner Lennox Walker, former manager of the T. Rex-band. Toivanen received a stroke on July 14, 2010 and a new one three weeks later. In October of that year, he was diagnosed with a small tumor in his brain, which was cut in December 2010. Despite his treatments, he died on 21 July 2011 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

while sleeping. In accordance with his will his ash was scattered over the

Blanchisseuse Blanchisseuse (pronounced, in the local English dialect, "blan-chee-shears") is a village in Trinidad and Tobago. It is located about midway along the north coast of Trinidad on the northern slope of the Northern Range, about 24 km north o ...

Beach of Walker's

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

ian home, just like Toivanen himself had fulfilled the will of his Estonian-born mother in

Narva-Jõesuu Narva-Jõesuu (; russian: Усть-Нарва, ''Ust'-Narva'', Нарва-Йыэсуу, Усть-Нарова) is a town in Ida-Viru County, in northeastern Estonia. Geography It is located on the country's northern Baltic coast of the Gul ...

. Toivanen was fluent in

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and French.

References

External links

*
Humanism evenings, Erkki Toivanen: Healthy roots of a real prerequisite for internationalization

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toivanen, Erkki 1938 births 2011 deaths People from Kuopio Finnish broadcasters Finnish television presenters Finnish journalists BBC people Finnish people of Estonian descent Finnish expatriates in the United Kingdom Finnish television journalists Finnish LGBT journalists Finnish LGBT entertainers Finnish LGBT broadcasters