![Norman Hackforth 1944 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Norman_Hackforth_1944_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Norman Hackforth (20 December 1908 – 14 December 1996) was a British musician and radio broadcaster, who worked as
accompanist
Accompaniment is the part (music), musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmony (music), harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in ...
to
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...
and gained fame as the "mystery voice" on the BBC's ''
Twenty Questions'' radio programme.
Life and career
Early years
Born in
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
in British India in 1908, son of a railway engineer, Hackforth was sent to England at the age of six, and was raised by four aunts.
After his schooling, at
Aldenham School
Aldenham School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged eleven to eighteen, located between Elstree and the village of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, England. There is also a preparatory school for pupils from the ages of five to ele ...
, he intended to begin medical studies, but failed the preliminary examinations. He found himself drawn to music.
He was never a fluent sight-reader of a musical score and as a performer he had to overcome what he called "this awful barrier".
Hackforth's first job was as nightclub pianist in
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
, and in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s that was his principal occupation, working at a range of clubs. He had a sideline in songwriting, while working for the Dix Music Company. His compositions 'Today's A Sunny Day For Me' and 'Cute Little Flat' enjoyed modest success. He also accompanied
music hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...
and other singers of popular songs,
[ both on stage and in the recording studio – the latter, principally for the Piccadilly label. In the words of his obituarist in '']The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', he appeared "with the Whispering Lunatics at the London Pavilion, and accompanying Fannie Ward
Fannie Ward (born Fannie Buchanan; February 22, 1872 – January 27, 1952), also credited as Fanny Ward, was an American actress of stage and screen. Known for performing in both comedic and dramatic roles, she was cast in '' The Cheat'', a sexu ...
(the suggestively clad 'Flapper Granny') as she titillated the patrons of the Willesden Empire".[ He also provided the voice for advertisements on ]Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg).
The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...
and performed on early television broadcasts in the UK. During the late 1920s and early 1930s he was occasionally seen acting on both television and cinema screens.
At the start of the Second World War, Hackforth volunteered for military service, but was turned down on medical grounds. He joined Entertainments National Service Association
The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...
(ENSA), which provided entertainment for the troops. With ENSA he toured France, in the early days of the war, and then North Africa.[ In 1941 he worked briefly as an assistant and arranger for an ENSA colleague, ]Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...
, and on meeting him again in Egypt in 1943 was recruited to work as Coward's accompanist and assistant on a charitable fund-raising tour of South Africa.[ The two continued to India, where Coward performed for military audiences. They made a number of recordings together while in Calcutta, mostly of Coward's songs, but also "Music Hath Charms" by Hackforth.
]
Postwar and later years
After the war, Hackforth continued as an accompanist, for Coward and other performers including Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Gladys Lillie, Lady Peel (29 May 1894 – 20 January 1989), known as Bea Lillie, was a Canadian-born British actress, singer and comedic performer.
She began to perform as a child with her mother and sister. She made her West End debu ...
. In 1946 he wrote the music for a revue, ''Between Ourselves'', with lyrics and sketches by Eric Maschwitz
Albert Eric Maschwitz OBE (10 June 1901 – 27 October 1969), sometimes credited as Holt Marvell, was an English entertainer, writer, editor, broadcaster and broadcasting executive.
Life and work
Born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, and desc ...
. ''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 ...
'' thought the comedy shrill and Hackforth's music "agreeable but not in the least memorable. In sum a passable but rather insipid evening." ''The Times'' expressed a similar lack of enthusiasm.[ The show ran for three months, and closed on 15 March 1947.
In 1947, Hackforth was recruited for a new radio ]panel show
A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...
, ''Twenty Questions'', a BBC adaptation of a successful American format. A panel of contestants would attempt to deduce the identity of an object by asking a series of questions; Hackforth, as the "mystery voice", would announce the answer to listeners before they began. The show was a great success, turning Hackforth into an immediately recognisable figure. For many years he continued as the mystery voice, until Richard Dimbleby
Frederick Richard Dimbleby (25 May 1913 – 22 December 1965) was an English journalist and broadcaster, who became the BBC's first war correspondent, and then its leading TV news commentator.
As host of the long-running current affairs ...
left the panel in 1965, when Hackforth changed roles and became a panellist.[
Hackforth worked again with Coward on the unsuccessful '' After the Ball'' (1954). Coward was not a trained musician, and Hackforth flew to his home in to Jamaica to help him finish the score in late 1953. Coward appointed Hackforth musical director of the show, but inadvertently sabotaged him by casting in the leading role a singer well past her prime. Before opening in London, the show had a twelve-week provincial tour during which Hackforth reluctantly cut the most vocally challenging music from the score. When Coward saw the production in ]Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
he was distressed by the singing, but also found that "The orchestra was appalling, the orchestrations beneath contempt, and poor Norman conducted like a stick of wet asparagus." Hackforth was relieved of his duties as musical director, but Coward still wished to work with him. He was intended to accompany Coward on his 1955 Las Vegas performances, but was unable to get an American work permit, and was replaced by Peter Matz
Peter Matz (November 6, 1928 – August 9, 2002) was an American musician, composer, arranger and conductor. His musical career in film, theater, television and studio recording spanned fifty years, and he worked with a number of prominent ...
.
Hackforth later became the musical director of Anglia Television
ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...
,[Hackforth, p. 187] before retiring in the 1970s and publishing an autobiography, ''And the Next Object ...'', in 1975. The following year he published ''Solo for Horne'', a biography of his old ''Twenty Questions'' colleague, Kenneth Horne
Charles Kenneth Horne, generally known as Kenneth Horne, (27 February 1907 – 14 February 1969) was an English comedian and businessman. He is perhaps best remembered for his work on three BBC Radio series: ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh ...
.[
Hackforth died aged 87 at his home in ]Wittersham
Wittersham is a small village and civil parish in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It is part of the Isle of Oxney.
History
The Domesday Book of 1086 does not mention Wittersham, but it does assign the manor of Palstre to Odo, Bishop of ...
, Kent, on 14 December 1996. His wife, Pamela, whom he married in 1949, had died the previous year.[
]
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hackforth, Norman
1908 births
1996 deaths
Accompanists
English pianists
British people in colonial India
Musicians from Bihar
People educated at Aldenham School
20th-century British pianists
20th-century English musicians
People from Wittersham