Barry Bucknell

English television personality Robert "Barry" Barraby Bucknell (26 January 1912, Hampstead, London – 21 February 2003, St Mawes, Cornwall, aged 91) was an English TV presenter who popularised Do It Yourself (DIY) in the United Kingdom. Bucknell was educated at the William Ellis School, Camden, and served an apprenticeship with Daimler, after which he joined his father's building and electrical firm in St Pancras, London. He was a conscientious objector in the Second World War, working in the National Fire Service in London during the Blitz and later. In the 1950s he served as a Labour Party member of St Pancras Borough Council. Home improvement shows After his first child was born, Bucknell was asked by a BBC radio producer to give a talk on becoming a parent. It was after this that he was asked to demonstrate home improvements on TV. About the Home Initially, he was one of a number of experts answering viewers' questions, but his manner, both magisterial and welcoming, was so much liked he was given his own spot on About the Home in 1956, demonstrating tasks such as putting up shelves and making a tool box. Barry Bucknell's Do It Yourself In the late 1950s he began presenting th