Russell Harty: Difference between revisions

 

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Also in 1972, he was given his own series, ”Russell Harty Plus” (later simply titled ”Russell Harty”), conducting lengthy celebrity interviews, on [[ITV Network|ITV]], which placed him against the BBC’s ”[[Parkinson (TV series)|Parkinson]]”.<ref name=”Stevens”/> Parts of Russell Harty’s interview with [[the Who]] in 1973 were included in Jeff Stein’s 1979 film ”[[The Kids Are Alright (1979 film)|The Kids Are Alright]]”, providing notable moments, such as [[Pete Townshend]] and [[Keith Moon]] ripping off each other’s shirt sleeves.<ref name=”lawson”/><ref>{{Cite news |date=12 April 2008 |title=Who’s making that racket? |first=James |last=Jackson |work=[[The Times]] |issue=69286 |page=S6:34-35}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |title=Film: Documentary on the Who |date=15 June 1979 |url-access=subscription |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=C:16 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/15/archives/film-documentary-on-the-who-whos-listening.html |access-date=18 October 2025}}</ref> In 1973 and in 1975 he interviewed David Bowie.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pegg |first=Nicholas |year=2009 |title=The Complete David Bowie |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/completedavidbow0000pegg |url-access=registration |publisher=Reynolds & Hearn |pages=462, 479-480 |isbn=978-1-905287-97-0}}</ref> In 1975, he also interviewed [[Alice Cooper]].{{cn|date=November 2025}} Harty’s interviewees included high-profile show business figures such as [[Danny Kaye]], [[Rudolf Nureyev]], [[Rita Hayworth]], [[Diana Dors]], [[Elaine Stritch]] and [[Ralph Richardson]].<ref name=”screenonline”/><ref name=”tellyobit”/><ref name=”fiddick”/><ref name=”rampton”/> In 1973 Harty won a [[Pye Records|Pye]] Television Award for being male personality of the year.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 May 1973 |title=”Race” Show Star is Top Personality |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |issue=36695 |page=17}}</ref>

Also in 1972, he was given his own series, ”Russell Harty Plus” (later simply titled ”Russell Harty”), conducting lengthy celebrity interviews, on [[ITV Network|ITV]], which placed him against the BBC’s ”[[Parkinson (TV series)|Parkinson]]”.<ref name=”Stevens”/> Parts of Russell Harty’s interview with [[the Who]] in 1973 were included in Jeff Stein’s 1979 film ”[[The Kids Are Alright (1979 film)|The Kids Are Alright]]”, providing notable moments, such as [[Pete Townshend]] and [[Keith Moon]] ripping off each other’s shirt sleeves.<ref name=”lawson”/><ref>{{Cite news |date=12 April 2008 |title=Who’s making that racket? |first=James |last=Jackson |work=[[The Times]] |issue=69286 |page=S6:34-35}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |title=Film: Documentary on the Who |date=15 June 1979 |url-access=subscription |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=C:16 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/15/archives/film-documentary-on-the-who-whos-listening.html |access-date=18 October 2025}}</ref> In 1973 and in 1975 he interviewed David Bowie.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pegg |first=Nicholas |year=2009 |title=The Complete David Bowie |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/completedavidbow0000pegg |url-access=registration |publisher=Reynolds & Hearn |pages=462, 479-480 |isbn=978-1-905287-97-0}}</ref> In 1975, he also interviewed [[Alice Cooper]].{{cn|date=November 2025}} Harty’s interviewees included high-profile show business figures such as [[Danny Kaye]], [[Rudolf Nureyev]], [[Rita Hayworth]], [[Diana Dors]], [[Elaine Stritch]] and [[Ralph Richardson]].<ref name=”screenonline”/><ref name=”tellyobit”/><ref name=”fiddick”/><ref name=”rampton”/> In 1973 Harty won a [[Pye Records|Pye]] Television Award for being male personality of the year.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 May 1973 |title=”Race” Show Star is Top Personality |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |issue=36695 |page=17}}</ref>

He remained with ITV until 1980,<ref name=”auto”/> at which point he transferred to the [[BBC]].<ref name=”fiddick”>{{Cite news |last=Fiddick |first=Peter |date=17 June 1980 |title=Out of the school for scandal |work=[[The Guardian]] |page=9}}</ref>{{efn|This meant an increase in his profile and potential viewers, since [[LWT]] shows were effectively regional and not nationwide programming;<ref name=”fiddick”/><ref name=”grauniadobit”/> ”Russell Harty Plus” could not be seen in his native Lancashire.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Teacher Turned Top TV Chatter |date=June 1973 |work=Magister |issue=17 |page=11 |url=http://schoolarchivedemo.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Magister_1970_to_1999.pdf |access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref>}} His first show was an arts programme, ”All About Books”, but after a pause his chat-show activities resumed.<ref name=”fiddick”/><ref name=”tellyobit”>{{Cite news |date=9 June 1988 |title=Obituaries: Russell Harty |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |issue=41354 |page=15}}</ref><ref name=”screenonline”/> In November 1980 he interviewed the model [[Grace Jones]]. Jones was nervous and distracted during the interview before a live studio audience and Harty found the interview an uneasy one to conduct, and appeared to be intimidated by Jones, commenting nervously to the audience regarding her demeanour on stage as “It’s coming to life, it’s coming to life!” Joined later on stage by other guests including a bemused [[Douglas Byng]], Harty was compelled by the seating arrangement on stage to turn his back on Jones, who was left sitting there in silence for an extended period. After several protests she repeatedly slapped him on the shoulder.<ref>Grace Jones – The Russell Harty Show interview, published on Youtube, 25 October 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLLtS50UCBQ</ref> The incident generated so much press coverage that Harty later joked the headline for his obituary would read “Grace Jones Man Dead”.<ref name=”lawson”/>

He remained with ITV until 1980,<ref name=”auto”/> at which point he transferred to the [[BBC]].<ref name=”fiddick”>{{Cite news |last=Fiddick |first=Peter |date=17 June 1980 |title=Out of the school for scandal |work=[[The Guardian]] |page=9}}</ref>{{efn|This meant an increase in his profile and potential viewers, since [[LWT]] shows were effectively regional and not nationwide programming;<ref name=”fiddick”/><ref name=”grauniadobit”/> ”Russell Harty Plus” could not be seen in his native Lancashire.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Teacher Turned Top TV Chatter |date=June 1973 |work=Magister |issue=17 |page=11 |url=http://schoolarchivedemo.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Magister_1970_to_1999.pdf |access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref>}} His first show was an arts programme, ”All About Books”, but after a pause his chat-show activities resumed.<ref name=”fiddick”/><ref name=”tellyobit”>{{Cite news |date=9 June 1988 |title=Obituaries: Russell Harty |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |issue=41354 |page=15}}</ref><ref name=”screenonline”/> In November 1980 he interviewed the model [[Grace Jones]]. Jones was nervous and distracted during the interview before a live studio audience and Harty found the interview an uneasy one to conduct, and appeared to be intimidated by Jones, commenting nervously to the audience regarding her demeanour on stage as “It’s coming to life, it’s coming to life!” Joined later on stage by other guests including a bemused [[Douglas Byng]], Harty was compelled by the seating arrangement on stage to turn his back on Jones, who was left sitting there in silence for an extended period. After several protests she repeatedly slapped him on the shoulder.<ref>Grace Jones – The Russell Harty Show interview, published on Youtube, 25 October 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLLtS50UCBQ</ref> The incident generated so much press coverage that Harty later joked the headline for his obituary would read “Grace Jones Man Dead”.<ref name=”lawson”/>

Initially shown on BBC2 in a mid-evening slot,<ref name=”fiddick”/> ”Russell Harty” ran until May 1983<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 May 1983 |title=Today’s television and radio programmes |first=Peter |last=Dear |work=[[The Times]] |issue=61533 |page=25}}</ref> before being moved to an early evening BBC1 slot in September of that year; it was now simply titled ”Harty”.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 September 1983 |title=Television |first=Sandy |last=Smithies |work=[[The Guardian]] |page=26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=21 September 1983 |title=Inside Russell square |first=Hugh |last=Hebert |work=[[The Guardian]] |page=9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 September 1983 |title=Tea, sympathy and sterilised milk |first=Julian |last=Barnes |author-link=Julian Barnes |work=[[The Observer]] |page=48}}</ref> The show ended in December 1984,<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 December 1984 |title=Television |first=Sandy |last=Smithies |work=[[The Guardian]] |page=26}}</ref> though Harty would continue to present factual programmes for the BBC for some time afterwards.<ref name=”screenonline”/> In 1985, Harty was invited to the [[Prince’s Palace of Monaco]], by [[Rainier III, Prince of Monaco|Prince Rainier]], to conduct his first interview since the death of his wife, the actress [[Grace Kelly]], in 1982.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5cc619cb468c463da528f0c0f339a3a3|title=BBC Programme Index|date=7 April 1985 }}</ref>

Initially shown on BBC2 in a mid-evening slot,<ref name=”fiddick”/> ”Russell Harty” ran until May 1983<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 May 1983 |title=Today’s television and radio programmes |first=Peter |last=Dear |work=[[The Times]] |issue=61533 |page=25}}</ref> before being moved to an early evening BBC1 slot in September of that year; it was now simply titled ”Harty”.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 September 1983 |title=Television |first=Sandy |last=Smithies |work=[[The Guardian]] |page=26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=21 September 1983 |title=Inside Russell square |first=Hugh |last=Hebert |work=[[The Guardian]] |page=9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 September 1983 |title=Tea, sympathy and sterilised milk |first=Julian |last=Barnes |author-link=Julian Barnes |work=[[The Observer]] |page=48}}</ref> The show ended in December 1984,<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 December 1984 |title=Television |first=Sandy |last=Smithies |work=[[The Guardian]] |page=26}}</ref> though Harty would continue to present factual programmes for the BBC for some time afterwards.<ref name=”screenonline”/> In 1985, Harty was invited to the [[Prince’s Palace of Monaco]], by [[Rainier III, Prince of Monaco|Prince Rainier]], to conduct his first interview since the death of his wife, the actress [[Grace Kelly]], in 1982.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5cc619cb468c463da528f0c0f339a3a3|title=BBC Programme Index|date=7 April 1985 }}</ref>

English television presenter (1934–1988)

Frederic Russell Harty (5 September 1934 – 8 June 1988)^[1][2] was an English television presenter of arts programmes and chat show host.

Harty was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, the son of greengrocer Fred Harty, who ran a fruit-and-vegetable stall on the local market, and Myrtle Rishton.^[3] He attended Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School on West Park Road in Blackburn. It was there that he met English teacher Ronald Eyre, who directed him in a school production of The Tempest.^[4] Thereafter he studied at Exeter College, Oxford, where he obtained a degree in English literature.^[3]

On leaving university, Harty taught briefly at Blakey Moor Secondary Modern School in Blackburn, then became an English and drama teacher at Giggleswick School in North Yorkshire.^[3] “I got a first-class degree, and was a hopeless teacher,” Harty later said. However, his friend and Oxford contemporary Alan Bennett commented in his 2016 memoir Keeping On Keeping On that Harty “had a third-class degree and taught brilliantly”.^{[citation needed] [a]}

Among Harty’s pupils at the Giggleswick School were the journalist and television presenter Richard Whiteley^[7] and the actors Graham Hamilton and Anthony Daniels.^{[citation needed]} In the mid-1960s Harty spent a year lecturing in English literature at the City University of New York.^[2]

He began his broadcasting career in 1967 when he became a radio producer for the BBC Third Programme, reviewing arts and literature.^[8][2]

He got his first break in 1970 presenting the arts programme Aquarius,^[1] that was intended to be London Weekend Television‘s response to the BBC‘s Omnibus. One programme involving a “meeting of cultures” saw Harty travelling to Italy in 1974 to engineer an encounter between the entertainer Gracie Fields and the composer William Walton, two fellow Lancastrians then living on the neighbouring islands of Capri and Ischia.^[9] A documentary on Salvador Dalí (“Hello Dalí”), directed by Bruce Gowers, won an Emmy.^[10][11] Another award-winning documentary was “Finnan Games” (1975) about a Scottish community, Glenfinnan, where “Bonnie Prince Charlie” raised his standard to begin the Jacobite rising of 1745, and its Highland Games.^[12][13][14]

In 1972, he interviewed Marc Bolan, who at that time was at the height of his fame as a teen idol and king of glam rock. During the interview, Harty asked Bolan what he thought he would be doing when he was forty or sixty years old, Bolan replied that he didn’t think he would live that long.^[15] (Bolan subsequently was killed in a car crash at age 29 on 16 September 1977).^[16]

Also in 1972, he was given his own series, Russell Harty Plus (later simply titled Russell Harty), conducting lengthy celebrity interviews, on ITV, which placed him against the BBC’s Parkinson.^[1] Parts of Russell Harty’s interview with the Who in 1973 were included in Jeff Stein’s 1979 film The Kids Are Alright, providing notable moments, such as Pete Townshend and Keith Moon ripping off each other’s shirt sleeves.^[17][18][19] In 1973 and in 1975 he interviewed David Bowie.^[20] In 1975, he also interviewed Alice Cooper.^{[citation needed]} Harty’s interviewees included high-profile show business figures such as Danny Kaye, Rudolf Nureyev, Rita Hayworth, Diana Dors, Elaine Stritch and Ralph Richardson.^{[5][21][10][7]} In 1973 Harty won a Pye Television Award for being male personality of the year.^[22]

He remained with ITV until 1980,^[2] at which point he transferred to the BBC.^[10][b] His first show was an arts programme, All About Books, but after a pause his chat-show activities resumed.^[10][21][5] In November 1980 he interviewed the model Grace Jones.^[25] Jones was nervous and distracted during the interview before a live studio audience and Harty found the interview an uneasy one to conduct, and appeared to be intimidated by Jones, commenting nervously to the audience regarding her demeanour on stage as “It’s coming to life, it’s coming to life!” Joined later on stage by other guests including a bemused Douglas Byng, Harty was compelled by the seating arrangement on stage to turn his back on Jones, who was left sitting there in silence for an extended period. After several protests she repeatedly slapped him on the shoulder.^[26] The incident generated so much press coverage that Harty later joked the headline for his obituary would read “Grace Jones Man Dead”.^[17]

Initially shown on BBC2 in a mid-evening slot,^[10] Russell Harty ran until May 1983^[27] before being moved to an early evening BBC1 slot in September of that year; it was now simply titled Harty.^[28][29][30] The show ended in December 1984,^[31] though Harty would continue to present factual programmes for the BBC for some time afterwards.^[5] In 1985, Harty was invited to the Prince’s Palace of Monaco, by Prince Rainier, to conduct his first interview since the death of his wife, the actress Grace Kelly, in 1982.^[32]

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1980,^[33] when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the London department store Selfridges.^{[citation needed]}

In 1986, he interviewed Dirk Bogarde at his house in France, for Yorkshire Television.^[34] Some journalists thought the programme intrusive;^[35][21] some have cited Harty’s achievement in getting the famously reclusive Bogarde to open up as a highpoint in his career as an interviewer.^[36][7][5]

In 1979, before his full-time return to the BBC, Harty had taken over from Desmond Wilcox as host of BBC Radio 4‘s Midweek;^[21] from September 1987 until his final illness, he presented Start the Week on the same station.^[17][8] Also in 1987, he took over the TV programme Favourite Things from Roy Plomley; one of his interviewees was Margaret Thatcher.^[17][8] His last TV programme, Russell Harty’s Grand Tour, was broadcast by the BBC in 1988.^[17]

In the 1970s, Harty wrote a column for The Observer, then in the 1980s one for The Sunday Times.^[10][17] His adaptation of a short story by Muriel Spark, Black Madonna, was broadcast as part of the series BBC2 Playhouse.^[38][17][3]

For the last six years of Harty’s life his partner was the Irish novelist Jamie O’Neill. Latterly they resided in Harty’s cottage in Giggleswick, North Yorkshire.^[39][40]

On 1 March 1987, The News of the World ran an article exposing Harty as homosexual and claiming he used rent boys; the paper employed a young male prostitute with a hidden tape recorder.^[3][23] In the hope of further revelations, reporters converged on Giggleswick, sat on Harty’s doorstep, went through his dustbins, chased his car, forced their way into the school where he had once been a teacher, and even attempted to bribe the local vicar. Harty’s career and his popularity were not immediately affected by the coverage, and he continued writing for The Sunday Times (a sister paper to The News of the World).^[43] Nonetheless, the incident was controversial, and was one of several instances cited in the debate about journalistic ethics in Britain that led to the Calcutt committee.^[43][44][45]

Harty was a friend of the playwright Alan Bennett,^[5] whose first cabaret performance (while they were students at Oxford) was at a show Harty put together. Bennett spoke of Harty’s friendship with Bennett’s own family, in the essay “Written on the Body” taken from his autobiographical collection Untold Stories.

Russell’s shock-horror exposure in the tabloids, and the so-called revelations about his sex life, come long after my father is dead and my mother is incapable, but if they’d been around they might well have just shrugged it off. Dad certainly wouldn’t have wanted him to stop coming round, as it would put an end to him playing his violin with Russell on the piano.^[47]

Early in May 1988, Harty became ill with hepatitis B. He collapsed and was admitted to the intensive care unit at St James’s University Hospital, Leeds.^[48] Scrutiny from Britain’s tabloid newspapers continued while Harty was seriously ill: they claimed that the disease was “related to an HIV/AIDS” infection,^[50] something his family and the hospital authorities denied to the press.^[48][43][c] Journalists rented a flat opposite the hospital and used a long-lens camera to photograph him on his deathbed, so that nursing staff had to keep the shutters closed;^[44][7] they sent a large bouquet of “Get Well Soon” flowers to another patient in the ICU, containing money and the number of a newsdesk in Manchester (though the patient was too frail to be able to read this), and tried to bribe porters and nurses in the hope of a scoop.^[44][7]

He died in St James’s on 8 June 1988 at the age of 53 from liver failure caused by hepatitis.^[53][54] His body was buried in the graveyard of St Alkelda Church at Giggleswick.^[55][56] At a memorial service at St James’s Church, Piccadilly attended by Harty’s friends and colleagues from showbusiness, Alan Bennett commented in his eulogy that “the gutter press had finished Harty off.”^[57][50][d] Another memorial service, for family members and local friends, took place at Blackburn Cathedral where Harty had been a server as a boy. His friend Michael Parkinson delivered the address, and told the media “Russell was a very funny man and a damn sight nicer than anyone who wrote about him”.^[62][63][33]