In 1962 I was one of eight members of the union drama group at Manchester University, invited to form two guinea-pig teams for a new TV quiz show to be named University Challenge.
Sitting at two trestle tables in an empty studio at Granada TV, and with a brief to be a bit “studenty”, we were there to help audition prospective candidates to chair it. No buzzers yet, simply a sharp tap on the table with a pencil.
The winner stood out head and shoulders above the others. Kind, witty, urbane, scholarly, old beyond his years and already in charge of the format, it was, of course, Bamber Gascoigne, setting the show’s tone for the next 25 years.
Peter Kenvyn Jones
Bamber Gascoigne displayed a sustained commitment to Liberal politics. He regularly put his name to appeals for the Liberal party and, more recently, the Liberal Democrats, seeing a natural connection between his involvement in the world of the arts and Liberal values.
Michael Meadowcroft
Michael Frayn once said to me of his Cambridge friend Bamber Gascoigne: “Beneath the surface charm is a heart of pure gold. He is one of the best, most morally good, people I know.”
I saw an instance of this while preparing to film a National Trust walk at Hadrian’s Wall. A middle-aged woman, tripping awkwardly, broke her leg. In great pain, she surveyed the group, then gestured towards Bamber Gascoigne. He knelt over her, and a whispered conversation followed.
Later I asked about it. It seemed that the woman never left home without all her jewellery hidden on her person. Realising that she was about to be helicoptered to an unknown hospital, she thought it safer to entrust her valuables to a wholly good person. Bamber was the obvious choice.
Edward Mirzoeff
