Bamber Gascoigne dies.

 Bamber Gascoigne dies

For some of us the name of Bamber Gascoigne will always be remembered as the intellectual face of British TV during the late 1960s and 1970s. In later years he would be regarded as one of our most respected and eminent historians of modern times. Gascoigne was one of the gentle giants of TV broadcasting at a time when TV was still learning the ropes and becoming acquainted with the natural rhythms of a Sunday afternoon. 

Sadly, Gascoigne died yesterday at the age of 87 and there are those who will mourn the passing of a TV quiz show that was both learned, informative and enlightening. Gascoigne presented  University Challenge, a thrillingly educational quiz show designed specifically perhaps for undergraduates, dons, professors and those with an extensive knowledge on classical music and most of the science related subjects that left us all totally flummoxed. 

Gascoigne was somehow the face of respectability, a conservative dresser with a very modest taste in jackets, a man with frizzy hair and the neatest of appearances. Reading questions on a whole handful of cards, he would deliver most of the probing and teasing questions at quite the most lightning speed. And then there were the universities, highly academic minds with an encyclopaedias in their brains and amusingly esoteric responses to questions on famous scientists from the 15th century, industrial chemists from the early 19th century and medieval kings and queens. 

When Gascoigne declared that the said universities had a starter for 10 or needed fingers on their buzzers you knew you were in the comforting hands of a man who knew he had everything under his control. Then the London Weekend Television cameras would pan to the two seats of learning. Both universities appeared to be divided on the screen. But this was no gimmick since University Challenge was essentially a show about discovering entirely new facts about the world and nature around us. 

In many ways though University Challenge would be the forerunner of programmes such as Mastermind, another general knowledge-cum- specialist interest quiz show that put the most intense spotlight on contestants who had to answer with both speed and accuracy. There would be no time for hesitation, deviation or lengthy thinking time. You had to be ready to reply immediately and if you didn't you would be subjected to a sigh of impatience and Gascoigne frantically imploring the contestant to hurry up before he went home for tea. 

As a child of the times you somehow knew that this was TV that was beyond your comprehension. But there was something compelling about the programme that couldn't be explained. You found yourself engrossed in University Challenge, a show for the intelligentsia, the swots, the ones who were studying medicine and quantum physics. They were the students with natty scarves, quaint mascots on their desks, cute teddy bears and a wondrous array of superstitious trinkets. 

And then there were the universities from both Cambridge and Oxford on innumerable occasions while the rest of Britain's regional colleges would also pit their wits against those who had immense wit and impressive erudition. There was something very intriguing about a programme that looked as though it was aimed predominantly at the middle and upper classes but was still strangely relatable. Of course we didn't know which composer wrote this sonata or overture because we had a different kind of education. And yet we didn't feel as though we were being recklessly excluded because University Challenge was very much a challenge, a severe examination on facts, characters and places that none of us had heard ever heard of. 

However, we watched with ever increasing fascination and there were questions we could answer with some confidence. Maybe there were more but, from memory, we weren't quite sure which. We took great delight in the way both universities would keep buzzing just for the sake of it. Gascoigne would now become that stern and chastising headmaster who kept the whole show ticking over because he was the calming influence, the emollient one, the controller in chief. So the students sat there like former sixth formers who had just emerged from the library with a million answers at their fingertips. 

As far as you could rightly remember University Challenge would always be shown at Sunday lunchtime just before the football highlights show The Big Match. Sundays were never quite the same when the show had to be tucked away into the archives never to be seen again. Still, it has made a comeback and the former Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman is the latest inquisitor. Paxman is an altogether more ruthless type, intolerant of any pregnant pauses and no nonsense in his approach. 

So you settled down in the family kitchen for Sunday lunch and keep an ever vigilant eye on a programme that was completely over your head. Our Bamber would sit there week after week, shuffling through the cards like a casino croupier flicking through the kings, queens, jacks and clubs. University Challenge became like a permanent fixture in every household that craved to find out something might have been suitable subjects for earnest dinner parties.

And so it was that Bamber Gascoigne moved seamlessly into other areas and would carve a niche as historian, social commentator and rectors of universities. He would produce wonderful documentaries on the classics, music and art. Gascoigne was of course an accomplished broadcaster, never flustered and always ready with a bitingly funny quip or a humorous moment of subtle comedy. He wrote books, wrote scholarly papers, travelled the world and generally conducted himself with the most understated style and poise. You shall miss Bamber Gascoigne because you know for a fact that you could never hope to aspire to be who he was.  Here was a man of vast intelligence with an immense understanding of the big, wide world. It may be quite some time before we see his like again.