Stuart Hall profile: from It’s A Knockout joker to highbrow football summaries

 
File photo dated 7/2/2013 of veteran BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall who will today appear at a pre-trial hearing over allegations of historic sex offences. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday May 2, 2013. Hall, 83, was initially charged with indecent assaults on three young girls dating between 1974 and 1984. He then faced additional charges that he raped a woman in the 1970s and committed 14 sexual assaults against 10 further girls between 1967 and 1986. The former It's A Knockout presenter, of Prestbury Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire, has been a familiar face and voice in British broadcasting for half a century and was last year awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours. See PA story COURTS Hall. Photo credit should read: Martin Rickett/PA Wire
Lindsay Watling2 May 2013
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Stuart Hall has been one of the most familiar faces and voices in British broadcasting for more than half a century.

Best known for breaking into fits of laughter as the host of It’s A Knockout during the Seventies, such was his popularity that he was able to attract the likes of Prince Edward and other members of the royal family to appear on tea-time television.

Starting his career at the BBC in 1959, he made his name on the North West Tonight programme before going on to national TV fame with the comedy game show and as a host on A Question Of Sport. The Shakespeare and Shelley-quoting eccentric, who collects rare antique clocks and ran a travel business, is known to younger generations as a football commentator on Match Of The Day and most recently Radio 5 Live.

His highbrow football match summaries, interspersed with erudite literary references, made him a cult figure and also earned him fans around the world. He was made OBE in the New Year Honours list for services to broadcasting and charity.

On one occasion, the father of two famously described a performance by Manchester City’s Georgi Kinkladze as: “Tippy-toed. Tumultuous. Only one word will suffice — terpsichorean.” The Lancashire-born 83-year-old, who lives with his wife of more than 40 years, Hazel, at their £1.5 million home in Wilmslow, Cheshire, continued to present for the BBC until he was suspended after the historic sex allegations emerged.

Interviewed about his achievements by the BBC in 2011, he joked he was only a “second-rate, provincial hack”, but said being recognised for his 50-odd years of charity work, during which time he raised millions of pounds, had given him a “glow of pleasure”.

Yet, despite his sparkling CV, flamboyant Hall’s life has not been without controversy — even before last year’s revelations. In 1990, he was charged with shoplifting a pack of sausages and jar of coffee worth £3.94 from his local Safeway. He has never denied taking the items, but was cleared by a jury after explaining how he had suffered a series of personal disasters and could not remember taking them.

The same year he quit the BBC after refusing to accept a change of job, leaving North West Tonight after a quarter of a century in the post. Chiefs had refused to renew his newsreading contract.

In 1999, then aged 65, Hall was ruled out of presenting a new-look It’s A Knockout on the grounds he was too old. He had been poised for a comeback when Channel 5 announced plans to revive the show but producers opted for Keith Chegwin and children’s presenter Lucy Alexander.

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