Quiz-master and journalist Robert Robinson dies
Robert Robinson, who was best known as the host of several BBC panel games, has died in London.
The veteran BBC broadcaster and presenter Robert Robinson has died at the age of 83 following a long period of ill health.
Mr Robinson presented numerous radio and television programmes for the corporation in a career that spanned five decades.
They included Ask the Family, Stop the Week, the panel game Call My Bluff and Radio 4’s flagship Today programme.
Following his death at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, his daughter, Susie Robinson, told the BBC: “He had a very long, productive and successful life and we’ll all miss him terribly.”
Mr Robinson was born in Liverpool and went on to study at Oxford University where he met his wife of more than 40 years, the actress Josee Richard.
He began his career in magazines and newspapers, before moving into broadcasting and in 1974 was named Radio Personality of the Year following his tenure on the Today programme.
However, it was hosting quiz shows – what he referred to as his “humble calling” – that most will remember him for.
He was quizmaster on long-running game shows including Radio 4’s Brain of Britain and only stood down as chairman of the show last year having been forced to take several sabbaticals from the programme.
At his retirement the then-Radio 4 controller, Mark Damazer, said: “The brilliant Robert Robinson defined the art of the quiz show host.
“He presided over Brain Of Britain with sympathy for the contestants, wit and panache.”