Kenneth Kendall (born 7 August 1924, British India) is a retired
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
broadcaster. He was a contemporary of
Richard BakerRichard Baker OBE is a British broadcaster best known as a newsreader for the BBC News from 1954 to 1982. He was a contemporary of Kenneth Kendall and Robert Dougall and was the first person to read the BBC Television News in 1954. At one time he lived in Barnet, North London...
and
Robert DougallRobert Dougall MBE was a British broadcaster and ornithologist, mainly known as a newsreader and announcer.-Early life and radio broadcasting:...
. Although he worked for many years as a newsreader for the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
, he is perhaps best known as the host of the game show
Treasure HuntTreasure Hunt was a popular UK game show, based on the format of the French show La Chasse au Trésor, created by Jacques Antoine. It appeared on Channel 4 between 28 December 1982 and 18 May 1989 and was revived by BBC Two between 16 December 2002 and 2 August 2003.-The game:A team of two...
(1982-89).
Kendall was born in
South IndiaSouth India, also known as the Dravida in the Indian anthem, is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of area...
,where his father worked, into a Cornish family with strong naval traditions and a history reaching back into the Crusades, and was brought up in Cornwall.
Kenneth Kendall (born 7 August 1924, British India) is a retired
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
broadcaster. He was a contemporary of
Richard BakerRichard Baker OBE is a British broadcaster best known as a newsreader for the BBC News from 1954 to 1982. He was a contemporary of Kenneth Kendall and Robert Dougall and was the first person to read the BBC Television News in 1954. At one time he lived in Barnet, North London...
and
Robert DougallRobert Dougall MBE was a British broadcaster and ornithologist, mainly known as a newsreader and announcer.-Early life and radio broadcasting:...
. Although he worked for many years as a newsreader for the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
, he is perhaps best known as the host of the game show
Treasure HuntTreasure Hunt was a popular UK game show, based on the format of the French show La Chasse au Trésor, created by Jacques Antoine. It appeared on Channel 4 between 28 December 1982 and 18 May 1989 and was revived by BBC Two between 16 December 2002 and 2 August 2003.-The game:A team of two...
(1982-89).
Kendall was born in
South IndiaSouth India, also known as the Dravida in the Indian anthem, is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of area...
,where his father worked, into a Cornish family with strong naval traditions and a history reaching back into the Crusades, and was brought up in Cornwall. He is also related to the Canadian pianist and composer Simon Kendall. He was educated at
Felsted SchoolFelsted is a public school situated in the village of Felsted, in Essex, England. It was founded in 1564 by Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich who, as Lord Chancellor and Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, acquired considerable wealth from the spoils of the Dissolution of the Monasteries...
in Essex and
Corpus Christi College, OxfordCorpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
. He served as a school master and later as a Captain in the
Coldstream GuardsHer Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, also known officially as the Coldstream Guards , is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division....
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was injured on
D-DayD-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
. He joined the BBC in 1948 as a radio newsreader and transferred to television in 1954. Though he was not the first person to read the news on BBC television, Kendall was the first newsreader to appear in vision (1955).
Kendall became known for his elegant dress sense and was even voted best-dressed newsreader by
Style International and No.1 newscaster by
Daily Mirror readers in 1979. He left the BBC in 1961. From 1961 to 1969 he was a freelance newsreader, working occasionally for ITN and presenting
Southern TelevisionSouthern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until 1 January 1982. It also used the name Southern Independent Television, on-air, from 1964 until its demise...
's
Day By Day. He appeared as himself in the Adam Adamant episode
The Doomsday Plan where he is kidnapped and impersonated. He appeared in a cameo role as a newsreader in
2001: A Space Odyssey2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick and written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke...
, as well as in the
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
serial
The War MachinesThe War Machines is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in 4 weekly parts from June 25 to July 16, 1966. This serial is the first appearance of Michael Craze and Anneke Wills as pending companions Ben Jackson and Polly, as well as marking...
.
He rejoined the BBC in 1969 and finally retired from newsreading in 1981, allowing him to work on the very popular Channel Four programme
Treasure HuntTreasure Hunt was a popular UK game show, based on the format of the French show La Chasse au Trésor, created by Jacques Antoine. It appeared on Channel 4 between 28 December 1982 and 18 May 1989 and was revived by BBC Two between 16 December 2002 and 2 August 2003.-The game:A team of two...
throughout its first run (1982–1989), which featured
Anneka RiceAnneka Rice is a British television presenter.She changed her name to Anneka when she joined the British actors' union Equity, as her birth-name had already been registered with that organisation.-Biography:Born in Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, she was educated at three independent schools:...
as a "skyrunner". He has also presented the television programme
Songs of PraiseSongs of Praise is a BBC television programme based around traditional Christian hymns. With an average of nearly 3 million viewers weekly it is believed to be the most-watched and one of the longest-running religious television programmes in the world...
.
He now lives in
CowesCowes, sometimes referred to as West Cowes, is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, an island south of Southampton. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...
on the
Isle of WightThe Isle of Wight is an English island and a county, located 3-5 miles from the south coast of the mainland, in the English Channel. It is separated from mainland England by the Solent and is situated south of the county of Hampshire...
where he has been the owner of a marine
art galleryAn art gallery or art museum is a space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museum can be public or private but what distinguishes a Museum is the ownership of a collection. Paintings are the most commonly displayed art objects; however, sculpture, photographs, illustrations,...
, and is a keen beekeeper.