Magnus Magnusson
Encyclopedia
Magnus Magnusson KBE
(ˈmaknus ˈmaknusɔn; 12 October 1929 – 7 January 2007) was a television presenter
, journalist
, translator and writer
. He was born in Iceland
but lived in Scotland
for almost all of his life, although he never took British citizenship. He came to prominence as a BBC
television journalist, and was best known as the presenter of the BBC television quiz programme Mastermind
, which he hosted for 25 years.
but grew up in Edinburgh
, where his father, Sigursteinn Magnússon, was the Icelandic consul
. Under Icelandic naming conventions
, his name would have been Magnús Sigursteinsson (Magnús, son of Sigursteinn), but his family adopted British naming conventions and he took his father's surname
. He was schooled at the Edinburgh Academy
.
, Magnusson became a reporter with the Scottish Daily Express and The Scotsman
. He went freelance in 1967, then joined the BBC
, presenting programmes on history
and archaeology
as well as appearing in news programmes.
from 1972 to 1997. His catchphrase, which the current presenter John Humphrys
has continued to use, was "I've started so I'll finish". Magnusson made a one-off cameo appearance as himself, hosting Mastermind in the children's series Dizzy Heights
.
and Old Norse into English
. Among these are several works by Halldór Laxness
, the Nobel prize
-winning novelist from Iceland, and a number of Norse sagas which he co-translated (with Hermann Pálsson
) for the Penguin Classics
series: Njal's Saga
(1960), The Vinland Sagas
(1965), King Harald's Saga (1966) and Laxdaela Saga (1969). Magnusson was also the author of a popular history of the Viking
era, called The Vikings (revised edition, 2000).
) in 1989, and was elected President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
for a five-year period, at their 94th AGM in October 1995, succeeding Max Nicholson. He also became the founder Chairman of Scottish Natural Heritage
upon its inception in 1992.
He was Lord Rector of Edinburgh University from 1975 to 1978, and later, in 2002, became Chancellor
of Glasgow Caledonian University
.
.
On 12 October 2006, his 77th birthday, Magnusson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
. Magnusson mordantly noted that "this has to be one of my worst birthdays ever". His condition forced him to cancel a string of public appearances. He died on 7 January 2007.
Other children:
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(ˈmaknus ˈmaknusɔn; 12 October 1929 – 7 January 2007) was a television presenter
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, translator and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. He was born in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
but lived in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
for almost all of his life, although he never took British citizenship. He came to prominence as a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television journalist, and was best known as the presenter of the BBC television quiz programme Mastermind
Mastermind (TV series)
Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the...
, which he hosted for 25 years.
Early life
Magnusson was born in ReykjavíkReykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
but grew up in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, where his father, Sigursteinn Magnússon, was the Icelandic consul
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
. Under Icelandic naming conventions
Icelandic name
Icelandic names differ from most current Western family name systems by being patronymic in that they reflect the immediate father of the child and not the historic family lineage....
, his name would have been Magnús Sigursteinsson (Magnús, son of Sigursteinn), but his family adopted British naming conventions and he took his father's surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
. He was schooled at the Edinburgh Academy
Edinburgh Academy
The Edinburgh Academy is an independent school which was opened in 1824. The original building, in Henderson Row on the northern fringe of the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of the Senior School...
.
Journalism
After graduating from Jesus College, OxfordJesus College, Oxford
Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...
, Magnusson became a reporter with the Scottish Daily Express and The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
. He went freelance in 1967, then joined the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, presenting programmes on history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
as well as appearing in news programmes.
Mastermind
Magnusson presented the long-running quiz show MastermindMastermind (TV series)
Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the...
from 1972 to 1997. His catchphrase, which the current presenter John Humphrys
John Humphrys
Desmond John Humphrys , is a Welsh-born British author, journalist and presenter of radio and television, who has won many national broadcasting awards...
has continued to use, was "I've started so I'll finish". Magnusson made a one-off cameo appearance as himself, hosting Mastermind in the children's series Dizzy Heights
Dizzy Heights (TV Series)
Dizzy Heights was a BBC television series about a disastrous partnership of two managers trying to run a seaside hotel. The show was about Mr Heap and Mr Wall's many adventures and regularly featured a Spitting Image style family of puppets called the Gristles who lived, and caused chaos in, the...
.
Translator
Magnusson translated a variety of books from modern IcelandicIcelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
and Old Norse into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Among these are several works by Halldór Laxness
Halldór Laxness
Halldór Kiljan Laxness was a twentieth-century Icelandic writer. Throughout his career Laxness wrote poetry, newspaper articles, plays, travelogues, short stories, and novels...
, the Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
-winning novelist from Iceland, and a number of Norse sagas which he co-translated (with Hermann Pálsson
Hermann Pálsson
Hermann Pálsson was an Icelandic language scholar.Hermann Pálsson, Icelandic scholar and translator: born Sauðanes á Ásum, a farm near Blönduós in Iceland on the 26th May 1921; Lecturer in Icelandic Studies, Edinburgh University 1950-82, Professor of Icelandic Studies 1982-88 ; married 1953 Stella...
) for the Penguin Classics
The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection
Penguin Classics is an imprint published by Penguin Books, a subsidiary of Pearson PLC. They are published in varying editions throughout the world including in the United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, South Africa, and South Korea...
series: Njal's Saga
Njál's saga
Njáls saga is one of the sagas of Icelanders. The most prominent characters are the friends Njáll Þorgeirsson, a lawyer and a sage, and Gunnarr Hámundarson, a formidable warrior...
(1960), The Vinland Sagas
Vinland sagas
The Vinland Sagas are two Icelandic documents, The Saga of the Greenlanders and The Saga of Eric the Red, ....
(1965), King Harald's Saga (1966) and Laxdaela Saga (1969). Magnusson was also the author of a popular history of the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
era, called The Vikings (revised edition, 2000).
Awards & charity positions
Magnusson was awarded an honorary knighthood (Knight Commander of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
) in 1989, and was elected President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...
for a five-year period, at their 94th AGM in October 1995, succeeding Max Nicholson. He also became the founder Chairman of Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Natural Heritage is a Scottish public body. It is responsible for Scotland's natural heritage, especially its natural, genetic and scenic diversity. It advises the Scottish Government and acts as a government agent in the delivery of conservation designations, i.e...
upon its inception in 1992.
He was Lord Rector of Edinburgh University from 1975 to 1978, and later, in 2002, became Chancellor
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
of Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow Caledonian University is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland.The university was constituted by an Act of Parliament on 1 April 1993 as a result of a merger between Glasgow Polytechnic and The Queen's College, Glasgow....
.
Later life
In the early years of the 21st century, Magnusson also wrote for the New StatesmanNew Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
.
On 12 October 2006, his 77th birthday, Magnusson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
. Magnusson mordantly noted that "this has to be one of my worst birthdays ever". His condition forced him to cancel a string of public appearances. He died on 7 January 2007.
Family
Magnus Magnusson was married to Mamie Baird. Their eldest son, Siggi, died in a traffic accident in 1973.Other children:
- Daughter Sally MagnussonSally MagnussonSally Magnússon,, is a Scottish broadcaster and writer, currently working for BBC Scotland. She also presents Tracing Your Roots on BBC Radio 4.-Early life:...
is a television presenter, mainly in Scotland, although in the 1980s she worked for BBC South EastBBC South EastBBC South East is the BBC English Region serving East Sussex, Kent, and parts of Surrey and West Sussex.The BBC region was created in September 2001 by the joining of the Heathfield transmitter , with the Bluebell Hill and Dover transmitters to form a new regional TV service...
News; she is also a regular presenter of Songs of PraiseSongs of PraiseSongs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional Christian hymns. It is a widely watched and long-running religious television programme, one of the few peak-time free-to-air religious programmes in Europe Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional... - Jon Magnusson is a television comedy producer.
- Margaret Magnusson is a television executive, who has taken on a role of publicizing the issue of Pancreatic Cancer.
- Anna Magnusson is a senior Scottish radio producer and broadcaster on religious affairs