Bamber Gascoigne

Shows

Biography

The friendly face of academia, Bamber Gascoigne is best known as the original host of University Challenge. Famously, his dedication to the job was such that he painstakingly verified all the questions himself, and re-wrote them if they didn't come up to his exacting standards. He also presented the 1970s landmark documentary series The Christians and has written lots of books, including several on printmaking and a single-volume encyclopedia of British history, as well as huge amounts for his own History World website.

Trivia

One of the episodes of The Young Ones was named after him. In that episode, "Bambi", Griff Rhys Jones portrayed him in a spoof match between Scumbag College and Footlights College, Oxbridge.

Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen) played Bamber in the 2006 film Starter for Ten.

Back in the 1950s/60s, Bamber was quite the playwright. He penned the hugely successful musical revue Share My Lettuce which featured rising stars Kenneth Williams and Maggie Smith, though one of his later plays was officially banned by the Lord Chamberlain!