Barry Norman
Biography
Veteran journalist best known as a film critic and host of Film 72, Film 81, Film 86 and Film 95, to name but four. He stepped down from that role in 1998 but continued to pop up on programmes about movies and wrote a weekly column in Radio Times.
He died in June 2017, at the age of 83.
Trivia
Very nearly presented Countdown; after Richard Whiteley fell ill, there were plans for episodes to be hosted by guests until he died the day before recordings were due to begin.
In 2007 he launched his own brand of pickled onions, called, er, "Barry Norman's Pickled Onions", based on an old family recipe. Apparently they were quite nice. His company Pickleodeon Foods outlasted him by a few years (his children took it over after his death) but was wound up in 2021.
He was married to the novelist Diana Norman (1933-2011).
Books / Tapes
And Why Not? Memoirs of a Film Lover (paperback)