Kenneth Allsop
| Kenneth Allsop | |
|---|---|
| Born |
29 January 1920 Holbeck, Yorkshire, England |
| Died |
23 May 1973 (aged 53) Bridport, Dorset, England |
| Occupation | Broadcaster, author and naturalist |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 20th century |
Kenneth Allsop (29 January 1920 – 23 May 1973) was a British broadcaster, author and naturalist.[1][2] He was married in St Peter's Church, Ealing, in March 1942.[3] Allsop was a regular reporter on the BBC current affairs programme Tonight during the 1960s. He also was Rector of Edinburgh University and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. In 1958 he wrote an account of 1950s British literature, The Angry Decade,[4] at the end of which he remarked that: "In this technologically triumphant age, when the rockets begin to scream up towards the moon but the human mind seems at an even greater distance, anger has a limited use. Love has a wider application, and it is that which needs describing wherever it can be found so that we may all recognise it and learn its use."
The inquest on his death recorded an open verdict, despite having found that it was brought about by an overdose of barbiturates.[5] He is buried at Powerstock in Dorset.
The Kenneth Allsop Memorial Trust, a registered charity,[6] was launched in 1973 with an appeal for funds, at first intending to acquire and conserve Eggardon Hill in Dorset.[7] Instead, in 1976 the trust bought the island of Steep Holm in the Bristol Channel for £10,000, and runs it as a nature reserve.[8] The Sunday Times instituted a Kenneth Allsop Memorial Essay Competition, which took place annually until 1986.[9] The Allsop Gallery, an exhibition space in Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset, is named after him.[10]
List of works
- The Sun Must Die (1949)
- Silver Flame (1950)
- The Daybreak Edition (1951)
- The Angry Decade (1958)
- Rare Bird (1959)
- Question of Obscenity (1960) (with Robert Pitman)
- The Bootleggers (1961)
- Adventure Lit Their Star (1949) (the 1950 winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize)
- Strip Jack Naked (1972)
- Harriet Beecher Stowe (1971)
- Hard Travellin': The Hobo and his History (1972)
- In the Country (1973)
- Letters to his Daughter (1974)
- One and All: Two Years in the Chilterns (1991)
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Malcolm Muggeridge |
Rector of the University of Edinburgh 1969–1972 |
Succeeded by Jonathon W. G. Wills |
References
- ↑ Mark Andresen: Field of Vision: The Broadcast Life of Kenneth Allsop
- ↑ Kenneth Allsop at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Field of Vision: The Broadcast Life of Kenneth Allsop
- ↑ Allsop, Kenneth (1958). The Angry Decade; A Survey of the Cultural Revolt of the Nineteen Fifties. London: Peter Owen Ltd.
- ↑ "Open verdict recorded on Mr Kenneth Allsop". The Times. London. 31 May 1973. p. 4.
- ↑ Charity Commission. KENNETH ALLSOP MEMORIAL TRUST LIMITED, registered charity no. 270059.
- ↑ "Dorset hill sought for Allsop memorial". The Sunday Times. London. 19 August 1973. p. 5.
- ↑ Ashbrook, Kate. "Legg, Rodney Frank". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/103950. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ↑ "The Final Competition". The Sunday Times. London. 26 October 1986. p. 101.
- ↑ Burton-Page, Tony (August 2010). "Bridport's arts hub". The Dorset Magazine - Dorset Life. Retrieved 18 June 2016.