Melvyn Bragg CH FRSL

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Radio and TV broadcaster of The South Bank Show and In Our Time

Biography

Melvyn Bragg CH FRSL is Notable.

Melvyn Bragg was born on 6 October 1939 to Stanley Bragg and Mary Ethel (Park) Bragg in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. ^[1] He was an only child. His maternal grandmother Isabella Park was forced to leave town after she had her illegitimate baby, ^[2] Bragg's mother Mary Ethel. Mary Ethel had a foster-mother, and Melvyn believed she was his blood grandmother.

He attended grammar school (unusual for a working-class boy), and later read Modern History at Oxford University. ^[3]

In 1961, Bragg married his first wife, Marie-Elisabeth Roche in Oxford. ^[4] In that same year, Bragg started his general training at the BBC. He began in radio: the BBC World Service, the BBC Third Programme, and BBC Home Service. He then made the move to television, appearing on Huw Wheldon's Monitor arts series, Read All About It, and The Lively Arts. Bragg published his first novel in 1965, and wrote biographical dramas, autobiographical fictions, and screenplays. In 1972, he co-wrote the script for the film Jesus Christ Superstar. He has also written for The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, and The Observer.

Sadly, Marie-Elisabeth died in 1971. ^[5] Two years later, he married TV producer and writer Cate Haste. ^[6]

Moving on again, he went to London Weekend Television, and is most well-known for presenting The South Bank Show from 1978 to 2010, which introduced the arts to the general public. When he left The South Bank Show, the Guardian newspaper described him as "the last of the ITV grandees". He is also known for his radio programmes: Start the Week, The Routes of English, and In Our Time.

In 1998, he was appointed to the House of Lords as the life peer Baron Bragg. ^[7]

From 1999 to 2017, Lord Bragg became the Chancellor of the University of Leeds, becoming the first not to be a royal nor a hereditary peer. He has stressed the importance of education in his own life, including his attendance at Wadham College, Oxford.^[8]

He resurrected The South Bank Show in 2012, this time presenting it on Freeview channel Sky Arts 1. He also presented the radio series The Value of Culture later that same year. Melvyn Bragg is also noted for his radio and TV series on the British class system, its popular media culture, and the 2013 telling of William Tyndale's attempt to translate the Bible from Latin to English.

Bragg currently lives in Hampstead with his third wife. He also has a home in Wigton, Cumbria, England. He has three adult children.

Awards

Order of the Companions of Honour
Fellow of the Royal Society (science)
Fellow of the Royal Society for Literature
Fellow of the British Academy (arts)

Bibliography

For complete bibliography, please see freespace page

• Speak For England (1976)
• Land of The Lakes (1983)
• Laurence Olivier (1984)
• Cumbria in Verse (editor) (1984)
• Rich: The Life of Richard Burton (1988)
• The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet) (1993)
• King Lear in New York (1994)
• On Giants' Shoulders (1998)
• Two Thousand Years Part 1: The Birth of Christ to the Crusades (1999)
• Two Thousand Years Part 2 (1999)
• The Routes of English (2001)
• The Adventure of English (2003)
• 12 Books That Changed the World (2006)
• In Our Time: A Companion to the Radio 4 series (editor) (2009)
• The Book of Books (2011)
• William Tyndale: A Very Brief History (2017)
• In Our Time: Celebrating Twenty Years of Essential Conversation (2018)

Sources

1. ↑ Birth Registration: "England & Wales Births 1837-2006"
   Volume: 10B; Page: 1248
   FindMyPast Image - FindMyPast Transcription (accessed 20 November 2021)
   Melvyn Bragg birth Oct-Nov-Dec 1939 in Carlisle.
2. ↑ Melvyn Bragg: Wigton to Westminster, BBC Two, 18 July 2015
3. ↑ "Family detective: Melvyn Bragg", Nick Barratt, telegraph.co.uk, 2007
4. ↑ England & Wales marriage registration: Oxford [district], Volume 6b, Page 1824, June quarter 1961, Melvyn BRAGG and Marie E ROCHE
5. ↑ England & Wales death registration: Richmond upon Thames [dsitrict], Volume 5d, Page 1618, September quarter 1971.
6. ↑ England & Wales marriage registration: Hampstead [district], Volume 5b, Page 1327, December quarter 1973, Melvyn BRAGG and Catherine M HASTE
7. ↑ Barony: London Gazette
8. ↑ Chancellor of Leeds University

See Also:

• Melvyn Bragg on Wikipedia
• "Melvyn Bragg: A Northern hero in our time", Chris Blackhurst, Independent.co.uk, 2014