247:. As the focus of the interview moved on to the subject of death, Freeman asked Harding if he had ever been in the presence of a dead person. At this point, in replying in the affirmative, Harding's voice began to break and his eyes watered. Freeman later said he had not anticipated the effect this would have; Harding had witnessed his mother's death in 1954. Freeman appeared to be unaware that Harding was referring to his mother, for later in the interview he asserted that Harding's mother was still alive. Harding contradicted him, and Freeman moved quickly on. This version of events has been contradicted by the producer,
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179:. Due to the circumstances of his upbringing, Harding was fond of the "half-true" claim to have been "born in a workhouse and educated in an orphanage". His paternal grandparents, Gilbert William and Mary Priscilla Harding, were superintendents of the Children's Home at Caerleon, Newport, Wales; his maternal grandfather, Charles King, was in charge of the Hereford Union Workhouse, having previously worked at the workhouse in
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at which a guest remarked that the bride and groom would make an ideal couple, Harding replied "You should know, you've slept with both of them". He became increasingly unable to move anywhere in public without being accosted by adoring viewers. On one occasion he asked a mother with two children if "your children are crippled", because they had stayed seated on a railway bench.
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less for the quiz elements than for the chance of a live
Harding outburst. An incident on an early broadcast started this trend when Harding became annoyed with a contestant, and told him that he was getting bored with him. Harding's rudeness off-screen was also commented upon; at a wedding reception
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Behind
Harding's gruff exterior there was a lonely and complex man who constantly donated to charity, visited the sick and helped many in need. But such details, in conflict with the public image, became public only after his death. In 1979, radio presenter Owen Spencer-Thomas on BBC Radio London's
263:. Harding kept his sexuality secret because male homosexual behaviour was a criminal offence in the UK. Harding also admitted in the programme that his bad manners and temper were "indefensible". " profoundly lonely", he stated, later adding, "I would very much like to be dead."
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in 2014 and has been repeated several times. This included interviews with people who knew and worked with
Harding, and explored his life, personality, sexuality and influence in a non-judgemental way. It included the
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Freeman publicly expressed regret about this line of questioning; its emphasis on
Harding's "closeness" to his mother has since been seen by at least one commentator as a tactless attempt to expose his
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Harding was notorious for his irascibility and was at one time characterised in the tabloid press as "the rudest man in
Britain". His fame sprang from an inability to
122:(5 June 1907 – 16 November 1960) was a British journalist and radio and television personality. His many careers included schoolmaster, journalist, policeman,
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and was voted
Personality of the Year in the National Radio Awards of 1953-4. Harding regularly appeared on the BBC television panel game
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described him as "enigmatic ... bad-tempered and rude, yet his friends counted him as one of the kindest, and most generous."
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After
Cambridge, Harding took jobs teaching English in Canada and France. He returned to Britain and worked as a policeman in
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interview in full, as well as episodes of programmes in which
Harding was either Chairman or panel member. It ended with
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Region 2 DVD set (p.27) the interview with
Harding was recorded on 3 July 1960 and broadcast on 18 September 1960.
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where his parents, Gilbert
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367:(September 2004). "Harding, Gilbert Charles (1907–1960), radio and television broadcaster".
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Gilbert Harding: A Candid Portrayal, Wallace Reyburn, Angus & Robertson, 1978, p. 82
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as he was about to climb into a taxi. The cause was an
563:, BFI screen online website. Accessed URL 29 May 2010.
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In 1960 he was reduced to tears on an edition of the
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Burials at St Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green
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Brief Lives, Paul Johnson, Arrow Books, 2011, p. 127
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on 18 October 2005, following a repeated episode of
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453:Along My Line, Gilbert Harding, Putnam, 1953, p. 3
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16:English journalist and broadcaster (1907–1960)
373:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
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271:Harding died a few weeks after the
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479:. London: Bloomsbury. p. 18.
435:. London: Putnam, 1953, chapter 2.
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