Going For Gold and Game For A Laugh host Henry Kelly dies aged 78
He was also known for covering the Troubles in Belfast.
Former Going For Gold and Game For A Laugh host Henry Kelly has died aged 78.
The writer and broadcaster died “peacefully” on Tuesday “after a period of ill health”, his family said.
They said in a statement: “Henry will be sorely missed by his friends and family, including his partner Karolyn Shindler, their son Alexander, Henry’s daughter Siobhan and her mother Marjorie.”
Born in Dublin on April 17 1946, Kelly was a friend of fellow Belvedere College pupil Sir Terry Wogan, who fronted a host of entertainment shows including the Eurovision Song Contest and Blankety Blank.
Kelly began his career at the broadsheet newspaper The Irish Times while doing theatre reviews as a student at University College Dublin.
He went on to become its northern editor, based in Belfast in the 1970s – where he covered the height of the Troubles.
In 1976, he moved to London and joined the long-running BBC Radio 4 current affairs programme, The World Tonight, as a reporter and presenter.
TV presenting gigs followed from the 1980s, including entertainment show Game For A Laugh on ITV from 1981.
He went on to host BBC 1 game show Going For Gold for 10 seasons from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.
The original show, which featured a theme tune from Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, saw people from different countries competing against each other for a cash prize through answering questions.
It was shortly revived by Channel 5 with newsreader John Suchet at the helm during the 2000s, with the European contestants absent from the revival.
Kelly also appeared in comedy show Dinnerladies, had a stint on morning programme TV-am, and talk show After Dark.
He was a founding presenter on the classical music radio station Classic FM where he has a daily breakfast programme from 1992 to 2003.
In 1994 he was voted national broadcaster of the year in the Sony Radio Awards.
His later radio career saw him have the Henry Kelly Show on LBC for a stint, as well as present on the local station BBC Radio Berkshire between 2005 and 2015.
In 2022, Kelly along with RTE and TV3 current affairs presenter Vincent Browne was asked by a Belfast coroner to give evidence at the inquest of barman John Moran, who was killed in a loyalist bomb attack in 1972.
A hearing, at Belfast Coroner’s Court, heard that Kelly’s partner had indicated he has no recollection of the incident and is unable to assist.
Last year, the court said it had been unable to conclude the inquest by a deadline.
Kelly also wrote books including the 1970s work How Stormont Fell, about the events which hit the Northern Irish parliament, and co-authored the 1990s collection Classic FM Musical Anecdotes, Notes And Quotes with John Foley.
