Bamber Gascoigne

Ancestry Gascoigne's family were originally Norman, arriving in England in the early 13th century.

Gascoigne's great-grandfathers included the 1st Marquess of Crewe and the 2nd Baron O'Neill.

Gascoigne was a direct descendant of Sir Crisp Gascoyne, an 18th-century Lord Mayor of London, and the Tory politicians Bamber Gascoyne (the elder) and Isaac Gascoyne. Isaac's son, General Ernest Frederick Gascoyne, of Raby Hall, Liverpool (1796–1867), was his great-great-great-grandfather. His manner of questioning was regarded as firm yet polite. Phrases he often used which became catchphrases include: "Fingers on buzzers", "your starter for ten", "no conferring", and "I'll have to hurry you." The show was at first planned to last for only 13 episodes, but was such a hit that Gascoigne eventually presented 913 episodes. and Miriam Margolyes.

Gascoigne is portrayed by actor Mark Gatiss in the 2006 comedy-drama film Starter for 10 and by Robert Portal in the 2024 stage musical adaptation. This was originally written as a script, although the play was abandoned because of the impossibility of finding suitable performers for a cast of forty pygmies.

Gascoigne wrote Quest for the Golden Hare, a 1983 account of the internationally publicised treasure hunt associated with the publication in 1979 of Kit Williams' book Masquerade. On 8 August 1979, Gascoigne was witness to the burial by Williams, in an earthenware jar "somewhere in Britain", of a unique jewelled, solid gold pendant in the design of a hare. The book documents the search and a scandal associated with the pendant's eventual discovery.

In 1987, Gascoigne presented a documentary series of six 30-minute programmes on Victorian history, Victorian Values, produced by Granada Television. The programmes looked at how Victorian society put in place the infrastructure of the modern welfare state.

Gascoigne was the writer and presenter of the TV series The Great Moghuls (1990), a study of the Mughal Empire of India. The series was based on Gascoigne's 1971 book of the same name, which features photographs by his wife. based on British history. He had already published a hard copy of this encyclopaedia, but he saw the internet as an opportunity to reach millions more people than would see the book. which presents multiple searchable timelines collected from various websites.

Gascoigne was a lifelong supporter of the Liberal Party and subsequently the Liberal Democrats. He publicly endorsed the latter during their 2019 general election campaign. In August 2014, Gascoigne was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.

On the death of his great-aunt Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe, in 2014, Gascoigne inherited an estate at West Horsley, Surrey, including West Horsley Place, a large country house dating from the 16th century. Gascoigne sold some of the late Duchess's possessions and used the proceeds to restore the house. This was followed by the building of an opera house in its grounds, the Theatre in the Woods, which serves as the home base of the Grange Park Opera. An original pencil-and-chalk study for the painting Flaming June by Sir Frederic Leighton was found on the back of a bedroom door in the house. Art historians knew a sketch had existed, for it was published in an art magazine in 1895, but did not know who had owned it; it was probably bought by the Duchess's paternal grandfather after Leighton's death. From 2018 until 2023, West Horsley Place was used as the filming location for the fictional Button House in the BBC TV comedy series Ghosts.

External interests Gascoigne was elected in 1976 as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was a trustee of the National Gallery, a trustee of the Tate Gallery, a member of the council of the National Trust, and a member of the board of directors of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He was also a patron of the Museum of Richmond.

Personal life, honours and death Gascoigne was married, for 57 years until his death, to Christina (née Ditchburn), daughter of civil servant Alfred Henry Ditchburn. A full time artist, she worked in ceramics, silks and other media. The couple did not have any children. She died in August 2026.

With regard to religion, he described himself as "a perfectly friendly agnostic". Gascoigne was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to the Arts.

In January 2022, Gascoigne was hospitalised for three weeks with pneumonia. Following his hospitalisation, his health drastically declined. He died at his home in Richmond on 8 February 2022, at the age of 87. Stephen Fry, another famous University Challenge alumnus, led the tributes to Gascoigne, saying he was "such an elegant, intelligent man". Victoria Coren Mitchell, host of BBC quiz show Only Connect, said: "No quiz host has ever seemed more like they could answer all the questions themselves." 1968: Leda Had a Little Swan (play, cancelled on the day before opening, in New York, after fourteen previews) 1968: World Theatre: An Illustrated History, Ebury Press 1971: The Great Moghuls (with photographs by Christina Gascoigne), London: Jonathan Cape; New York: Harper & Row 1982: Fearless Freddy's Magic Wish (children's stories, with pictures by Christina Gascoigne), London: Methuen 1983: Quest for the Golden Hare, Jonathan Cape 1986: Cod Streuth, Jonathan Cape 1986: How to Identify Prints: A Complete Guide to Manual and Mechanical Processes from Woodcut to Inkjet, Thames & Hudson; revised 2nd edition 2004 1988: (with J Wright): Bamber Gascoigne's Book of Amazing Facts, London: Walker Books ; 1993: Encyclopaedia of Britain: The A–Z of Britain's Past and Present, Macmillan Publishers 1997: Milestones in Colour Printing 1457–1859: With a Bibliography of Nelson Prints (The Sandars Lectures in Bibliography), Cambridge University Press 1998: A Brief History of the Great Moghuls: India's Most Flamboyant Rulers [revised edition of The Great Moghuls (1971)], Philadelphia, PA: Running Press 2007: Bamber Gascoigne's Challenging Quiz Book, London: Penguin Books 2010: A Brief History of the Second World War, HistoryWorld 2011: A Brief History of the First World War, HistoryWorld , 2011: The Maya, Aztecs, Incas and Conquistadors: A Brief History, HistoryWorld 2014: The Dynasties of China: A History, The Folio Society