Barry Norman

Career Norman began his career in journalism with the West London newspaper The Kensington News. He later spent a period in South Africa working for The Star in Johannesburg, then moving to Salisbury, Rhodesia (now known as Harare, Zimbabwe) where he wrote for The Rhodesia Herald.

When he returned to the UK, Norman became a gossip columnist for the Daily Sketch, He was one of the collaborators with Wally Fawkes on the long-running cartoon strip Flook. He contributed a column to the Radio Times for many years, and wrote several novels.

Norman presented BBC1's Film... programme from 1972, becoming the sole presenter the following year. The theme was a recording of Billy Taylor playing his 1952 composition "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free". Norman's involvement was interrupted in 1982 by a brief spell presenting Omnibus. After returning to the Film series in 1983, Norman became increasingly irritated by the BBC's reluctance to screen it at a regular time, and in 1998 finally accepted an offer to work for BSkyB, where he remained for three years. Jonathan Ross took his place as the BBC programme's presenter.

In a 2013 article for the Radio Times, Norman listed what he considered to be the 49 best British films of all time. The list included The Cruel Sea (1953), Chariots of Fire (1981), and Skyfall (2012). Norman explained: "In most cases the criteria I used was whether these films were going to last; whether new generations of cinema-goers would want to watch them in 20 years' time [...] Most are quite old films, but they all appeal to this generation of film-goers as much as they did when they were first made."

Norman wrote and presented a number of documentary series for the BBC and ITV, including Hollywood Greats (1977–1983), Barry Norman's Guide to American Soaps (1985), Talking Pictures (1987), and Soaps Down Under in 1991.

Norman was, together with Elton Welsby, the main anchorman for Channel 4's coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Also Norman presented part of Comic Relief in 1990 and 1991.

Norman was for some years a regular radio broadcaster on BBC Radio 4. In 1974, he presented Today, and was the first chairman of The News Quiz. In 1996, he presented an interview series for BBC Radio 5 Live. Norman explained to Empire magazine in 2014 that it had originated from a Rory Bremner sketch show on Channel 4. Norman later adopted the phrase himself, and it is the title of his 2003 autobiography.

Personal life Norman married author Diana Narracott (born 25 August 1933) on 12 October 1957; and both of their daughters (Samantha and Emma) were born there. Norman's 2013 book See You in the Morning was written as a celebration of their life together.

Norman had a passion for cricket and wrote a book on the subject.

Political views Norman was a supporter of the Liberal Democrats, having been a supporter of the Labour Party until the formation of the Social Democratic Party in 1981. He named Shirley Williams as the politician he most admired.

Death Norman died in his sleep, aged 83, on 30 June 2017, at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage having been afflicted with lung cancer in his later years.

Tributes Writing in The Guardian, journalist Dennis Barker and film critic Derek Malcolm said that Norman "perfected a flair for talking beguilingly about cinema to a mass television audience but in a way that did not make true aficionados wince. As the presenter and critic of BBC TV’s original Film 72 through to Film 98, he was knowledgeable without affectation, and he did not seem overawed by the industry's leading lights."

Chief Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw wrote that Norman's "enthusiasm and love for film always shone through" and he was "an accessible, unpretentious surveyor of cinema". Mark Kermode wrote that "watching Barry Norman review films was a pleasure, an education, and an inspiration. Wit, knowledge and wry enthusiasm. He was the Master", and Jonathan Ross, who replaced him as presenter of the BBC's Film... series, described him as "a great critic and a lovely, lovely man".

Awards and honours BAFTA's Richard Dimbleby Award, 1981. Magazine Columnist of the Year, 1991. Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), 1998.