David Franklin

Henry Cyril Franklin (17 May 190822 October 1973), known professionally as David Franklin, was an English opera singer and broadcaster. His professional singing career, which began in 1936, was twice cut short, first by army service in the Second World War and then by a throat operation in 1951, which badly affected his singing voice and forced him to retire. He made a second career as a writer and broadcaster, becoming known to a wider public through his appearances on the BBC radio shows My Music and Twenty Questions.

Early years Franklin was born in London in 1908, the son of Henry James Franklin, a joiner, and his wife Jane Maria, née Chapman. He was educated at Alleyn's School, Dulwich, and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and worked as a schoolmaster from 1930 to 1935, singing as a pastime. In 1931 he married Hilda Bickell, with whom he had two sons and two daughters; the sons both died in infancy. In the latter work he was promoted to the role of Sarastro for the 1937 Festival, in succession to Alexander Kipnis. The Times said of him:

In 1938 he again sang the Commendatore and added Banquo in the English premiere of Verdi's Macbeth, to the Macbeth of Francesco Valentino. In addition to opera, during the late 1930s he established himself as, in the words of The Times, one of the country's leading oratorio basses. Another critic wrote that Ochs could seldom have been played with such vocal and histrionic skill as Franklin brought to the role. |group=n His other roles included Zuniga in Carmen and Pimen in Boris Godunov. The Times commented, "in all these parts his resonant, deep bass of uncommon range and his height and dignity of bearing were great assets". From 1967 to 1973 he was a team member on the light-hearted BBC radio quiz My Music. He also became the chairman of the long-running radio panel game Twenty Questions from 1970 to 1972, in succession to Stewart MacPherson, Gilbert Harding and Kenneth Horne.

Franklin died of a heart attack on 22 October 1973 at Ronkswood Hospital, Worcester. He was survived by his wife and daughters.

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