Ken Sykora

Ken Sykora (13 April 1923 – 7 March 2006), born Charles Kenneth Sykora, was an English jazz guitarist and radio presenter.

Family life and education

Sykora had two older sisters. He studied geography at the University of Cambridge, where he organized the Cambridge University Band Society. He then studied business and economics at the London School of Economics.

War service, career and music

During World War II, he was a military intelligence officer in East Asia.

Following his move to Suffolk he worked on radio for the BBC. He hosted the BBC programme Guitar Club. For BBC Radio 2, he created and presented the programme series Be My Guest, interviewing Count Basie, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Andrés Segovia, Isaac Stern and Gloria Swanson, among others. He married his second wife, cabaret singer Helen B. Grant, in 1957 in Westminster. The couple moved to Suffolk, where their three children were born.

In the 1970s, Sykora and his family moved to Scotland, where the couple ran the Colintraive Hotel in Colintraive on the Kyles of Bute. After five years, they sold the hotel.

Discography

1954 The Passing Stranger (from the film "The Passing Stranger"), Lonnie Donegan, Oriole Records Ltd, CB 1329 1956 The Third Festival of British Jazz, The Jazz Today Unit, Decca LP LK4180 1957 Ain’t it a Shame (to sing Skiffle on a Sunday), The Bob Cort Skiffle featuring Ken Sykora, DDECCA LP LK4222 1957 Six-Five Special, The Bob Cort Skiffle, Decca F 10892 1958 Ken Sykora presents Guitar Club volume 1, Ken Sykora, Saga ESAG 7001 1958 Ken Sykora presents Guitar Club volume 2, Ken Sykora, Saga ESAG 7002 1958 Ken Sykora presents Guitar Club volume 3, Ken Sykora, Saga ESAG 7003 1987 Vic Lewis Jam Sessions, Volume 5: 1938 - 1946, Vic Lewis, Harlequin Records HQ 3012 2012 The Man with the Jazz Guitar, Ken Sykora, Five Feet Films FFF2CD01