Kit Hesketh-Harvey

Christopher John Hesketh-Harvey (30 April 1957 – 1 February 2023) was a British musical performer, translator, composer, and screenwriter.

Early life Born in Zomba, Nyasaland (now Malawi), Rhodesia and Nyasaland, into a Foreign Office family, Hesketh-Harvey was educated as senior chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and then at Tonbridge School in Kent. He gained an Exhibition in English Literature as well as a choral scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge, where he studied under John Rutter and joined the Footlights.

Hesketh-Harvey worked on The Vicar of Dibley series for the BBC. He wrote Full Throttle, starring Rowan Atkinson, and Hans Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale (Hallmark). He co-wrote the screenplay for Tim Walker's film The Lost Explorer. Another collaboration with Walker, The Granny Alphabet with his verses to Walker's photographs, was published by Thames and Hudson in 2013. His first detective novel, For The Shooting, was published in October 2017.

Hesketh-Harvey wrote and sang with pianist Richard Sisson for over 30 years, as a musical comedy duo Kit and The Widow, "showcasing his tart, precisely observed and witty style, delivered with exquisite pronunciation and perfect timing". They had a number of West End and Broadway theatre runs and international tours, notably with the late Joan Rivers. They made CD recordings, had their own series on BBC Radios 3 and 4, and two TV specials on Channel 4. As part of this duo, he wrote lyrics for Stuart Hancock's cantata Choir Straights, which the duo and the Bath Camerata premiered at London's Wigmore Hall in 2009 before restaging it in February of the following year at Rook Lane Chapel in Frome.

Hesketh-Harvey starred in the 1996 production of Salad Days at the Vaudeville Theatre, and in Tom Foolery (Jermyn Street and national tour). He co-devised and starred in the original production of the Sondheim revue Putting It Together. In 2011, he starred in Cowardy Custard (national tour) with Dillie Keane. He co-starred with Tim Minchin in the first BBC Comedy Prom at the Royal Albert Hall in 2011: the last time that Kit and the Widow appeared on stage together. He starred annually in pantomime at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford, always playing the baddie. He made occasional appearances on many BBC Radio 4 series, such as Just a Minute and Quote Unquote. He presented several extras on Radio 4, including Chanson (2000), Hairspray and Harmonies (2009) and Tanning Tales (2013).

In Spring 2015, Hesketh-Harvey appeared alongside Juliet Stevenson as a guest in Janie Dee's Dream Queen as part of the London Festival of Cabaret in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe.

Original libretti include Varjak Paw.

His plays included Five O'Clock Angel, an adaptation of Maria Britneva Five O'Clock Angel: Letters of Tennessee Williams to Maria St. Just, 1948–1982 (1990). He wrote regularly for Country Life magazine (2009 IPC's Writer of the Year). His radio play A La Villa Bab Azzoun, produced by Moving Theatre, won the 2009 Prix Europa. His work for military charities took him to the conflict in Kabul, as well as to Saudi Arabia, Africa, and the Far East.

His translation of The Merry Widow was in Opera North's 2010/11 season, He wrote and co-directed their production of The Magic Flute at the Riverside Studios, London, in 2013. His translation of The Magic Flute was revived in 2012–13 in the Scottish Opera's production, directed by Thomas Allen. In 2013, he translated Salvatore Sciarrino's The Killing Flower (Royal Opera) for Music Theatre Wales. In 2018 he cooperated with Dutch actor and playwright on a musical comedy based on Charley's Aunt. His libretto to Anthony Bolton's The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko received its first staging at Grange Park Opera in July 2021. His updated version of Donizetti's comic opera Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali (also known in revivals since 1969 as Viva la mamma), but entitled by him Viva la Diva, was performed in July 2022 as part of the Buxton International Festival. He worked as a performer and lyricist with James McConnel; the duo performed regularly at London cabaret venues as Kit and McConnel. The couple divorced in 2021. until his death on 1 February 2023, at the age of 65.

Kit Hesketh-Harvey's life and legacy were featured in The Times and The Telegraph, with a piece written by British radio presenter and journalist Libby Purves. Her reflection highlights Hesketh-Harvey’s contributions to British comedy, theatre, and broadcasting.