Norman Hackforth

Norman Hackforth (20 December 1908 – 14 December 1996) was a British musician and radio broadcaster, who worked as accompanist to Noël Coward and gained fame as the "mystery voice" on the BBC's Twenty Questions radio programme.

Life and career Early years Born in Bihar in British India in 1908, son of a railway engineer, Hackforth was sent to England at the age of six, and was raised by four aunts. After his schooling, at Aldenham School, he intended to begin medical studies, but failed the preliminary examinations. He found himself drawn to music. He was never a fluent sight-reader of a musical score and as a performer he had to overcome what he called "this awful barrier".

Hackforth's first job was as nightclub pianist in Soho, and in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s that was his principal occupation, working at a range of clubs. He had a sideline in songwriting, while working for the Dix Music Company. His compositions 'Today's A Sunny Day For Me' and 'Cute Little Flat' enjoyed modest success. He also accompanied music hall and other singers of popular songs,

Postwar and later years After the war, Hackforth continued as an accompanist, for Coward and other performers including Beatrice Lillie. The Manchester Guardian thought the comedy shrill and Hackforth's music "agreeable but not in the least memorable. In sum a passable but rather insipid evening." The Times expressed a similar lack of enthusiasm.

In 1947, Hackforth was recruited for a new radio panel show, Twenty Questions, a BBC adaptation of a successful American format. A panel of contestants would attempt to deduce the identity of an object by asking a series of questions; Hackforth, as the "mystery voice", would announce the answer to listeners before they began. The show was a great success, turning Hackforth into an immediately recognisable figure. Coward appointed Hackforth musical director of the show, but inadvertently sabotaged him by casting in the leading role a singer well past her prime. Before opening in London, the show had a twelve-week provincial tour during which Hackforth reluctantly cut the most vocally challenging music from the score. When Coward saw the production in Bristol he was distressed by the singing, but also found that "The orchestra was appalling, the orchestrations beneath contempt, and poor Norman conducted like a stick of wet asparagus." Hackforth was relieved of his duties as musical director, but Coward still wished to work with him. He was intended to accompany Coward on his 1955 Las Vegas performances, but was unable to get an American work permit, and was replaced by Peter Matz.

Hackforth later became the musical director of Anglia Television, before retiring in the 1970s and publishing an autobiography, And the Next Object ..., in 1975. The following year he published Solo for Horne, a biography of his old Twenty Questions colleague, Kenneth Horne.

Hackforth died aged 87 at his home in Wittersham, Kent, on 14 December 1996. His wife, Pamela, whom he married in 1949, had died the previous year.