Ned Sherrin

Edward George Sherrin CBE (18 February 1931 – 1 October 2007) was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC. He appeared in a variety of radio and television satirical shows and theatre shows, some of which he also directed.

Ned Sherrin

CBE
Ned Sherrin
Born
Edward George Sherrin

(1931-02-18)18 February 1931
Low Ham, Somerset, England
Died1 October 2007(2007-10-01) (aged 76)
Chelsea, London, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationBroadcaster, author and stage director

Early life

Sherrin was born at Gawlers Farm, Low Ham, Somerset, the second son of smallholding[1] farmer Thomas Adam Sherrin (1889–1965) and Dorothy Finch (née Drewett; 1895–1980).[2] He was educated at Sexey's School, in Bruton, Somerset,[3][4] and rendered his national service in the Royal Signals,[5] being commissioned as an officer in 1950.[6]

Although he read law at Exeter College, Oxford, and subsequently qualified as a barrister (called to the bar from Gray's Inn),[2][7] he became involved in theatre at Oxford and joined British television at the founding of independent television in 1956, producing shows for ATV in Birmingham.

Career

Sherrin joined the BBC in 1957 as a temporary production assistant, then began working for them as a producer in "Television Talks" in 1963.[8] Specialising in satirical shows, he worked extensively in film production and television.

In 1962 he was responsible for the first satirical television series That Was The Week That Was[9] starring David Frost and Millicent Martin and its successors Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life and BBC-3. His other shows and films included Up Pompeii!, Up the Front, The Cobblers of Umbridge and The Virgin Soldiers. In 1978, he also hosted We Interrupt This Week, a lively and humorous news events quiz featuring two teams of well-known journalists and columnists sparring against one another. The show was a production of WNET/Channel 13 New York.

Sherrin produced and directed numerous theatre productions in London's West End, including Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell and the landmark musical Side by Side by Sondheim. He received an Olivier Award in 1984 for directing and conceiving The Ratepayers' Iolanthe, an adaptation by Sherrin and Alistair Beaton of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Iolanthe.[10]

On BBC Radio 4, from 1986, he presented a light entertainment show on Saturday mornings (latterly evenings) called Loose Ends,[11][12] and Counterpoint, a quiz show about all types of music, until forced off the air when his voice succumbed to throat cancer.

He also toured the UK with his one-man show An Evening of Theatrical Anecdotes.[11]

Sherrin wrote two volumes of autobiography, several books of quotations and anecdotes, as well as some fiction; and several works in collaboration with Caryl Brahms.

Personal life

Openly gay,[13][14] he was a patron of the London Gay Symphony Orchestra,[15] as well as the Stephen Sondheim Society of Singapore up until 1995. Sherrin was awarded a CBE in the 1997 New Year's honours list.[16][17]

He was diagnosed with unilateral vocal cord paralysis in January 2007; this diagnosis was later changed to one of throat cancer,[18] from which he died on 1 October 2007, aged 76.[19]

Selected works
  • Sherrin, Ned (1983). A small thing – like an earthquake. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
  • Sherrin, Ned; Shand, Neil (1984). 1956 and all that: a memorable history of England since the war to end all wars (Two). London: M Joseph.
  • Sherrin, Ned (1984). Cutting edge, or, "Back in the knife-box, Miss Sharp": Ned Sherrin's anthology of wit. London: J M Dent.
  • Brahms, Caryl; Sherrin, Ned (1984). Song by song: the lives and work of 14 great lyric writers. Egerton, Bolton: R Anderson Publications.
  • Brahms, Caryl; Sherrin, Ned (1986). Too dirty for the windmill. London: Constable.
  • Sherrin, Ned (1991). Ned Sherrin's theatrical anecdotes: a connoisseur's collection of legends, stories, and gossip. London: Virgin.
  • Sherrin, Ned (1993). Ned Sherrin in his anecdotage: a classic collection from the master raconteur. London: Virgin.
  • Sherrin, Ned (1995). The Oxford dictionary of humorous quotations. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Sherrin, Ned (1996). Sherrin's year. London: Virgin.
  • Sherrin, Ned (1996). Scratch an actor. London: Sinclair-Stevenson.
  • Brahms, Caryl; Sherrin, Ned (1998). The Mitford girls: a musical. London: Warner/Chappell Music.
  • Sherrin, Ned (2004). I wish I'd said that. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Sherrin, Ned (2005). Ned Sherrin: the autobiography. London: Little, Brown.
  • Frost, David; Sherrin, Ned (1963). That was the week that was. London: W H Allen.
gollark: Wait, that's kind of different.
gollark: There are eSIM thingies.
gollark: Yes, you need SIM cards to connect to the phone network, or virtual ones, the whole system is insane, aaaaa.
gollark: Not always, as far as I know, though that may be a software issue.
gollark: Hmm, really? Good to know. Still has the other issues, mind you.

References
  1. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ned-sherrin-395795.html
  2. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-99194
  3. Coveney, Michael (2 October 2007). "Groundbreaking iconoclast bows out". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  4. Bio: Ned Sherrin screenonline.org.uk
  5. "Ned Sherrin". Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  6. Supplement to the London Gazette, 8 September 1950, p. 4527.
  7. "Obituary: Ned Sherrin". BBC. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  8. Briggs, Asa (1995), History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Oxford University Press, p. 158, ISBN 0-19-215964-X
  9. "Sherrin, Ned (1931–2007)". Screenonline. BFI. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  10. "Olivier Award winners for 1984". Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  11. Smith, Alistair (2 October 2007), "Satirical trailblazer and broadcaster Ned Sherrin dies", The Stage, retrieved 4 October 2007
  12. Macintyre, James (2 October 2007). "Ned Sherrin, stalwart of Radio 4, dies aged 76". The Independent. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  13. Martin, Douglas (5 October 2007). "Ned Sherrin, Creator of Mock News 'Week,' Dies at 76". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  14. Dwyer, Ciara (30 October 2005), "Sherrin and the source of all pleasure", The Independent
  15. Gibson, Owen (2 October 2007). "Ned Sherrin, wit, impresario, bon viveur and Radio 4 stalwart, dies at 76". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  16. "Tributes paid to Ned Sherrin CBE". BBC. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  17. Sanderson, David (2 October 2007). "Ned Sherrin: That Was The Life That Was". The Times. London. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  18. "Veteran broadcaster Ned Sherrin dies of cancer". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  19. Gibson, Owen (1 October 2007), "Ned Sherrin, wit, impresario, bon viveur and Radio 4 stalwart, dies at 76", The Guardian, London, retrieved 1 October 2007
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