PERSONALITY

[Patrick Moore [Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore], British astronomer, broadcaster and celebrity.] Typed Postcard Signed (‘P. M.’) to John Graham, complaining of being ‘a broken reed’ with regard to future plans.

Author:

Patrick Moore [Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore] (1923-2012], English astronomer, broadcaster and celebrity

Publication details:

Postmark dated 15 April 1972 from Chichester, Sussex. Letterhead ‘From Patrick Moore, Farthings, 39 West Street, Selsey, Chichester, Sussex, PO20 9AB’.

£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Plain postcard. Lightly aged. Addressed to John [Graham, obscured by postmark], The Willows, Church Road, Lowfield Heath, Crawley, Sussex. Reads: ‘Many thanks. I am terribly sorry to say that I am a broken reed at the moment, because there are various conference dates I haven’t got. I’ll write when the situation clarifies. / Best wishes / [in autograph] P. M. / PS Last Wed. of each month is no good: BAA [i.e. British Astronomical Association monthly meeting] day!’ Image on application.

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[Bamber Gascoigne (1935-2022), television presenter and author, original quizmaster on the ITV television series ‘University Challenge’.] Autograph Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, on reviewing (for ‘Books and Bookmen’), Harold Acton and Lord Longford.

Author:

Bamber Gascoigne (1935-2022), television presenter and author, original quizmaster on the ITV television series ‘University Challenge’ [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher]

Publication details:

27 February 1974. On letterhead of One Saint Helena Terrace, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1NR.

£100.00

Victoria Coren’s comment to the BBC on Gascoigne’s death is most apt: ‘No quiz host has ever seemed more like they could answer all the questions themselves.’ The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. 1p, 4to. Written in green ink. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr.

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[Marghanita Laski, novelist, journalist and radio personality.] Autograph Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’, explaining her reasons for postponing future reviewing.

Author:

Marghanita Laski [née Esther Pearl Laski] (1915-1988), novelist, journalist and radio personality [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’]

Publication details:

15 December 1973; on letterhead of Capo di Monte, Windmill Hill, London NW3 (with upside-down letterhead of Les Forges de Montgaillard, 11 Mouthoumet).

£56.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The present item is 1p, small 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded.. Signed ‘Marghanita Laski’. She had no fears about the cheque for £50 he has sent: ‘I knew it would turn up.’ She thanks him for offering her ‘some reviewing.

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[‘The rudest man in Britain’ reduced to tears: Gilbert Harding, radio and television personality.] Producer Hugh Burnett's corrected proof of typescript of Harding’s celebrated interview with John Freeman in the BBC TV series 'Face to Face'.

Author:

Gilbert Harding [Gilbert Charles Harding] (1907-1960), irascible British radio and television personality [John Freeman, interviewer on BBC programme ‘Face to Face’; Hugh Burnett]

Publication details:

Undated, but BBC interview broadcast on 18 September 1960, and this item prepared for publication in 1964.

£75.00

The present item is producer Hugh Burnett's own copy, from his papers, of the transcript of John Freeman's interview with Harding, broadcast in the groundbreaking BBC television series 'Face to Face' on 18 September 1960, a few weeks before Harding’s death on 16 November 1960. Harding’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that, ‘in radio programmes such as The Brains Trust and Twenty Questions, and on television in What's my Line?, Harding became a great popular figure, especially of television in which he was probably the best-known performer in the country.

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PERSONALITY

[Patrick Moore [Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore], British astronomer, broadcaster and celebrity.] Typed Postcard Signed (‘P. M.’) to John Graham, complaining of being ‘a broken reed’ with regard to future plans.

[Bamber Gascoigne (1935-2022), television presenter and author, original quizmaster on the ITV television series ‘University Challenge’.] Autograph Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, on reviewing (for ‘Books and Bookmen’), Harold Acton and Lord Longford.

[Marghanita Laski, novelist, journalist and radio personality.] Autograph Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’, explaining her reasons for postponing future reviewing.

[‘The rudest man in Britain’ reduced to tears: Gilbert Harding, radio and television personality.] Producer Hugh Burnett's corrected proof of typescript of Harding’s celebrated interview with John Freeman in the BBC TV series 'Face to Face'.

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