Whatever happened to Russell Harty

A. He died on 8 June, 1988, from liver failure. He was 53. Harty was one of the great TV chat show hosts - yet will probably be remembered best for being attacked by an ill-mannered singer.

Q. Grace Jones

A. Yes. Harty turned his back upon her to asked another guest a question.She became furious and hit him. It became headline news and annoyed Harty for the rest of his life. He always predicted that the newspaper banners upon his death would read: 'Grace Jones man dies'. He was right.

Q. Biog please

A. Born Fredric Russell Harty in Blackburn, Lancashire, on 5 September, 1934, son of a fruit and vegetable wholesaler. Russell went to Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, and won a scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford, where he read English. After leaving university he was a teacher, mainly as English and drama master at Giggleswick School in North Yorkshire. Among his pupils was TV journalist Richard Whiteley, presenter of the phenomenally successful Channel 4 show Countdown.

Q. So how did he get into TV

A. In 1967 he became a radio producer with the BBC Third Programme, working on arts and books programmes. In 1969 he moved to London Weekend Television and with Humphrey Burton launched the Saturday night arts series, Aquarius.

Q. With success

A. Yes. He won an Emmy award for his programme on Salvador Dali. In 1972 he was given his own LWT show and won the Pye award for the outstanding new personality of the year. During the 1970s he maintained a friendly rivalry with the BBC's chat show host, Michael Parkinson. In 1980, Harty switched to the BBC. He kept the talk show, but also made documentaries. One of his greatest coups was on Favourite Things, a television series where celebrities told about their particular pleasures. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher revealed that her favourite snack was a poached egg on Bovril toast.

Q. His character

A. Clever, cultured, sensitive, gay - although he hated the word. His flat, north country vowels were much imitated. His sentences often bulged adjectives and peppered with his catchphrase 'you were, were you not '. Harty had a talent for making guests feel comfortable and and easier to talk to. He could get away with asking rude questions, without appearing impertinent. Harty wrote a weekly column for The Sunday Times and in September, 1987, became the presenter of Radio 4's still-acclaimed Start the Week. His last major television work was the four-part Grand Tour of Europe, during which he contracted the hepatitis that killed him.

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By Steve Cunningham