Reginald Bosanquet

Posted by Ed Fri, 02 Feb 2007 23:10:00 GMT

If the name Reginald Bosanquet reminds you of nothing more than a satirical ditty from Not The Nine O’Clock News then you are probably at least as young as me.

But when I saw this 1977 drawing of the man by Barry Fantoni, the cartoonist, pianist and creator of Private Eye’s EJ Thribb, I wanted to know more.

Wikipedia tells us, amongst other things, that he was a news reader:

Bosanquet’s partnership with Anna Ford on ITN News was very popular in the late 1970s, but he became a controversial figure in British television. Viewers were sometimes not impressed by his competence at reading the news, he was often clearly puzzled by the correct pronunciation of foreign names, and by news stories containing technical matters he did not understand. [citation needed] He was also widely rumoured to be a heavy drinker, nicknamed “Reginald Beaujolais” or “Reginald Boozalot”.

Thanks to Ugandan Discussions for this 1979 Private Eye cover.

Maybe I’ll post the NTNON song once I get round to digitising that particular LP.