John Timpson

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For other uses, see Timpson (disambiguation).

John Timpson in the mid 1960s

John Harry Robert Timpson OBE, (2 July 1928 - 19 November 2005), born in Kenton, Harrow, Middlesex, was a British journalist, best known as a radio presenter. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, a boys' independent school in Northwood, London.

On leaving school he went straight to the Wembley News as a sixteen-year-old cub reporter. After five years there and two years of national service, he married his wife Pat and moved to Norfolk. He then worked for the Eastern Daily Press until, in 1959, he started work at the BBC.

From 1964, he presented Newsroom on BBC 2, the first British television news programme to make the switch to colour in July 1, 1967. He later presented BBC's Tonight programme.

Timpson co-presented (with Brian Redhead and others) the BBC Radio 4 programme Today from 1970 to 1976 and again from 1978 to 1986, working on television during the gap. From 1983 to 1987, he also presented the popular weekly show, Any Questions?. He was generally perceived as something of a small-c conservative traditionalist and probably politically to the right of his colleague Brian Redhead. In 1986 he was awarded a Sony Gold Award for outstanding services to radio.

His experiences in broadcasting provided Timpson with material for several books: "Today and Yesterday" (1976), "The Lighter Side of Today" (1983) and "The Early Morning Book" (1986). After his retirement from the BBC he returned to Norfolk and continued writing, especially about England and East Anglia in particular. These included a novel "Paper Trail" published in 1989 and two works on the quirks and oddities of English life - "Timpson's England" (1987) and "Timpson's Towns" (1989). Subsequent books included "Timpson’s English Villages" (1992), "Timpson’s Other England (1993)", "Timpson’s English Country Inns" (1995) and "Timpson on the Verge" (2002).

In 1987 he was awarded an OBE for his services to broadcasting.

John Timpson died on 19 November 2005 and was buried at his parish church of St Peter’s Weasenham, near King's Lynn in Norfolk. He was survived by his wife and son, although his second son Nick had predeceased him by only five weeks.

A memorial service was held on 22 February 2006, when family, friends and co-workers gathered at Norwich Cathedral to celebrate his long and productive life and career. The speakers included Director of BBC Radio and Music, Jenny Abramsky.