23 Facts About Barry Norman

Barry Leslie Norman was a British film critic, television presenter and journalist.

Barry Norman was brother of script editor and director Valerie Norman.

Barry Norman did not go to university, opting instead to study shipping management at Islington Technical College.

Barry Norman began his career in journalism with the West London newspaper The Kensington News.

Barry Norman later spent a period in South Africa working for The Star in Johannesburg, then moving to Salisbury, Rhodesia where he wrote for The Rhodesia Herald.

When he returned to the UK, Barry Norman became a gossip columnist for the Daily Sketch, and then show-business editor of the Daily Mail until March 1971, when he was made redundant when the two papers merged.

Barry Norman was one of the collaborators with Wally Fawkes on the long-running cartoon strip Flook.

Barry Norman contributed a column to the Radio Times for many years, and wrote several novels.

Barry Norman's involvement was interrupted in 1982 by a brief spell presenting Omnibus.

Barry Norman was, together with Elton Welsby, the main anchorman for Channel 4's coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Barry Norman presented part of Comic Relief in 1990 and 1991.

Barry Norman was for some years a regular radio broadcaster on BBC Radio 4.

Barry Norman was the original presenter of the BBC Radio 4 transport-and-travel show Going Places and of its sister travel-magazine, Breakaway.

Barry Norman explained to Empire magazine in 2014 that it had originated from a Rory Bremner sketch show on Channel 4.

Barry Norman later adopted the phrase himself, and it is the title of his 2003 autobiography.

In 2008, Barry Norman launched a brand of pickled onions using a recipe handed down through his family.

Barry Norman married author Diana Narracott was born on 25 August 1933 and on 12 October 1957; the couple lived in Datchworth, Hertfordshire, for many years and both of their daughters were born there.

Diana Barry Norman died on 27 January 2011 at the age of 77.

Barry Norman had a passion for cricket and wrote a book on the subject.

Barry Norman was a member of the MCC and enjoyed spending time at Lord's watching cricket.

Barry Norman was a supporter of the Liberal Democrats, having been a supporter of the Labour Party until the formation of the Social Democratic Party in 1981.

Barry Norman named Shirley Williams as the politician he most admired.

Barry Norman died in his sleep, aged 83, on 30 June 2017, at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage having been afflicted with lung cancer in his later years.