Chris Stuart
Radio DJ, commentator at Royal weddings and funerals and co-creator of the hit TV quiz Only Connect
CHRIS STUART, who has died aged 73, became one of the voices of Radio 2 when he stood in for Terry Wogan among others; but he also covered notable state occasions such as Royal weddings and funerals as a commentator and for television co-created the hit quiz Only Connect.
He had been a dependable radio presence in Wales throughout the 1980s, but came to national prominence when Ray Moore became too ill to broadcast and Stuart took over his daily early morning show in 1988. During a four-year stint with Radio 2 he hosted the Saturday film review show and would sometimes stand in for Wogan, Jimmy Young, Gloria Hunniford and John Dunn.
In 1993 Stuart set up his own small production company in Cardiff with his wife Megan before expanding into television with entertainment and music projects for both BBC Wales and ITV Wales. The company broadcast major events from Cardiff ’s Millennium Stadium and the Sydney Opera House.
Multi-talented and self-effacing, Stuart continued to be heard on network radio as a commentator on many high-profile public occasions. His calmness and softly-spoken microphone manner commended Stuart as a master of word pictures, notably at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. He was the only radio commentator at Westminster Abbey, with a perch high above the altar looking directly down on the coffin.
He also covered vigils for Bosnia, Pavarotti concerts, the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand, and Beating Retreat. For 20 years he was the radio voice for the annual Festival of Remembrance from the Albert Hall. In 2002 he joined Nicholas Witchell on Radio 4 and Radio 5 to commentate on the Queen Mother’s funeral at Westminster Abbey.
For the wedding of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-jones at Windsor in 1999, Stuart in full morning dress observed the proceedings from inside St George’s Chapel. Modest and self-deprecating, at the age of 50, noted one critic, Stuart has quietly become Mr Events for BBC Radio.
Another facet of his versatility was his talent as a songwriter. In 1995 Aled Jones duetted with himself on the second half of a song written by Stuart called What Can You Tell Me? which he originally recorded when he was a soprano. The soprano half had been kept locked away for almost eight years while Jones’s voice matured into a baritone. He also wrote a TV musical Summer Silence starring Sian Phillips, as well as music for the theatre and for several children’s TV animation series.
Christopher Elliot Stuart was born on February 19 1949 in Durham. His family eventually settled at Birstall, Leicestershire, where he became head boy at Longslade comprehensive school. After graduating from New College, Oxford, where he read PPE, he joined the Western Mail in Cardiff in 1971, becoming a feature writer. On leaving he landed a recording contract with Decca for his comedy band, Baby Grand, and made two television series with them for the BBC.
From 1978, he presented the breakfast show AM on the newlylaunched BBC Radio Wales. Meanwhile he hosted his own BBC Wales television chat show and Cardiff Singer of the World for BBC Two, as well as Sports Time on BBC Radio Wales.
Moving to London, Stuart worked on Radio 2 as a daily presenter and later on Radio 4, where he chaired the science quiz Inspiration! about inventors and inventions. Having covered for Roger Royle on Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday he took over from Ray Moore on the station’s dawn slot in 1988 and hosted it for three years before swapping places with Ken Bruce to present the late night programme. Early in 1992 Stuart was replaced by Derek Jameson and his wife.
With Rob Thomas, Stuart co-created the cult quiz Only Connect for television which launched on BBC Four in 2009 before becoming BBC Two’s highest-rating programme. The show was hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell and recorded in a studio on an industrial estate in Splott, Cardiff. The
Only Connect format requires teams to spot the connections between apparently unrelated clues. Stuart always attributed the show’s success to his question-writing team and to the fact that, unlike University Challenge or Mastermind, it remains good fun.
“People seem to enjoy admiring quiz contestants who can answer things and who know stuff that they can’t answer and don’t know,” Stuart observed.
Stuart’s earlier television venture,
Late Night Poker for Channel 4, employed the groundbreaking technique of filming through a clear table so that viewers could see the cards. It established Presentable’s network credentials for making interactive programming and launched the global poker television boom in 1999.
Presentable went on to generate an eclectic range of TV programmes including The Poker Lounge for C4,
Terry Wogan’s Ireland for BBC1,
Conversations with Rowan Williams and The William Hill Poker Grand Prix. In 2006 the couple sold the company for £2 million to RDF.
Chris Stuart married, in 1984, Megan Emery, a former editor of BBC Radio Wales and a producer on Radio 4’s
Woman’s Hour. She survives him with their two daughters and a son, and a daughter from a previous marriage.
Chris Stuart, born February 19 1949, died July 13 2022