Bamber Gascoigne (born January 24, 1935) is a British television presenter and author.

Gascoigne was born in London, and has aristocratic connections. He studied English literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and came to fame as the presenter of popular television quiz show, University Challenge, in 1962. Although he has written several books, mostly on history, and presented other television programmes, his name is permanently connected with University Challenge in the minds of most people -- despite the fact that, since 1994, the show has been presented by Jeremy Paxman.

In the programme's early days, Gascoigne set all the questions himself. His style of presentation is often held up as an example of excellence. His questioning was firm yet polite, and his judgement scrupulously fair. A phrase he often used became something of a catchphrase: "I'll have to hurry you".

He would return in 1997 to present the Red Dwarf special Universe Challenge (a position he acquired by blowing up Jeremy Paxman with a bazookoid, a weapon from the series), a contest between the actors of the show and a set of fans; the fans won.

In the 1970s he presented The Christians, a television documentary series on the history of Christianity.

In recent years he has devoted much of his time in establishing an online history encyclopaedia called "History World" [1] (http://www.historyworld.net/).

In the early hours of Wednesday August 8, 1979 Gascoigne was witness to the burial by Kit Williams, the author of Masquerade, of a valuable golden hare in an earthenware jar "somewhere in Britain". The treasure hunt which followed was pursued worldwide. Gascoigne summarized his experiences thus:

Tens of thousands of letters from Masqueraders have convinced me that the human mind has an equal capacity for pattern-matching and self-deception. While some addicts were busy cooking the riddle, others were more single-mindedly continuing their own pursuit of the hare quite regardless of the news that it had been found. Their own theories had come to seem so convincing that no exterior evidence could refute them. These most determined of Masqueraders may grudgingly have accepted that a hare of some sort was dug up at Ampthill, but they believed there would be another hare, or a better solution, awaiting them at their favourite spot. Kit would expect them to continue undismayed by the much publicised diversion at Ampthill and would be looking forward to the day when he would greet them as the real discoverers of the real puzzle of Masquerade. Optimistic expeditions were still setting out, with shovels and maps, throughout the summer of 1982.

In the Young Ones episode "Bambi" he is parodied by Griff Rhys Jones as "Bambi Gascoigne" (with considerable emphasis being placed on the resemblance of his name to the Disney character).

His name appears in one version of the Monty Python Lumberjack Song when Michael Palin sings of the "Quercus maximus Bamber Gascoigneii".

Bamber Gascoigne is also an authority on the history and techniques of printmaking and graphic reproduction, with publications such as Milestones in Colour Printing and How to Identify Prints.

External links

• History world website (http://www.historyworld.net/)

Further Information

• Bamber Gascoigne: How to Identify Prints: A Complete Guide to Manual and Mechanical Processes from Woodcut to Inkjet ( ISBN 0500284806 )
• Bamber Gascoigne: A Brief History of Christianity ( ISBN 1841197106 )
• Bamber Gascoigne: A Brief History of the Dynasties of China ( ISBN 1841197912 )
• Bamber Gascoigne: Quest for the Golden Hare ( ISBN 0224021168 )