Patrick Henry Kelly (born 17 April 1946) is an Irish television presenter and radio DJ.
Henry Kelly was born in Athlone, Co Westmeath, Ireland. He was educated at Belvedere College SJ, and at University College Dublin where he was Auditor of the Literary and Historical Society. After university he worked as a journalist and was the Belfast based Northern Editor of The Irish Times in the 1970s.[1] He wrote How Stormont Fell in 1972, a still highly regarded work. In 1976, he moved to London to work on Radio 4's World Tonight and, in a complete career change from serious journalism, in 1980 moved into television. Kelly became a household name in the UK as part of the presenting team for LWT's practical-joke show Game for a Laugh in the 1980s. From 1987 to 1996 he presented Going for Gold, a significantly popular lunchtime TV quiz show on BBC1. Through his work on Going for Gold, Henry developed the catchphrases "What am I?" and "Now you're playing catchup". Henry now works with radio broadcasters Andrew Peach and Steve Madden at BBC Radio Berkshire. He is often seen in the Bull and Bush pub in Hampstead.
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In 1992 Kelly was one of the launch presenters of Classic FM, initially presenting the weekday mid-morning show from 9am-12pm. He then moved onto the Breakfast Show, being replaced by Simon Bates in June 2003.
In September 2003 he took up the Drivetime slot on London news & talk station LBC 97.3 until the end of 2004, when a new year reshuffle saw some of the station's most experienced presenters such as Brian Hayes and Angela Rippon not have their contracts renewed.
In February 2004, shortly after joining LBC 97.3, Kelly declared himself bankrupt thirteen years after Inland Revenue had sued him for the non-payment of income tax and national insurance contributions during the 1980s [2]
At the time of his departure from LBC 97.3, Kelly announced that he was leaving to 'pursue his television career'. TV work proved scarce, however, but in June 2005, Kelly spent two weeks presenting the late (radio) show on BBC London 94.9 and in September 2005, took over the weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio Berkshire every weekday morning from 10am-1pm.[3]
In August 2006, in addition to his daily show on BBC Radio Berkshire, Kelly also returned to Classic FM. Here he presented a three hour Sunday morning show from 9am-12noon,[4] but in early 2008 his show was replaced by two shorter programmes as part of a station reshuffle.
He currently appears on the Sky News TV channel, reviewing the morning newspapers on Sunday mornings.
| Preceded by None |
Host of Going for Gold 1987-1996 |
Succeeded by John Suchet |