 |
Jeremy HardyBritish comedian, screenwriter, actor
Date of Birth: .
Country:  Great Britain |
Content:
- Early Life and Education
- Stand-Up Career and Television
- Radio Fame and "Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation"
- Political Views and Controversies
- Personal Life and Legacy
Early Life and Education
Jeremy Hardy was born in Aldershot, England, in 1961 to Donald Hardy, a rocket scientist, and Sheila Stagg. As the youngest of five children, he attended Farnham College and later pursued modern history and politics at Southampton University. Failing to secure a place on a journalism course, he decided to pursue a career in acting.
Stand-Up Career and Television
After working as a scriptwriter, Hardy transitioned to stand-up comedy in London in the early 1980s, partially funded by the government's Enterprise Allowance Scheme. In 1988, he won the Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. By the end of the decade, he had made his television debut, appearing regularly as announcer Jeremy on Rory Bremner's comedy show "Now — Something Else" on BBC Two. He also guested on the BBC One talk show "Wogan" and starred in the comedy show "Blackadder Goes Forth" (1989).
Radio Fame and "Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation"
Hardy became most renowned for his work on BBC Radio 4, particularly on "The News Quiz," "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue," and his long-running series of monologues, "Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation." His famously tuneless singing became a running joke on "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue," which was later parodied in the radio series "You'll Have Had Your Tea: The Hamish and Dougal Diaries." His experiences in Palestine during the Israeli military incursions of 2002 formed the subject of the documentary "Jeremy Hardy vs. the Israeli Army" (2003), directed by Leila Sansour. A four-part series titled "Jeremy Hardy Feels the Benefit" was broadcast on Radio 4 in December 2017 to January 2018.
Political Views and Controversies
Hardy was a supporter of Irish nationalism and supported the bail of Rosina McAliskey, the pregnant daughter of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, when she was charged in connection with an IRA mortar attack in Germany. He also campaigned for the release of Danny McNamee, who was wrongly convicted of involvement in the 20 July 1982 Wideawake Lane bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
In an edition of Jeremy Hardy "Speaks to the Nation" on BBC Radio 4 titled "How to Be Afraid," broadcast in September 2004, Hardy suggested that BNP members and supporters should be "shot in the back of the head," causing complaints and prompting Burnley council to cancel a show in the town amid concerns that it could be "divisive" in an area with a recent history of racial tensions.
Personal Life and Legacy
Hardy married actress and comedian Kit Hollerbach in 1986, and in 1990 they adopted a daughter, Elizabeth Hardy. He later married photographer and filmmaker Cate Barlow. He was a close friend of comedian Linda Smith, and following her death from ovarian cancer on February 27, 2006, he publicly praised her in numerous media outlets and wrote her obituary in The Guardian.
Hardy passed away from cancer on February 1, 2019, at the age of 57. Julie MacKenzie, head of BBC Studios Audio, said of Hardy: "I will remember him as someone who could have the audience doubled up in laughter but who also felt a duty to entertain at a deeper level; to speak truth to power and care unflinchingly for the underdog."
