For eleven years, Henry Kelly broadcast on the national independent classical music radio station, Classic Fm. With nearly 3.5 million listeners, (still an unsurpassed record) his programme was the stations highest rated daily programme and was the most popular breakfast show on commercial radio in the U.K. In 1994, he was voted National Broadcaster of the Year in the prestigious Sony Radio Awards and was nominated in the Music Broadcaster category in 2001.
Born in Dublin, Henry was educated by the Jesuits of Belvedere College and then read economics and English at University College Dublin. Almost before he graduated, he joined The Irish Times, becoming Northern Editor based in Belfast during the troubled and turbulent early 1970s. His book How Stormont Fell is still essential reading for an understanding of those times. In 1976, he came to England to join the BBC Radio 4 current affairs programme, The World Tonight, as a reporter.
In 1981 came the television series Game For a Laugh, he also presented numerous other television and radio programmes including the series for HTV West, Extra Time, a television sports discussion programme and The Write Stuff for Thames Television a series in which he interviewed authors about their latest books. He arrived at TV-AM at the same time as Ronald Rat and Greg Dyke, presenting the weekend programmes in the summer months. In the late 1980s, he presented the morning weekend programmes on LBC.
For ten years, from 1988-1998, Henry presented the cult BBC1 quiz programme, Going For Gold.
Most recently, he presented the Henry Kelly Show on LBC, from 4-7p.m, an eclectic mix of news and current affairs, the arts and food, fashion and cosmetics.
He has always combined his broadcasting activities with writing. For his monthly column on musical matters in Classic Fm, The Magazine, he interviewed the great personalities and performers of the classical music world. He has also written for The Daily Telegraph, The Times (where for three years or so, he wrote on sport and television), Daily Mail, Sport First, Sporting Life, Racing Post and The Spectator. His historical, archaeological and slightly foodie guide to Ireland’s Atlantic coast, Henry Kelly in the West of Ireland (co-written with his partner Karolyn Shindler), is published by Cadogan Guides and he co-authored with the writer John Foley, the ultimate musical quotations book, Musical Anecdotes.
Henry also presents classical music concerts and has appeared at, among others, the Royal Albert Hall, Kenwood, the South Bank, the Barbican, the Fairfield Halls and P&O Cruises. For children’s concerts, his repertoire includes Tubby the Tuba and Peter and the Wolf. Henry also narratespresents dvdvideo voice-overs and is much in demand as an after dinner speaker and auctioneer.
He loves golf, is fanatical about horse-racing and passionate about cricket, arguably his greatest pleasure after classical music.