Other livesTelevision industry This article is more than 8 years oldObituaryKen Little obituary
This article is more than 8 years oldMy friend and colleague Ken Little, who has died aged 70, was a BBC executive producer, political activist and teacher who was dedicated to encouraging people to develop their talents for the good of society.
In 1970 Ken, a Scot, joined the first intake of producers at the BBC production centre at Alexandra Palace (the former Victorian fun-palace in North London), where programmes were made for the Open University. For the next 15 years he would energetically juggle television and radio production with political activity, initially as a Labour councillor in Leyton, east London.
He made outstanding programmes for the Open University, shot in the developing nations of Africa and Asia, various parts of North America, and throughout Europe and the UK, but also launched a series of bold and innovative initiatives, including the Local Education Authorities’ Project, an ambitious venture that provided in-service training for headteachers.
Ken became a Labour member of the Greater London Council in 1981 at a time when it provided a radical alternative to Margaret Thatcher’s government seated across the river in Westminster. He was involved in implementing the Fares Fair policy, which cut London Transport prices by around a third overnight but was later declared illegal. He also chaired the GLC’s innovative women’s committee, set up to devise policies on women’s issues.
After the GLC was abolished in 1986, Ken returned to Scotland to become head of radio at BBC Aberdeen, where he also had some involvement in television programming. He then co-founded his own independent production company, Northlight, and continued to deliver educational and schools programmes. In 1995 Channel 4 broadcast his series Calcutta Chronicles, narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith. The series looked at the working people of Calcutta (now Kolkata) in a city run by one of India’s long-running Marxist administrations.
Ken was born in Glasgow to Matthew, who owned a hardware store in Govan, and Betty (nee Skinner). He was educated at Allan Glen’s school and Glasgow University, where he studied economics and sociology. His first job was as an assistant lecturer at Bristol University (1967-70), running shop steward and Trades Union Congress courses. It was from there that he joined the BBC.
He spent his last years on a Sussex farm with his third wife, Sue Nyfield, whom he married in 1990, embracing country life with the same zest, interest and spirit that informed his film-making and his politics. He is survived by Sue and their son Callum, and by his other son, Ewan, from his marriage to his second wife, Marion Allinson.
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