Radio host and Only Connect co-creator Chris Stuart dies

Chris Stuart, hailed as one of the “true greats” of Welsh broadcasting, has died aged 73.

Born in Durham, he was one of the first hosts on BBC Radio Wales.

Stuart was also a daily presenter on Radio 2 and set up the production company behind BBC quiz Only Connect and Late Night Poker on Channel 4.

Victoria Coren Michell, who presents Only Connect, said: “Everyone is devastated by the loss of Chris Stuart, our brilliant colleague.”

She added: “Joyful and lovely and wise and insightful, and a talented broadcaster himself, which listeners to Radio Wales will remember. Most of all he was our beloved, treasured, friend, and we’re heartbroken.”

After moving several times as a child, Stuart was raised in Birstall, Leicestershire, from the age of seven.

He came to Wales for a journalism training programme at the Western Mail in Cardiff after graduating from New College, Oxford.

In 1978 he joined the newly created BBC Radio Wales, hosting breakfast news and entertainment programmes over the next nine years.

Paying tribute, BBC Cymru Wales director Rhuanedd Richards said: “Chris used his intelligence, curiosity and engaging personality to brilliant effect.

“He was instrumental in ensuring the success of Radio Wales in its early days and became one of its defining and most recognised voices.”

“He could engage with any topic and find the right words for the big occasions,” she added.

In 1988, he moved to London where Ms Richards said he displayed his “mastery” of communicating on BBC Radio 2 and Radio 4.

He worked as a daily presenter on Radio 2, fronting several programmes including Cinema 2 and the Auckland Commonwealth Games.

For Radio 4 he was the host of the science quiz Inspiration.

He was the Westminster Abbey commentator across all the BBC’s radio networks for the funeral services of Diana, Princess of Wales and the Queen Mother.

Chris and his wife Megan set up their own television and radio production company, Presentable, in 1993, which broadcast major events from Cardiff’s Millennium (now Principality) Stadium and the Sydney Opera House.