Professor Ted Wragg

[Lawrence Jones]

I was somewhat surprised to see that no one on the R4 message boards has made any reference to the very sad news of the recent death of Professor Wragg.

Most of the obituaries that I’ve read have, quite rightly, concentrated on his enormous educational achievements. However, he was also an exceptionally talented broadcaster and it shouldn’t be forgotten that he was probably the inventor of the R4 educational phone-in. Whilst it’s common these days for newspapers to be crammed with educational advice, it was virtually impossible to find any info. in the late 70’s – enter Ted Wragg. His great gift was to have an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of all university courses and callers were often made aware of degrees that, hitherto, had never come to their attention. Above all, though, it was the kindness contained within his voice that I’ll always remember if a disappointed student with tears on the horizon would ring in for advice. Professor Wragg’s kind and caring voice was also matched with a face that despatched a similar message.

Professor Wragg was on Any Questions earlier this year and it was – as usual – an absolute delight to listen to him. It was clear that he was still the same old Ted Wragg – a man who never diluted his principles.

[rosalie]

Yes Mr Jones I had noticed. In fact I only heard one reference to his death on the news all day. Maybe I missed some, but the amount of airtime that was devoted to Patrick Litchfield's demise was totally disproportionate to his importance to the country.

Ted Wragg was one of the worlds good guys. The radio always got my attention when I heard him being announced.

[Lawrence Jones]

rosalie said:

Yes Mr Jones I had noticed. In fact I only heard one reference to his death on the news all day. Maybe I missed some, but the amount of airtime that was devoted to Patrick Litchfield's demise was totally disproportionate to his importance to the country.

Ted Wragg was one of the worlds good guys. The radio always got my attention when I heard him being announced.

You're so right R, Ted Wragg was one of the worlds good guys Have you listened to Feedback yet? Interestingly, someone wrote in and contrasted the coverage of Patrick Lichfield's death with that of Prof. Wragg's. I must say that I had a lot of respect for Patrick Lichfield, so I'm not complaining about this, but the only mention that Ted Wragg received was on The Leaning Curve. The guy interviewed dispensed the very weak excuse that only people working within the world of education would be familiar with him!!!! Can you believe that? I'm not remotely connected with the world of education and I'd be interested to know if you are. Ted Wragg was a hero to millions of R4 listeners and R4 should have acknowledged this.

Incidentally, R4 is introducing a new obituary programme in 2006 which should be interesting.

[rosalie]

Lawrence said:

rosalie said:

You're so right R, Ted Wragg was one of the worlds good guys Have you listened to Feedback yet? Interestingly, someone wrote in and contrasted the coverage of Patrick Lichfield's death with that of Prof. Wragg's. I must say that I had a lot of respect for Patrick Lichfield, so I'm not complaining about this, but the only mention that Ted Wragg received was on The Leaning Curve. The guy interviewed dispensed the very weak excuse that only people working within the world of education would be familiar with him!!!! Can you believe that? I'm not remotely connected with the world of education and I'd be interested to know if you are. Ted Wragg was a hero to millions of R4 listeners and R4 should have acknowledged this.

Incidentally, R4 is introducing a new obituary programme in 2006 which should be interesting.

Not heard Feedback, but that's an atrocious thing to say that only people working within education would've heard of him. Don't they realise that education matters interest millions of people , even the ones whose children have grown up or who have no children? Education affects us all.

[Crusoe]

Lawrence said:

You're so right R, Ted Wragg was one of the worlds good guys Have you listened to Feedback yet? Interestingly, someone wrote in and contrasted the coverage of Patrick Lichfield's death with that of Prof. Wragg's. I must say that I had a lot of respect for Patrick Lichfield, so I'm not complaining about this, but the only mention that Ted Wragg received was on The Leaning Curve. The guy interviewed dispensed the very weak excuse that only people working within the world of education would be familiar with him!!!! Can you believe that? I'm not remotely connected with the world of education and I'd be interested to know if you are. Ted Wragg was a hero to millions of R4 listeners and R4 should have acknowledged this.

I heard that item on feedback and can’t help feeling that the BBC spokesperson was being a bit disingenuous. If a Whitehall mandarin or some similarly influential but publicity-shy figure died, I would not be at all surprised to hear their obituary on R4.

I was not particularly aware of the depth of Prof. Wragg’s influence and the ‘phone-ins you write about were, really, a bit before my time but it was evident from his appearances on “Any Questions” that he was an intelligent, thoughtful man. I’d have liked to have heard more about him so it’s a pity that his life went largely unreported on R4.