Long-time fans of BBC Radio 4’s satirical show ‘The News Quiz’ will be saddened to hear of the death of Simon Hoggart on Sunday afternoon from pancreatic cancer at the Royal Marsden hospital.
The journalist and broadcaster’s eye for detail and hilarious yet subtle turn of phrase gave his books and regular political sketches in the Guardian a distinctive style that kept his readers amused for many years. In fact it was only in December, due to complications with his cancer and a round of chemotherapy that caused Simon Hoggart to give up his regular parliamentary sketch for the Guardian in December.
As his Guardian obituary pointed out who else would have described American President Bill Clinton as “the Princess Di of the political world.” We are also fond of his description of David Cameron’s smile “like the Cheshire Cat after a large sherry" and his recent and slightly surreal observation of Prince Charles as “ready for temporary use, like the car they lend you when yours is being repaired: a sort of courtesy heir.”
Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said of Simon: “His humour was not savage, nor was it exactly gentle. He turned politics into theatre, complete with a cast of characters that he made his own. His refusal to take any MP or situation very seriously masked an encyclopedic knowledge of politics derived from his spell as the Observer's political editor.”
Those who saw him before his death reported that he was: “sounding off, as usual, against favourite targets – the folly of politicians, publishers and privatised train companies, the pleasures of food and drink, the stupidity of manufacturers' safety warnings.”
He is survived by his wife, Alyson, their children Amy and Richard, and by his parents, Richard and Mary, his sister, Nicola, and brother, Paul.
