Game Show Host Dies After ‘Period of Ill Health’: Henry Kelly Was 78

Journalist and TV presenter Henry Kelly, best known for presenting Going For Gold and Game For A Laugh, has died.

The Dublin-born star’s family confirmed in a statement to the BBC that Kelly passed away “peacefully” on Tuesday “after a period of ill health.” He was 78. His cause of death was not disclosed.

“Henry will be sorely missed by his friends and family, including his partner Karolyn Shindler, their son Alexander, Henry’s daughter Siobhan and her mother Marjorie,” the family said.

Kelly, who was born in 1946, began his journalistic career in newspapers, working for The Irish Times and later as a reporter and presenter for Radio 4’s The World Tonight, before transitioning his career into entertainment presenting in 1980. After relocating to London, per The Guardian, he landed a job co-hosting Game for a Laugh. The ITV game show, which involved practical jokes and elaborate set-ups, made him a household name in the U.K., and Kelly followed it by presenting the BBC’s lunchtime quiz show Going For Gold for 10 seasons from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.

Kelly briefly returned to journalism in 1988 to chair the Channel 4 discussion program After Dark. He later became one of the Classic FM launch radio presenters, hosting a breakfast show from 1992 until 2003, and hosted shows on speech station LBC, BBC Radio London. In 1994, he won a Sony Radio Award when he was voted national broadcaster of the year. Throughout the 2000s, he regularly appeared on Sky News’ Sunday newspapers review.

Paying tribute to Kelly following his passing, TV presenter and comedian Mark Dolan said on X, “The amazing Henry Kelly has died. I met him as a child, when I got my first glimpse of live radio, whilst he was at LBC in Gough Square. He was generous, funny, clever & wise. And very strict about how his Guinness was poured! RIP total legend.”

Classic FM remembered Kelly as a “legendary broadcaster and much-loved founding Classic FM presenter,” adding, “Thank you, Henry, for sharing your love of music with us all.”

Outside of his journalism, TV, and radio careers, Kelly was also an author who penned the 1972 book How Stormont Fell, about the events which hit the Northern Irish parliament, and co-authored the 1990s collection Classic FM Musical Anecdotes, Notes And Quotes with John Foley.

He is survived by his partner, Karolyn, and his two children, Alexander and Siobhan.