# Keith Kyle

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British writer, broadcaster and historian (1925–2007)

**Keith Kyle** (4 August 1925, [Sturminster Newton](/source/Sturminster_Newton), [Dorset](/source/Dorset) – 21 February 2007, London) was a British writer, broadcaster and historian.

## Early life

Kyle was educated at [Bromsgrove School](/source/Bromsgrove_School) and [Magdalen College](/source/Magdalen_College%2C_Oxford), [Oxford University](/source/Oxford_University), where his period as an undergraduate was broken by war service.

## Career

He worked for the [BBC](/source/BBC) North American Service as a talks producer, succeeding [Tony Benn](/source/Tony_Benn)[1] in 1951. In 1953, he joined *[The Economist](/source/The_Economist)* and was sent to Washington; later he was reporter for the BBC's *[Tonight](/source/Tonight_(1957_TV_series))* programme from 1960, specialising in coverage of Africa[2] and based in Nairobi.[3] He also contributed to *[The Observer](/source/The_Observer)* and *[The Spectator](/source/The_Spectator)* at this time, and covered [Rhodesia](/source/Rhodesia) in the period before [Ian Smith](/source/Ian_Smith)'s government made their [Unilateral Declaration of Independence](/source/Unilateral_Declaration_of_Independence_(Rhodesia)).[4]

From the late 1960s, Kyle began an academic career, while remaining active as a journalist for some years. He was a Fellow of the [John F. Kennedy Institute of Politics](/source/Institute_of_Politics_at_Harvard_Kennedy_School) at [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University) (1967–68) and joined [Chatham House](/source/Chatham_House) in 1972, where he remained for 30 years.[5] In the late 1980s, [St Antony's College, Oxford](/source/St_Antony's_College%2C_Oxford) invited him to become an associate member. His history, *[Suez](/source/Suez_Crisis): Britain's End of Empire in the Middle East* (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) first appeared in 1991,[3] and is regarded as definitive in almost all the cited articles. His other books include *The Politics of the Independence of Kenya* (Macmillan) in 1999 and his posthumous autobiography *Keith Kyle: Reporting the World* appeared in June 2009, published by [I.B.Tauris](/source/I.B.Tauris).

## Parliamentary candidacies

Kyle had a chequered career as a parliamentary candidate. He had hoped to become a [Conservative](/source/Conservative_Party_(UK)) candidate in the [1955 general election](/source/1955_United_Kingdom_general_election), but government policy on [Suez](/source/Suez) (leading to the [Suez Crisis](/source/Suez_Crisis)) dissuaded him. He was an unsuccessful [Labour Party](/source/Labour_Party_(UK)) candidate in [St Albans](/source/St_Albans_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in the [1966 election](/source/1966_United_Kingdom_general_election), for [Braintree](/source/Braintree_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in both [1974 elections](/source/1974_United_Kingdom_general_election_(disambiguation)) and later was the [Social Democratic Party](/source/Social_Democratic_Party_(UK)) (SDP) candidate for [Northampton South](/source/Northampton_South_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in the [1983 election](/source/1983_United_Kingdom_general_election).[1]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-LRB_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-LRB_1-1) Jeremy Harding "Right, Left and Centre", *London Review of Books*, 6 August 2009, p34

1. **[^](#cite_ref-DWB_2-0)** David Wedgwood Benn ["Keith Kyle"](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/keith-kyle-439985.html)[*[dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*], *The Independent*, 13 March 2007

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Telegraph_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Telegraph_3-1) ["Keith Kyle"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1543417/Keith-Kyle.html), *Daily Telegraph*, 22 February 2007

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Keith Kyle"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070319053205/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1480067.ece), *The Times*, 7 March 2007

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Sandra Harris ["Obituary: Keith Kyle"](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/feb/27/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries), *The Guardian*, 27 February 2007

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