Andy Kershaw has sadly died aged sixty-six. I listened a lot to him when he presented his world music show, and I liked him as a presenter when he worked for the BBC, he always came across as a pretty down to earth person with occasional warts-and-all, and obviously issues that affect many people. He also came across (who really knows what goes on in the depths of anyone’s mind) as reasonably caring and willing to put himself in a place of danger to report stories about human injustice.
I’m pretty sure I read the attached article from the Independent below when it first came out in 2008 feeling saddened that he was obviously suffering with a serious mental health and drink problem due to a nasty break up with Juliette Banner, his partner for seventeen years and mother of their two children. I also felt for Juliette Banner, I’m sure it was a horrible situation. Kershaw was an arse by having a fling, but he was human and if we all took a Daily Mail approach, there would be cadavers hanging from gibbets littering the countryside. Did he deserve the invasive press coverage of his relationship breakdown and subsequent troubles, I’m not sure he did, it was just titillating claptrap that should have been kept private and was not much of a story unless you’re into celebrity gossip?
When a long term relationship breaks down like this it can very easily turn nasty on both sides. I’m sure it’s happening a lot of the time, all over the place, and the most ordinary of people can turn into a messed up wreck, act out of character and do things they regret. There are generally two sides to relationship break-ups that people know nothing about and throwing someone on the scrap heap is pretty shortsighted and lacking in empathy.
So, where am I going with this, and what’s it got to do with climbing? Nothing really apart from when someone on a recent UKC forum highlighted that Andy Kershaw had died, and in response, another person said a few things (included in bold below) that flicked my switch. It’s my problem I know. Why do I even bother, I’m not really sure, but its made me feel a bit better writing this in response to some short-sighted, intolerant and nasty rubbish on a climbing forum?
Here is a link to the thread and below are the comments in bold.
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/off_belay/andy_kershaw_rip-789675
Unfortunately behind his broadcasting ability there was a very dark private side resulting in prison time. Maybe have a think about that?
It was a serious offence involving abuse.
You would no doubt decry Epstein etc and other but good old Andy was a top bloke. Give us a break.
It’s not often I feel the need to comment on forums as they are the wild west. People hide behind pseudonyms and made up identities. They enjoy trolling and upsetting people, and many threads end up with everyone arguing, but this person speaking about Andy Kershaw bothered me as it’s a good example of how people make stuff up and then with some form of righteous aggression, put it out there as fact.
Kershaw was obviously suffering terribly with a mental health issue brought about by separating from the person he loved and not been allowed to see his kids. Can this be classed as a very dark side? Then to say he did prison time without actually saying what the prison time was for is unsubstantiated gossip, its Trumps made up rubbish, it’s hinting at something and not actually giving us evidence, or even the actual truth. It’s this kind of ignorant, unsubstantiated spaff that is the blight of the internet. Its this sort of nasty stuff that makes forums and social media a cesspool. All I can say is, the poster better start staying inside and locking the door as there are many people who go through a similar experience as Kershaw; it doesn’t make them monsters, or bad people per se, in many cases its just normal people who are failing to cope, people that need help.
To compare him to Epstein is absolutely ridiculous and possibly slanderous. I’m guessing the person who wrote these comments is a throw the key away person because as it says in the Guardian article about his death, once he got over the devastating break-up and not been allowed to see his kids, he returned to work and was never arrested or broke the law again, so, in other words, he made a full recovery and became a normal, functioning member of society. In my mind that shows strength and courage, and it’s a success story, something to be looked on with optimism, not unforgiving right wing blinkers.
For anyone interested in the actual true story of how a life of someone not perfect, but not really that bad, can fall apart, here is a link to the article in the Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/andy-kershaw-the-year-my-life fell-apart-917948.html
And here is what Kershaw said on his cancer diagnosis, It’s taken from the Guardian,
Revealing his cancer diagnosis in a statement earlier this year, he said he was in “good spirits”, joking he was “determined not to die before Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Ant’n’Dec. That should keep me going for a while.”
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/apr/17/bbc-radio-dj-andy-kershaw-dies-aged-66
Andy Kershaw was not Nelson Mandela, but in general he was a pretty caring human being with faults that he worked through and then continued to live a life without any further episodes like the awful ones he had previously had and regretted.
Anyway, I’m sorry, my return to writing has very quickly gone off-piste again, I’ll try harder in the future.
