Denis Moriarty was Born in West Wickham, Kent, the second son of civil servant Patrick Moriarty and his wife May Moriarty on 27th July 1935.
Evacuated to the Malvern Hills during the war, Denis later attended Reading School, where he became Prefect and Head Boy, thereafter deferring his entry to St. John’s College, Oxford in order to complete his national service in Goslar, Germany as an infantry officer serving with the Royal Berkshire Regiment patrolling the Inner German border. Denis read History at St. John’s in 1959, and a 32 year career at the BBC was to follow, where he had success as a Producer and Director with programmes such as Face The Music and Six English Towns, the latter serving as a basis for two books; “Alec Clifton Taylor’s Buildings Of Delight” which he edited and “Buildings Of the Cotswolds” which he wrote.
Whilst Living in Henley-On-Thames he was elected to the town council, serving as Mayor of the town in 1975 and stood twice as a parliamentary candidate in the elections of 1974, finishing second to Airey Neave. He moved to West London in the late 1970s, where he lived rest of his life.
When his television work wound down in the 1990s, Denis began a new career on the freelance lecture circuit, and as a study tour guide leading trips to music festivals and conducting architectural and historical tours, taking him from Sri Lanka to Mexico, from Egypt to North America and beyond.
The last decades of his life were spent energetically engaging in many aspects of the local community, in particular with local churches St. Matthew’s and St. Luke’s, and arranging local events, amongst others the Kensington Olympia Festival of Music and Arts (KOFMA).
Denis had three marriages. A first marriage to Tessa Harvey in 1964, which produced two children, Edmund and Eleanor, was dissolved and a second marriage to Brigid Beattie, which produced one son, Tristan, and by which he gained a stepson, Joshua Beattie, took place in 1979. Following Brigid’s death in 2001 Denis married for a third time in 2014, to Jinnie Chalton. He was a loving grandfather to Samuel, Miranda, Stella, Amity, Beatrix, Eliza, Theodora and Wilhelmina and step-grandfather to Georgia and Molly. He will be missed as a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.
We invite you to join us to celebrate the life of Denis Moriarty
Funeral
Date: 09/09/2022
Denis was one of the mainstays at the Music and Arts department. His film collaborations with Alec Clifton Taylor were exceptionally fruitful and he also made a lovely film about the composer Francis Poulenc, working with another much-missed colleague, John Amis. Denis was a greatly loved colleague and friend when I was head ofBBC Music and Arts department haf a century ago ad a pillar of support to Walter Todds when Face the Music enjoyed its exceptionally long run.The BBC was so fortunate to have recruited such a loyal and distinguished servant.
Sir Humphrey Burton. (very sorry not to have been present earlier today)
Wir haben uns nur zweimal persönlich getroffen, einmal für die Taufe seiner Enkelin Theodora und einmal zur Hochzeit von Tristan und Lena. Dennoch habe ich ein paar schöne Erinnerungen. Zum einen seine Freude über die deutschen Kinderlieder, welche ich damals unserem Sohn als Baby sang. Zum anderen mein Versuch ihm meinen sehr deutschen Beruf des Rechtspflegers auf Englisch zu erklären, bei welcher mir einfach die englischen Wörter fehlten.
Danke, dass wir uns kennenlernen durften und schade, dass wir uns nur so kurz treffen konnten. Ruhe in Frieden, Denis.
I had the great pleasure of knowing Denis in two phases of his life. At St Johns, where, by some of us, he became memorialised by the frequency with which he would spot a group exchanging a joke and would arrive with a breathless ‘have I missed anything’ just as the punchline was about to be delivered. Thus the story was ‘moriartied’. This in its way is a tribute to Denis’s determination to socialise at every opportunity. The second phase was the result of the Fifties annual lunches and to his latterday career as a lecturer for which I engaged him on three occasions to great acclaim from the audiences who were beguiled by his style and, again, his gift for socialising.
I will miss him very much indeed.
A notable head boy when I entered Reading School, a model I followed later, a fellow historian taught so well by Frank Terry – and then out of touch until I was invited to join the Oxford & Cambridge Club lunches which Denis presided over with such enthusiasm and friendship. I was so privileged to know him in those last years. He will be much missed.
Always a good friend at Reading School, particularly when cooperating with G&S Operettas. I remember very fondly our combined efforts in HMS Pinafore in c1952. Farewell and God bless you dear friend.