Obituary | A consummate broadcaster: Jonathan Douglas, RTHK classical music presenter, musician, producer and actor, loses cancer fight

For years the presenter of Hong Kong station’s Morning Call, Douglas also wrote and performed music, and produced, directed and acted in plays

A good listener and intelligent interviewer, Douglas played a big role in promoting Hong Kong as a centre of the arts in Asia, and was honoured by Britain

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Jonathan Douglas, who presented classical music and a show about the arts on RTHK Radio 4, as well as producing, directing and acting in plays, has died at the age of 65. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 11:45am, 4 Sep 2022

Jonathan Douglas, well-known Hong Kong broadcaster, actor, musician, theatre producer and director, died peacefully in London on August 26 after a protracted battle with cancer.

For 30 years he presented classical music on RTHK Radio 4, which he joined in 1986. The high quality of his programmes played an important part in developing Hong Kong as a leading Asian centre for music and the arts. His signature show, Artbeat, kept its finger on the pulse of the Hong Kong cultural scene.

A consummate broadcaster with a soft, lyrical voice, Douglas, who was born in London in 1957, was for many years responsible for gently waking up Hong Kong with Morning Call, a seamless mix of classical music, interviews, reviews and arts news.

He was both a good listener and an intelligent and empathetic interviewer, able to coax his interviewees into giving that little bit extra. He interviewed many great names in classical music, such as Isaac Stern, Joshua Bell and Tan Dun. Thirty of these interviews have been preserved in a book published in 2005 by Joint Publishing (Hong Kong).

Jonathan Douglas spinning the platters in 1988, soon after his arrival in Hong Kong from his native London. Photo: SCMP

Douglas had a natural gift for making and performing his own music. In 2016 we collaborated on a one-person show, Crystal, starring Hong Kong drag queen La Chiquitta. The songs he wrote for the show sprang from him effortlessly, and captivated the audience each night at the University of Hong Kong’s Black Box Theatre.

Obituary | A consummate broadcaster: Jonathan Douglas, RTHK classical music presenter, musician, producer and actor, loses cancer fight

For years the presenter of Hong Kong station’s Morning Call, Douglas also wrote and performed music, and produced, directed and acted in plays A good listener and intelligent interviewer, Douglas played a big role in promoting Hong Kong as a centre of the arts in Asia, and was honoured by Britain