interview since the death of Grace Kelly in 1982. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in December 1980, when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the London department store Selfridges. In 1986 he interviewed Dirk Bogarde at his house in France, for Yorkshire Television, at Bogarde's invitation. He began working on a new series Russell Harty's Grand Tour for the BBC in 1987. Personal life For the last six years of his life, his partner was the Irish novelist Jamie O'Neill. Latterly they resided in Harty's cottage in Giggleswick, North Yorkshire. Harty was a friend of the playwright Alan Bennett, who talks about him and his family, in relation to Bennett's own family, in the essay "Written on the Body", taken from his semi-biography Untold Stories. Death In mid-1988 Harty became ill with hepatitis B and was admitted to St James's University Hospital, Leeds. The Sun tabloid newspaper began around this time publishing stories about his health and private life, claiming that the disease was "related to an HIV/AIDS" infection, and that Harty was in the habit of using teenage male prostitutes. He died in St James' University Hospital on 8 June 1988 at the age of 53 from liver failure caused by hepatitis. At his funeral Alan Bennett commented in his eulogy that "the gutter press had finished Harty off." His body was buried in the graveyard of St Alkelda Church at Giggleswick. References External links Interview with Debbie Harry Interview with Dirk Bogarde 1934 births 1988 deaths 20th-century LGBT people Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Deaths from hepatitis English television presenters English television talk show hosts Infectious disease deaths in England British LGBT broadcasters English LGBT people People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn People from Blackburn Television personalities from Lancashire