Kit Hesketh-Harvey: Norfolk performer dies suddenly, aged 65

Fellow Norfolk actor, writer and broadcaster Stephen Fry said it would be "a poorer, duller world" without Kit Hesketh-Harvey, who began his musical career as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and went on to perform in the West End and on Broadway.

When not delighting audiences, radio listeners or TV viewers, he spent time at Stoke Ferry, near Downham Market, where he had a home close to the 15th century village church which he owned and maintained.

Kit Hesketh-Harvey at the piano in his home at Stoke Ferry, near Downham Market (Image: Sonya Duncan)

He starred with Mr Fry in The Story of James Bond: A Tribute to Ian Fleming at the Palladium Theatre in London in 2008.

Mr Fry said: "All who knew Kit were dazzled by his charm, range of stunning talents and sparkling, dashing charisma. It’s a poorer, duller world without him.”

Mr Hesketh-Harvey's sister Sarah Sands, former editor of Radio 4's Today programme and the London Evening Standard told the Daily Mail: "Kit was dazzling — clever, original, funny, kind.

"The last time I saw him he was busy mapping out pilgrim routes across Norfolk. There was always the next adventure, the next joke. He gave and gave and gave."

His brother-in-law Mark Palmer, the Daily Mail's travel editor, told the paper: "He was the most brilliant, witty, gentle and talented man I have ever known, deeply loved by everyone — including King Charles, for whom he used to perform."

Kit Hesketh-Harvey, who has passed away aged 65 (Image: Ian Burt)

Mr Hesketh-Harvey's death comes as the search continues for Mrs Sands's ex-husband, actor Julian Sands, who went missing two weeks ago while on a hiking trip in the San Gabriel Mountains in California.

Mr Hesketh-Harvey wrote the screenplay for director James Ivory's 1987 film Maurice, which starred Hugh Grant, and was a scriptwriter for shows including The Vicar Of Dibley.

He wrote and sang with pianist Richard Sisson for over 30 years as the musical comedy duo Kit and The Widow.

The pair performed in the West End and on Broadway, along with on their own show on Radio 4.

Mr Hesketh-Harvey also appeared on radio programmes such as Radio 4's Juist a Minute and Quote Unquote.

He told of his love of Norfolk in an essay published on the Stoke Ferry village website.

"My favourite part of Norfolk is here, the Breckland," he wrote. "It's a magical and unique landscape, with its blond heathlands, twisted pines, dark forests and murmuring waters, which ought to be fiercely defended against depredation."

Of his links to the village beside the River Wissey, where he lived for more than three decades, he added: "There are considerable Harvey family links to Stoke Ferry and the many Harveys in the church are all, like myself, connected to the Dr William Harvey who discovered the circulation of the blood. 

"When the church was put up for sale in 1999, the central carpet was pulled up, and the organ casement removed, both revealing further Harvey tombs. 

"We now use the chancel as a chapel and the former nave for arts events - concerts, exhibitions and carol services. I have a writing room in the former vestry."

Mr Hesketh-Harvey was born on 30 April 1957 in Malawi, Central Africa.

He was married to Catherine Rabett, a former Bond girl and Hot Gossip dancer.

The couple had two children, but had recently divorced.