Biography
Ken Sykora was born on 13th April 1923 in London. His parents were immigrants: his mother Swiss, his father Czech. The family settled in West London and Ken’s father worked as a tailor in Saville Row. Ken grew up in a musical family but he was not taught music formally. From an early age he discovered the music of the Quintette du Hot Club de France and in particular, Django Reinhardt. Inspired to take up the guitar, he taught himself to play. He also started to collect records from an early age, developing his appreciation of music of all types.
He attended the renowned Latymer School in West London and was accepted into the London School of Economics in 1941, to study Geography and Economics. He became captain of the football team and president of the Student’s Union, but music was his main attraction. LSE was evacuated to Cambridge during the War and Ken joined the Cambridge University swing band, The Swingstars. It was while performing with them that he was discovered by the eminent guitarist Ivor Mairants, who invited him to play in one of the legendary bandleader Geraldo's Sunday concerts. This was 1942 and Ken, aged 19, found himself playing alongside the esteemed jazz pianist, George Shearing and then participating in the Vic Lewis jam sessions with future stars of the British jazz scene, such as Jimmy Skidmore and Jack Parnell.
But in 1943 Ken was called up to the army and was sent to the Far East where he served as an intelligence officer. He was demobbed in 1947 and returned to London to complete his university degree and marry his first wife, a fellow student called Marjorie. He gradually started to play again on the London jazz scene, becoming a teacher of economics by day and a musician by night. However, his first marriage was short lived and ended in divorce – the consequence of Ken’s passion for music and Marjorie’s passion for a doctor! In 1953, he started his own band, the Ken Sykora Six. He secured a few successful residencies, notably the Band Box at the Café Anglais, in Leicester Square. Around this time, he also started to find work appearing on BBC radio with his bands. His first appearance as a musician was on British Jazz in 1954, playing Sweet Georgia Brown with Stéphane Grappelli, who went on to become a close friend.
By the mid 50s the skiffle craze in Britain had changed the musical landscape and paved the way for rock ‘n’ roll. The Reinhardt style of music had gone out of fashion and interest in Ken’s bands had waned. He managed to find work as a session musician and joined the Bob Cort Skiffle in 1956, playing on the theme tune of the Six-Five Special, the BBC's first live rock 'n' roll TV programme. He played at the Royal Albert Hall, as part of the BBC’s Jazz Saturday and with the Jazz Today Unit in the 3rd Festival of British Jazz at the Royal Festival Hall. He toured with American jazz saxophonist, Gerry Mulligan on his 1957 UK tour.
Meanwhile, Ken's BBC radio career had been given a boost in late 1955, when, due to his unique knowledge of Django Reinhardt, he was invited to write and present a special on the guitarist, who had died two years earlier. Broadcast on 31st January 1956, the programme was a great success and Ken was asked to present other programmes. However, it wasn’t until 1957 that he finally resigned from his day job as a teacher to work full time as a musician and broadcaster for the BBC. This step was made possible by the BBC finally commissioning Ken’s idea for a show based around the guitar, called Guitar Club, which he had suggested two years before. Ken hosted and performed on the show, supported by the resident Guitar Club Band, led by jazz guitarist, Ike Isaacs. The weekly show proved extremely popular and was quickly promoted to a prime Saturday evening slot.
1957 was a memorable year for Ken. As well as Guitar Club launching, he topped the Melody Maker’s poll as Britain’s best guitarist and married Helen Grant, a singer at the infamous Murray’s Cabaret Club. They bought a house in Suffolk and relocated to the country with the intention of starting a family. Their three children, Duncan, Alison and Dougal would be born and raised there.
Ken continued to work for the BBC, preparing his programmes at home and commuting to London to broadcast. Guitar Club, which ran for three years until 1960, elevated Ken's status as a broadcaster. He welcomed many famous guitarists, including Ivor Mairants, Bert Weedon and John Williams. It had a huge impact on guitar playing in the UK, popularising the instrument and inspiring many future guitar stars. Amongst others, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Andy Summers all cite the show as an influence.
His celebrity as a musician and broadcaster continued to rise throughout the 60s. He was a guest on Roy Plomley's Desert Island Discs in 1962 and was invited to perform at the first International Django Reinhardt Festival in 1963 with Stéphane Grappelli and Joseph Reinhardt. His radio programmes played a major role in promoting the folk revival and by the mid 60s he was a household name, presenting favourites such as the BBC's Housewives’ Choice, You and Yours and Start the Week. At the peak of his popularity he was interviewing the likes of Duke Ellington and Bing Crosby for the Be My Guest series on the BBC. But as his radio career climbed, so his musical career progressively took a back seat. By the mid 60s he had essentially stopped performing, playing only privately or locally with his Ken Sykora Suffolk Quartet.
Then in 1971, quite unexpectedly, he quit broadcasting and the BBC. He bought the Colintraive hotel and relocated his family to the beautiful but remote Kyles of Bute, on the West Coast of Scotland. However, very quickly he was invited to work with BBC Radio Scotland followed by Radio Clyde in Glasgow, which had just launched as the third commercial radio station in the UK. He again proved extremely popular, gaining success with programmes such as Sound of the Guitars, Big Band Show and Serendipity with Sykora. The Radio Clyde shows, in particular, gave Ken free-reign to share his incredible musical knowledge, his wealth of facts and his immense and diverse record collection. Indeed, at one stage, Ken was to be heard broadcasting on both Radio Clyde and BBC Radio Scotland - at the same time, in the same week, in the same town. Something nobody else had ever done at the time.
The adventure as a hotelier that had brought Ken to Scotland in the first place proved to be a rather less successful experience. The hotel in Colintraive was sold in 1976 and the family moved to Blairmore, near Dunoon. It was also later revealed that his transition from musician to broadcaster had been partly forced due to a condition he suffered with his hand, which limited his ability to play. It had been diagnosed in the 60s as non-treatable. However, once in Scotland, he was given a new diagnosis which resulted in an operation that enabled him to play again. After a second forced musical hiatus, he was once again able to play and his final performance was recorded in 1973 as the Ken Sykora Trio.
In the 80s, he devised the unique Sykora’s Emporium, a masterfully crafted programme that presented the definitive profile of a musician or musical genre in 30 minutes. He later created Eater’s Digest for the BBC. Produced by Mike Shaw, it was billed as “a food programme not just for cooks but for everyone who eats”. This, his final radio series, won the Glenfiddich Award for the UK’s best food programme in 1988. It was broadcast nationwide on BBC Radio 5, taking Ken’s voice again to the nation.
Ken worked until the mid 90s, then retired to look after his wife Helen, whose health was in decline. She passed away in 1997.
Ken died peacefully in 2006, surrounded by his children, and listening to Django Reinhardt playing Nuages.
He attended the renowned Latymer School in West London and was accepted into the London School of Economics in 1941, to study Geography and Economics. He became captain of the football team and president of the Student’s Union, but music was his main attraction. LSE was evacuated to Cambridge during the War and Ken joined the Cambridge University swing band, The Swingstars. It was while performing with them that he was discovered by the eminent guitarist Ivor Mairants, who invited him to play in one of the legendary bandleader Geraldo's Sunday concerts. This was 1942 and Ken, aged 19, found himself playing alongside the esteemed jazz pianist, George Shearing and then participating in the Vic Lewis jam sessions with future stars of the British jazz scene, such as Jimmy Skidmore and Jack Parnell.
But in 1943 Ken was called up to the army and was sent to the Far East where he served as an intelligence officer. He was demobbed in 1947 and returned to London to complete his university degree and marry his first wife, a fellow student called Marjorie. He gradually started to play again on the London jazz scene, becoming a teacher of economics by day and a musician by night. However, his first marriage was short lived and ended in divorce – the consequence of Ken’s passion for music and Marjorie’s passion for a doctor! In 1953, he started his own band, the Ken Sykora Six. He secured a few successful residencies, notably the Band Box at the Café Anglais, in Leicester Square. Around this time, he also started to find work appearing on BBC radio with his bands. His first appearance as a musician was on British Jazz in 1954, playing Sweet Georgia Brown with Stéphane Grappelli, who went on to become a close friend.
By the mid 50s the skiffle craze in Britain had changed the musical landscape and paved the way for rock ‘n’ roll. The Reinhardt style of music had gone out of fashion and interest in Ken’s bands had waned. He managed to find work as a session musician and joined the Bob Cort Skiffle in 1956, playing on the theme tune of the Six-Five Special, the BBC's first live rock 'n' roll TV programme. He played at the Royal Albert Hall, as part of the BBC’s Jazz Saturday and with the Jazz Today Unit in the 3rd Festival of British Jazz at the Royal Festival Hall. He toured with American jazz saxophonist, Gerry Mulligan on his 1957 UK tour.
Meanwhile, Ken's BBC radio career had been given a boost in late 1955, when, due to his unique knowledge of Django Reinhardt, he was invited to write and present a special on the guitarist, who had died two years earlier. Broadcast on 31st January 1956, the programme was a great success and Ken was asked to present other programmes. However, it wasn’t until 1957 that he finally resigned from his day job as a teacher to work full time as a musician and broadcaster for the BBC. This step was made possible by the BBC finally commissioning Ken’s idea for a show based around the guitar, called Guitar Club, which he had suggested two years before. Ken hosted and performed on the show, supported by the resident Guitar Club Band, led by jazz guitarist, Ike Isaacs. The weekly show proved extremely popular and was quickly promoted to a prime Saturday evening slot.
1957 was a memorable year for Ken. As well as Guitar Club launching, he topped the Melody Maker’s poll as Britain’s best guitarist and married Helen Grant, a singer at the infamous Murray’s Cabaret Club. They bought a house in Suffolk and relocated to the country with the intention of starting a family. Their three children, Duncan, Alison and Dougal would be born and raised there.
Ken continued to work for the BBC, preparing his programmes at home and commuting to London to broadcast. Guitar Club, which ran for three years until 1960, elevated Ken's status as a broadcaster. He welcomed many famous guitarists, including Ivor Mairants, Bert Weedon and John Williams. It had a huge impact on guitar playing in the UK, popularising the instrument and inspiring many future guitar stars. Amongst others, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Andy Summers all cite the show as an influence.
His celebrity as a musician and broadcaster continued to rise throughout the 60s. He was a guest on Roy Plomley's Desert Island Discs in 1962 and was invited to perform at the first International Django Reinhardt Festival in 1963 with Stéphane Grappelli and Joseph Reinhardt. His radio programmes played a major role in promoting the folk revival and by the mid 60s he was a household name, presenting favourites such as the BBC's Housewives’ Choice, You and Yours and Start the Week. At the peak of his popularity he was interviewing the likes of Duke Ellington and Bing Crosby for the Be My Guest series on the BBC. But as his radio career climbed, so his musical career progressively took a back seat. By the mid 60s he had essentially stopped performing, playing only privately or locally with his Ken Sykora Suffolk Quartet.
Then in 1971, quite unexpectedly, he quit broadcasting and the BBC. He bought the Colintraive hotel and relocated his family to the beautiful but remote Kyles of Bute, on the West Coast of Scotland. However, very quickly he was invited to work with BBC Radio Scotland followed by Radio Clyde in Glasgow, which had just launched as the third commercial radio station in the UK. He again proved extremely popular, gaining success with programmes such as Sound of the Guitars, Big Band Show and Serendipity with Sykora. The Radio Clyde shows, in particular, gave Ken free-reign to share his incredible musical knowledge, his wealth of facts and his immense and diverse record collection. Indeed, at one stage, Ken was to be heard broadcasting on both Radio Clyde and BBC Radio Scotland - at the same time, in the same week, in the same town. Something nobody else had ever done at the time.
The adventure as a hotelier that had brought Ken to Scotland in the first place proved to be a rather less successful experience. The hotel in Colintraive was sold in 1976 and the family moved to Blairmore, near Dunoon. It was also later revealed that his transition from musician to broadcaster had been partly forced due to a condition he suffered with his hand, which limited his ability to play. It had been diagnosed in the 60s as non-treatable. However, once in Scotland, he was given a new diagnosis which resulted in an operation that enabled him to play again. After a second forced musical hiatus, he was once again able to play and his final performance was recorded in 1973 as the Ken Sykora Trio.
In the 80s, he devised the unique Sykora’s Emporium, a masterfully crafted programme that presented the definitive profile of a musician or musical genre in 30 minutes. He later created Eater’s Digest for the BBC. Produced by Mike Shaw, it was billed as “a food programme not just for cooks but for everyone who eats”. This, his final radio series, won the Glenfiddich Award for the UK’s best food programme in 1988. It was broadcast nationwide on BBC Radio 5, taking Ken’s voice again to the nation.
Ken worked until the mid 90s, then retired to look after his wife Helen, whose health was in decline. She passed away in 1997.
Ken died peacefully in 2006, surrounded by his children, and listening to Django Reinhardt playing Nuages.