Mastermind star stable
Former Mastermind presenter Magnus Magnusson was today still in a stable condition in hospital following an emergency operation.
The journalist, historian and TV star underwent abdominal surgery at a Glasgow hospital after falling ill last Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for the city’s Western Infirmary said the 74-year-old is in a stable condition in the intensive therapy unit.
She could not say whether he would undergo further surgery or when he was expected to be discharged.
Magnusson was born in Iceland in 1929 but moved to Scotland at an early age and now lives in Balmore, Dunbartonshire.
He studied English at Jesus College, Oxford, before launching his journalistic career at the Scottish Daily Express and then The Scotsman.
The veteran BBC man presented archaeology programme Chronicle from 1966 to 1980.
But he is best known for presenting quiz show Mastermind, famed for its black leather contestants’ chair and bizarre specialist subjects, for 25 years.
Awarded an honorary knighthood in 1989, he has served as Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University since 2002.
The BBC, where Magnusson’s daughter Sally has worked since 1984, said she had no further comment to make.
