Obituary
Des Cranston ‘led a full life’ as teacher, actor and gentleman

Tribute by Ken Ward

DESMOND Cranston (known universally as Des) died on April 7 in the Willow Grove care home in Dungannon at the age of 84.
He had led a full life as teacher, actor, writer, poet, producer, family man, and as many people wrote on hearing of his death – a real gentleman.
I knew him for 50 years as colleague and friend in the New University of Ulster and its successor Ulster University. As many will testify he was a very good friend, always attentive and helpful, willing to go the extra mile to help out.
He was born in Belfast into a well-established family in the city. His father was a business man who was involved in politics as Councilor and Alderman in Belfast City Council.
He was educated at Downey House and Methodist College, no doubt excelling in sports and the arts. He went on to study drama under the tutelage of a legendary Belfast teacher, Hilda Taggart, achieving the award of Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music (LGSM) in Drama Teaching.
As a teacher in Dunlambert School in Belfast he became friends with the art teacher, Richard Croft, who subsequently became one of Northern Ireland’s foremost artists, and Des was always proud of the prints and paintings he had on the wall produced by Dick Croft.
He was involved in drama in Belfast as well as the newly established commercial television station, UTV, as a presenter - and while lecturing in a College in Aberdeen worked for Grampian Television.
He returned to Northern Ireland in 1970 to teach drama in the Education Centre of NUU. The University had a television studio housing equipment donated by UTV and with his experience Des was involved in teaching the practical aspects of educational television. There were few Universities with these facilities, however old the equipment, and it required a close working relationship between staff and technicians to make it work effectively.
Arising out of this Des and I became involved in creating, under the leadership of an English lecturer, John Izod, the first media studies course in the UK and Ireland, calling it Communication Studies. The object was to combine theory and practice – John and I taught the history of the media and critical theory, and Des did the practice. The first students were admitted in 1978, and it became a very successful course.
Very soon afterwards John Izod moved to Stirling and Des took over the leadership of the course. He was also on the Council and Senate of the University.
There is no doubt that during the discussions over the merger of NUU and the Ulster Polytechnic Des was crucial in the decision making which kept the course, now called Media Studies, in Coleraine. The fact that Des had so many contacts in the arts and media world of Belfast including the BBC, UTV and the Arts Council, gave the course wider recognition.
Tony Macauley’s description, in his book ‘All Growed Up’, of being interviewed for a place in Communication Studies by a corduroy-suited Professor is a wonderfully accurate pen portrait of Des.
He was no academic although he did produce some research - he was first and foremost a teacher, brimming with ideas, enthusing students - making the students think.
He was also part of the collegiate aspect of NUU, contributing to the wider cultural outlook of the campus through participating in management of the Riverside Theatre, and acting in Tony Bareham’s drama productions, sometimes substituting his own lines for Shakespeare’s in performance, much to the horror of the director and fellow actors. He contributed to the student newspapers and wrote a short play about University life.
Many other people will remember him both acting and directing plays and musicals in the Triangle area.
Tennis was his main sport, although he also sailed and enjoyed driving, some times very fast, as a colleague discovered when being given a lift from Belfast to Coleraine at 100 mph through the Frosses in the Cranston sports car.
He was also an accomplished amateur artist in a range of media – from pencil sketches to oils – and delighted friends with appropriate cartoons as birthday cards.
He enjoyed the craic – and contributed mightily to it – either in a bar, a party, over a dinner and latterly over coffee, with stories, anecdotes, scurrilous gossip and mimicry of the highest order. It was about shared friendship – and Des one of the best of friends – never more than when there was a crisis.
And he was a gentleman - not only to the ladies – but to everyone – whether a technician or a Vice-Chancellor – they were all equal in his eyes - it was an old-fashioned attribute which was much appreciated.
Then slowly the wit and laughter began to fade as Des began to have the symptoms of dementia culminating, after sometime, in a crisis which necessitated a move to a safe environment. The care home in Dungannon was a long way away from Portstewart ,which had been his home for 50 years, but old colleagues were able to see him occasionally although it was unlikely Des knew who they were.
It was a sad end for someone who had enjoyed life, and company, to the full and we mourn his passing, and think of his family who were unable to be with him at the end. The actor, for Des was an actor all his life, has left the stage but there are so many memories, so much fun, so much kindness given, so many performances enjoyed. – and to the end he was a gentleman – we will miss him.