Former TV chief dies at US home

FORMER head of the Television Authority, Ron Oliphant, died yesterday at his home in southern California aged 65.

The long-serving civil servant had been suffering from lung cancer, brain tumours and heart problems.

Born in Chester in 1929, Oliphant came to the territory in 1953 after serving in the Royal Air Force.

He joined RTHK in 1959 working as a scriptwriter and producer for popular game and talk shows.

He was fluent in Cantonese and German and did freelance work dubbing foreign films into English, often rewriting scripts in the process.

He joined the authority, which later became the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority, in the late 1960s and soon became its head.