Frederic Russell Harty (5 September 1934 – 8 June 1988)[1][2] was an English television presenter of arts programmes and chat show host.

[5] Among Harty's pupils at the Giggleswick School were the journalist and television presenter Richard Whiteley and the actors Graham Hamilton and Anthony Daniels.

He got his first break in 1970 presenting the arts programme Aquarius,[1] that was intended to be London Weekend Television's response to the BBC's Omnibus.

One programme involving a "meeting of cultures" saw Harty travelling to Italy in 1974 to engineer an encounter between the entertainer Gracie Fields and the composer William Walton, two fellow Lancastrians now living on the neighbouring islands of Capri and Ischia.

In 1972, he interviewed Marc Bolan, who at that time was at the height of his fame as a teen idol and king of glam rock.

[1] Parts of Russell Harty's interview with the Who in 1973 were included in Jeff Stein's 1979 film The Kids Are Alright, providing notable moments, such as Pete Townshend and Keith Moon ripping off each other's shirt sleeves.

Jones was nervous and distracted during the interview before a live studio audience and Harty found the interview an uneasy one to conduct, and appeared to be intimidated by Jones, commenting nervously to the audience regarding her demeanour on stage as "It's coming to life, it's coming to life!"

Around this time The Sun tabloid newspaper began publishing stories about his health and private life, claiming that the disease was "related to an HIV/AIDS" infection and that Harty was in the habit of using teenage male prostitutes.

[13] He died in St James' University Hospital on 8 June 1988 at the age of 53 from liver failure caused by hepatitis.