Erkki Arni, broadcaster; Times of London obit
Hyfler/Rosner
Broadcaster who forged cultural links between Britain and
Finland
FOR nearly half a century Erkki Arni was the voice of London on
Finnish radio and unofficial ambassador to the English-speaking world for
Finnish opera. He wrote in his memoirs (the title translates as Londoner)
that on first coming here in 1947: "I felt I had come home." Unusual for a
Finn of that period, he already spoke some English and then effortlessly
perfected it, loving Britain, warts and all.
A man of infectious enthusiasm, humour and wide-ranging
interests, he made his first trip here to cover the Farnborough Air Show
forerunner at Radlett for the Helsinki aviation magazine Ilmailu. His first
of many books was about aviation and his enthusiasm for flying climaxed when
he flew in the BAe Hawk jet after Finland's purchase of it. He was also a
distinguished naval historian, his 1964 book on the war in the Pacific still
a textbook for the Finnish military.
But his passion was music, above all opera, and at his death he
was preparing reviews of Finnish National Opera's latest production for
Opera Now magazine.
Born in Vienna in 1924, to an Austrian father, he was taken to
newly independent Finland as a baby by his mother, after the marriage
collapsed. During the war he served as a 2nd lieutenant in an anti-aircraft
unit. This was in the fighting against the Soviet Union in which Finland
joined the Germans in the vain hope of recovering territory lost in 1940.
Ironically, Arni's home city was in the 12 per cent of Finland's territory
ceded to the Soviet Union in 1947.
In 1950 Arni took up what was to become permanent residence in
London with his first job at the BBC's Finnish Service. He was a natural
broadcaster with a melodious voice that over the years as part-time
correspondent and later contributor to the Finnish Broadcasting Company was
to become a national trademark. He always enthused about the opportunities
given him at Bush House, and the contacts he began building into a huge
network. For a short time in the Fifties he was the head of the BBC's
Finnish Section but he could not stand the red tape. To the consternation of
superiors he insisted on returning to the ranks as an everyday reporter,
until he went freelance in 1968.
Between 1970 and 1989 he served as London correspondent for the
leading daily Helsingin Sanomat, while continuing regular broadcasts to
Finland, increasingly on musical and cultural matters. He relished his time
as a daily journalist, served as president of London's Foreign Press
Association, and gained unique political and social insights, assessing the
advances made but never playing down the human costs.
Even while a full-time journalist, Arni had begun his work as a
cultural facilitator. The 1985 Sea Finland exhibition at the National
Maritime Museum at Greenwich was largely his inspiration - after all, Nelson
's masts had come from Finland. Museum authorities in Helsinki were
sceptical that anyone in Britain would be interested in Finland's seafaring
history but - his idea embraced by the museum's director, Dr Basil
Greenhill - Arni persisted, and some 500,000 visitors were their
vindication.
He had already turned this promotional talent to opera. An
habitué of virtually all Britain's musical venues, he wanted the British to
know more of his country's teeming musicmaking than just Sibelius. He
lobbied the Finnish National Opera and the Savonlinna Festival to invite
British eminences such as Lord Harlech and Sir John Tooley, as well as
London music critics. Arni, in his prolific lectures, loved quoting this
from Rodney Milnes, until recently the Times opera critic, who wrote after
the Finnish National Opera's visit to Sadler's Wells in 1979: "Opera is
alive and well, and living in Finland." In 1984 he wrote a book on the first
three operas of Aulis Sallinen, the leading Finnish composer, and visiting
Finnish artists gravitated to his London home.
In Finland, having been invited back to co-host television
transmissions from the Savonlinna Festival, he produced a popular guide to
opera in 1996 and wrote and recorded an even more successful series of
cassette guides to more than 60 operas which are available free in Finnish
public libraries. He did one such work for a BBC Promenade Concert. He also
translated libretti.
Married in 1968, he is survived by his wife Christina and their
son.
Erkki Arni, journalist and broadcaster, was born in Vienna on
March 5, 1924. He died in London on December 27, 2002, aged 78.
