# Hofman, David

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-21 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: unknown, Hofman, David, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Hofman, David
> 
> [author name unknown]
> 
> 1997/2003
> 
> David's spreading the word
> 
> published February 5, 1997
> 
> Whitehorse Post
> 
> David Hofman started his career as the only male television announcer in
> the world before World War II, and has ended it as one of the forces behind
> the rapid rise of the Bahá'í Faith to become one of the largest independent
> world religions.
> Visiting the Whitehorse Bahá'í community this week as part of a national
> tour, David recalled his time as the only male BBC television announcer
> between 1937 and 1948, at a time of "experimental" broadcasts.
> 
> "There are 5000 receiving sets and it was purely experimental.
> There were two broadcasts a day at 8am and 5pm… we did outside broadcasts
> at Wimbeldon and the cricket. I was on the roof at Lords when Donald Bradman
> made a double century," he said.
> 
> England had the only public service in the world at the time although
> this was shut down when war was declared. He then worked on BBC 'Empire
> Service' and broadcast many programs to Australia.
> 
> "In those days we were the arbiters of good speech" David said.
> Today he believes the media should help raise the standards of morality and
> human conduct instead of lowering standards. "I think the media has a
> very large portion to blame for the condition of humanity today,"
> David said. He became a Bahá'í in 1930s in Canada and in 1937 established
> a Bahá'í Publishing Trust in the UK, 'George Renold', which still exists
> today.
> 
> During the war he went into fire service, putting out fires after bomb
> raids. "As a Bahá'í, I wanted to do my national service, serve my
> country, but we don't want to out killing," he said.
> 
> David also worked in radio and theatre, appearing in several West Ends
> shows in 1930s. In 1963 he was elected to the first world governing body
> of the Bahá'í Faith, the Universal House of Justice, and lived at the head
> quarters on Mt Carmel in Haifa, Israel, for 25 years until he retirement
> in 1988.
> 
> "We don't have any priesthood in the Bahá'í Faith at all,"
> he said. Instead the Bahá'í Faith operates on a system of freely elected
> governing councils set p in communities world-wide and claims to have over
> six million followers. The system was founded in 1800s by a Persian noble
> man and teaches world wide peace, unity and harmony, based on a single
> God represented by all the world's religions. Today the 88 year old former
> distinguished English TV announcer, actor, publisher and spiritual messenger
> travels the world visiting Bahá'í communities. "I enjoy my life now
> because everywhere I go I meet my spiritual brothers and sisters,"
> David said.
> 
> David Hofman
> 
> published May 26, 2003
> 
> The Times (UK)
> 
> archived at www.thetimes.co.uk.
> 
> One of the first television presenters who went on to advocate the Baha’í faith
> 
> DAVID HOFMAN was an actor, writer and publisher who, during the 1930s, was among the first television presenters in the world. He was also a
> highly respected member of the Baha’í faith, serving for 25 years on the religion’s international governing council.
> Born in Poona, Hofman set off to see the world after a brief spell in the RAF. His travels took him to Canada where he worked as a clerk in
> lumber camps, an actor, an insurance salesman and as a radio announcer. By this point, Hofman had formulated his own ideas about global justice
> and governance. However, a meeting with the distinguished architect William Sutherland Maxwell and his family — all devoted early
> adherents to the Bahá’í faith — challenged Hofman’s thinking. The Baha’í peace programme corresponded almost
> exactly with Hofman’s own. In time, he was overwhelmed by the “palpable feeling of warmth and unity” around the Maxwells and
> embraced the faith.
> A period in Hollywood saw Hofman appearing in swashbuckling serials and becoming acquainted with such legends as Greta Garbo. In 1936 he
> settled in Britain and, while pursuing his acting, responded to an advertisement for television announcers for the BBC’s first daily
> transmissions. Hofman became the only male television presenter in the world, chauffeured each day to Alexandra Palace where he spoke to the
> small number of homes that had television. He was amused once to get a call from Moss Bros, who offered to provide dinner suits in return for
> his public endorsement. When war broke out, the transmissions shut down and Hofman returned to the stage and appeared in a number of short
> propaganda films, playing the devil. He was also employed as an announcer on the BBC Empire Service.
> After the war, Hofman married the former the US Olympic athlete Marion Holley. Moving around the country, they founded Bahá’í
> groups in Northampton, Birmingham, Oxford, Cardiff and Watford.
> Hofman set up his own publishing house — George Ronald Publishers. The company specialises in books of religious interest. Its first
> publication was his own book, The Renewal of Civilisation, since translated throughout the world. In 1983 he wrote an acclaimed literary
> biography of Canon George Townshend, a Church of Ireland official who had resigned his duties to promote the Baha’í faith.
> In 1963 the Baha’í community — which has no clergy — elected its international governing body for the first time, and
> Hofman was among the members voted on to it. Based in Haifa, he served for five five-year terms, until his retirement in 1988.
> He is survived by his second wife Kathleen, a daughter and a son.
> David Hofman, actor, TV announcer, writer and Baha’í dignitary, was born on September 26, 1908. He died on May 9, 2003,
> aged 94.
> 
> METADATA
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> Views7461 views since posted 2012-11-15; last edit 2024-12-27 22:58 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../david_hofman_biographies
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> Shortlink: bahai-library.com/3342
> Citation: ris/3342
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> — *Hofman, David (Used by permission of the curator)*