Lordy. This is turning out to be a bit of a year for mourning the loss of beloved stalwarts of British light entertainment: Terry Jones, Derek Fowlds, Nicholas Parsons, Roy Hudd - and now Tim Brooke-Taylor!
Like so many witty and creative future "national treasures" - such as John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Sandi Toksvig, Griff Rhys Jones, David Frost, Olivia Colman, Douglas Adams, Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Julian Fellowes, Clive Anderson, Clive James, Miriam Margolyes, Jonathan Miller, Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Peter Cook - Tim cut his comedy teeth at the Cambridge Footlights Club. He soon became a radio star, courtesy of one of the "precursors" to Monty Python - the fab revue show called I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again - then he made the transfer to telly with another, At Last The 1948 Show, on which he (with John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman) premiered the classic Python "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch. He was also a panellist on Radio 4's parody panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue for more than forty years.
It was however, of course, for his appearance as part the utterly anarchic trio The Goodies - a BBC staple from 1970 until 1982 - that we treasure him the most. So let's take a little trip down memory lane...
Thank you, Mr Brooke-Taylor, for so many happy childhood memories.
Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE (17th July 1940 - 12th April 2020)
We were just listening to the the Funky Gibbon Album in Tribute - It includes tracks called "Panic" and "Sick Man Blues"
ReplyDeleteI have the original Funky Gibbon 7" single, and Sick Man Blues was its B-side. As kids we loved it. Jx
DeleteBoth appropriate songs!
ReplyDeleteI love I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and The Goodies
sad loss of a witty and funny man
ReplyDeleteVery sad indeed. Jx
DeleteI sa him preform two years ago in IM SORRY I HAVENT A CLUE
ReplyDeletelovely man
He certainly seemed to be. Jx
DeleteWell... that just makes me feel older. I loved the Goodies, I only have one friend who remembers them. Another one gone, very sad.
ReplyDeleteThe Goodies was a show that was integral to our growing-up. It makes me very sad that such a talented man could be yet another casualty of this horrid pandemic. Jx
DeleteSo sad to read of Tim's demise - he was my favourite Goodie. Yes, part of my childhood history too.
ReplyDeleteSxx
All three Goodies had varying degrees of silliness, but with Mr Brooke-Taylor I think it was also the element of camp - remember him dressed as Evita singing Don't Cry For Me, Marge and Tina? or his "tears" whenever the National Anthem played? - that made him the most popular. Jx
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