RIP Sir Bruce Forsyth

[Basil]

He seems to have been around all my life.  Not much of his work was my sort of thing, but he'll be missed as the last of the genuine British variety performers.  Old school music hall.  Can sing, dance, tell jokes, the whole deal.
The end of a very particular British era.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Not just the end of an era, the end of a generation. Game. Nice to have seen him, to have seen him nice!

[Kim]

He's been around for all of my life.  With no genetic memory of music hall, I spent much of that vaguely wondering what the point in him was (other than his mysterious appeal to my grandparents' generation being a reliable way to boost the ratings of otherwise tedious programmes).  Still, you have to respect the way he kept going - with relentless enthusiasm - in spite of his age.

I accept that I'm philistine and a whippersnapper, and I probably think comedy was invented by Monty Python or something...

[SteveC]

I accept that I'm philistine and a whippersnapper, and I probably think comedy was invented by Monty Python or something...

...who have also been around for all of your life! 

[Wowbagger]

The sliding doors and the conveyor belt will come in useful...

[Cunobelin]

Listening to some of the anecdotes of ordinary people who were inspired by him, and his unequivocal support for the charities that he supported, there was a whole private side that is unknown

[ian]

I only remember the Generation Game, which Google reveals has a dimly recalled Larry Grayson predating Bruce. Oh, and Isla St Clair. I was definitely too young for her. Which was possibly a shame, as my proto-sexual awakenings had to wait for Sally James.

Growing up in a house where the TV was never switched off (well, other than those moments of bliss when the fifty pence meters ran out*), Brucey was ubiquitous. I admit I came to fear Saturday evening TV like some people fear the rising tide of the brain-hungry undead. Or toe fungus. I, by the by, fear toe fungus more than zombies. You can't outrun toe fungus.

*two failure points, the leccy meter and the metered Radio Rentals TV, you feed the TV and the power would go off five minutes later or vice versa, and you can guess which child had to go round the neighbours with a bag of random change to try and exchange for a 50 pence piece. I once, memorably, came back with a ferret clamped to my finger. And no 50p or, I recall, sympathy.)

[mattc]

Could someone PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE delete the theme-music of Strictly from the BBC News digital vaults?? Brucey did appear on other shows with theme-tunes that many of us recognise!    I may go insane if those notes emerge from another radio this weekend ....

On the plus side, nice to see that he bumped the terrorism coverage firmly down the running orders


RIP Brucey ... give those dancing shoes a break for now.

[Torslanda]

Bruce preceded Larry Grayson on the Generation Game in the 70s. Assisted by Anthea Turner ('Give us a twirl...). They may (or may not) have been an item. In the greatest BBC tradition of flogging the dead horse, he came back after Grayson...

Someone else has already written ' he was not the be all and end all of variety. He just got lucky.' At the end of it the most famous is the last man standing.

[T42]

I remember him doing a sketch with Harry Secombe and Matt Monro in which he came within a BBC millimetre of saying f*ck and Monro told the Nelson's brown trousers joke. Hazy memory re the trousers, though. 60s or early 70s, when such things still had shock value.

[Mr Larrington]

Torlanda, my old, I fear you have Antheas in a twist.  Brucie's sidekick was Anthea Redfern.  I believe she married him.

[spindrift]

Roger Moore and Stefanie Powers played the sparring couple in Escape To Anthea.

[LEE]

The sliding doors and the conveyor belt will come in useful...

"..a heated food-trolley.....a Soda Syphon....an Ice Bucket....a Fan Heater...a Cuddly Toy....Bruce Forsyth in a Coffin......a Sun Lamp...an electric kettle....."

He, like many music hall acts, benefited from the advent of TV and the lack of choice.  Anyone who made it onto BBC1 in the '60s and '70s (and that was pretty much anyone with any act whatsoever*) was guaranteed to become a household name overnight.

Brucey's sheer enthusiasm was a match made in 1960s variety TV heaven.

*Let's remember that Freddy "Parrot Face" Davies was on TV a lot back then.....and for the life of me I can't think why.  I can't imagine just how terrible your act must have been if you couldn't get on a variety show back then.

[Wascally Weasel]

Roger Moore and Stefanie Powers played the sparring couple in Escape To Anthea.

Oh dear God, you've just reminded me of that terrible, terrible film.  The only good bit is William Holden reprising his character from Stalag 17 in a blink and you'll miss it cameo.

[Torslanda]

Torlanda, my old, I fear you have Antheas in a twist.  Brucie's sidekick was Anthea Redfern.  I believe she married him.

Absolutely correct...

"Didn't he do well...?"