BRITAIN: Stars from the world of comedy paid tribute yesterday to entertainer Bob Monkhouse after he lost his fight against prostate cancer.
The 75-year-old was one of Britain's top comedians for more than four decades.
He fronted a host of TV game shows including favourites such as Celebrity Squares, and Bob's Full House, as well as carving out roles as a comic writer, stand-up comedian and an actor.
Monkhouse died at home in southern England with his wife, Jackie, at his bedside.
"He was one of the great English comedians," said Mr Peter Prichard, his manager of 38 years. "He was a total professional who loathed going on holiday.
"He knew for 2½ years that this was a terminal illness, but he chose to carry on as if nothing had happened," he said.
Friends said he had a remarkable memory for jokes and liked to poke fun at his popular image as a smarmy performer with a permanent suntan.
"That was one of the most endearing things, the way he could make fun of himself," the comedy writer Barry Cryer told BBC radio.
Monkhouse was known for his rapid-fire one-liners, of which he himself was often the target.
"They laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian," he would quip. "Well, they're not laughing now . . ."
Two of his joke books crammed with gags, plots and ideas were stolen in 1995. He offered a £20,000 reward and was reunited with them the following year.
Some commentators drily said they would double the reward for the books to remain lost.
Born in 1928, Monkhouse started his career as a comic-book artist while he was still a schoolboy living in south-east London.
He turned down the chance to inherit his father's custard and jelly business to pursue a career as an entertainer.
After a compulsory stint with the Royal Air Force, he appeared on BBC radio and television as the "British Bob Hope".
Monkhouse wrote for some of the biggest names in showbusiness, including Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, before forging his own career.
His personal life was often painful. His parents disowned him when he married his first wife, Elizabeth, when he was just 20. His mother wore black at the wedding.
His first son, Gary, who suffered from cerebral palsy, died aged 40, and another son, 46-year-old Simon, was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room in 2001.
But Monkhouse said he always tried to look on the bright side of life, even after he was diagnosed with cancer. Asked about his health at a recent awards ceremony, he joked: "I can still enjoy sex at 74. I live at 75, so it's no distance."