Jeremy Beadle MBE (1948-2008)... to steal the headline from today's Sun. Yes, TV prankster Jeremy Beadle sadly died of pneumonia last night, aged 59. Conveniently, the tabloids forgot they once labelled him "the most hated man in Britain" – now suddenly calling him "beloved funnyman".
I'm not sure "beloved" is the word most people would use to describe Beadle, who spent most of his career pushing cars over cliffs, ripping up driveways, pouring manure over front lawns, or exploding beans over workers in factories. But he certainly wasn't "hated" either...
In fact, seeing "Officer Beadle" rip-off his fake beard and whip out a microphone probably came as welcome relief for victims of his famous practical jokes -- despite what their bleeped expletives would suggest!
I'm too young to remember him on Game For A Laugh, but I thought his hidden-camera show Beadle's About was hilarious (well, until the jokes wore thin in the 90s), and people forget how gut-busting those early years of You've Been Framed were – at a time when home-video footage of wind blowing skirts up was a fresh vein of comedy.
And there was always Beadle's own private/mysterious side. I remember being creeped-out by his shrunken hand as a kid (the result of Poland syndrome, I later discovered), and his comical beard was the epitome of a mischievous jokester to me. But there was also the fact he raised over £100 million for charities, actually wrote many books, had incredible general knowledge (having notoriously difficult quizzes published in the Independent), and apparently collected autopsy reports!
Jeremy Beadle's a celebrity who occupies a corner of my childhood, and I appreciated his practical jokes – which never overstepped the mark, and have endless repeat appeal. Who can forget the faked UFO landing when that old lady offered an "alien" a cup of tea? Or the man screaming when his car was pushed off a dockyard into water?
A small part of me even thought his death could just be another of his pranks. Keep your eyes peeled for a strangely-bearded undertaker at the funeral...
I'm not sure "beloved" is the word most people would use to describe Beadle, who spent most of his career pushing cars over cliffs, ripping up driveways, pouring manure over front lawns, or exploding beans over workers in factories. But he certainly wasn't "hated" either...
In fact, seeing "Officer Beadle" rip-off his fake beard and whip out a microphone probably came as welcome relief for victims of his famous practical jokes -- despite what their bleeped expletives would suggest!
I'm too young to remember him on Game For A Laugh, but I thought his hidden-camera show Beadle's About was hilarious (well, until the jokes wore thin in the 90s), and people forget how gut-busting those early years of You've Been Framed were – at a time when home-video footage of wind blowing skirts up was a fresh vein of comedy.
And there was always Beadle's own private/mysterious side. I remember being creeped-out by his shrunken hand as a kid (the result of Poland syndrome, I later discovered), and his comical beard was the epitome of a mischievous jokester to me. But there was also the fact he raised over £100 million for charities, actually wrote many books, had incredible general knowledge (having notoriously difficult quizzes published in the Independent), and apparently collected autopsy reports!
Jeremy Beadle's a celebrity who occupies a corner of my childhood, and I appreciated his practical jokes – which never overstepped the mark, and have endless repeat appeal. Who can forget the faked UFO landing when that old lady offered an "alien" a cup of tea? Or the man screaming when his car was pushed off a dockyard into water?
A small part of me even thought his death could just be another of his pranks. Keep your eyes peeled for a strangely-bearded undertaker at the funeral...
