Daily Mail

Jim Bowen, star of darts quiz Bullseye, dies at 80

- By Alisha Rouse Showbusine­ss Correspond­ent

AS a former dustman, teacher, comedian, quiz show host, actor, singer and radio DJ, few celebritie­s had such a varied career as Jim Bowen, who died yesterday at 80.

Bowen was best known as the host of the game show Bullseye, which ran on ITV for 14 years from 1981.

He became a cult figure, particular­ly among university students, and his catchphras­e ‘Super, smashing, great’ entered popular culture.

Other famous lines from the show, which had a Sunday teatime audience of 17.5million at its peak, included ‘You can’t beat a bit of Bully’ – a reference to the game’s mascot, a bull in a darts player’s shirt – ‘BFH’, which stood for the bus fare home for contestant­s who didn’t win a prize, and ‘Here’s what you could have won’.

He also became notorious for the bizarre prizes he gave contestant­s, such as an alarm clock for every room for one winner, and a speedboat for a couple from a tower block in Walsall.

His wife of 59 years, Phyllis, was at his hospital bedside when he died yesterday morning after falling ill a few weeks ago.

Although the cause of his death is not known, he had suffered three strokes since 2011. Darts champion Eric Bristow led tributes, tweeting: ‘I’ve done every year of Bullseye and ten Christmas shows and had 15 days with him on the QE2.

‘I played darts in the afternoon and he played with his band at night, we had some late nights. Great memories.’

Boxer Frank Bruno added: ‘ Jim Bowen RIP. A great comic, we worked together many times and had a lot of laughs together. Jim and Ken Dodd, a sad time for the entertainm­ent industry.’

John Clayton, Bowen’s editor at BBC Radio Lancashire, where he worked for three years from 1999, said: ‘Every day was a joy as he took our listeners on a radio adventure where no one was ever quite sure about the destinatio­n, least of all Jim.’

A keen actor, Bowen appeared in many TV shows, including Muck And Brass, Jonathan Creek, The Grimleys and Peter Kay’s sitcom Phoenix Nights.

Family friend John Pleus said yesterday: ‘ He passed away very peacefully. We are all shedding a tear. I’ve known him since the Bullseye days. It wasn’t completely unexpected, he’s been ill for several weeks in hospital.’

Bowen and his wife had two children, Pete and Susan, who are both grown up, and two grandchild­ren.

He was born in Heswall on the Wirral to an unmarried mother. Adopted as a baby, he was brought

‘We are all shedding a tear’

up in Clayton-le-Moors, Lancashire, by Joe, a brickworke­r, and Annie, a weaver in a mill.

He started off as a PE teacher and went on to become deputy headmaster at a primary school near Lancaster before beginning his comedy career in the Sixties.

He was inspired to try stand-up after seeing Ken Dodd perform two shows in one night over a total of seven hours.

Bowen, who died two days after his hero, told Radio Lancashire last year: ‘I watched seven hours of Ken Dodd, and I watched him completely decimate 7,000 people. He left them in ruins with laughter, and I thought, “That’s some feeling that he must get after that”. So I learned his act.’

After stints in northern clubs, he got his break on ITV’s The Comedians along with Frank Carson, Russ Abbott and Bernard Manning, before doing Bullseye, a mix of darts and a pub quiz.

He pitted three pairs of contestant­s against one another, each pair having a ‘thrower’, who played darts, and a ‘ knower’, who answered quiz questions.

The teams competed to win prizes ranging from expensive items such as cars and holidays, to consolatio­n prizes such as a tankard. A big part of the programme’s appeal was Bowen’s warm-hearted, quick-witted rapport with contestant­s.

Until recent years, he was in good health and made numerous appearance­s on cruise ships as well as after-dinner speaking.

But in February 2011, he had the first of three strokes, which left him struggling to continue his entertainm­ent career.

In 2012, he began to overcome some of the after-effects of his first stroke and went back on the road with his one-man show, You Can’t Beat A Bit Of Bully.

He said it gave him ‘a reason to get out of bed’, adding: ‘Once you give in – and I have been near to it – you’re finished. There have been moments when it has been dark, but never black. The stroke damaged me psychologi­cally. I realised I wasn’t going to be able to do most of the things I want to.’

After having his third stroke in 2015, the star admitted he feared he would never work again.

He was left struggling to walk or even talk, but said he felt that he was ‘one of the lucky ones.’

Reflecting on his condition, he said: ‘I’m still here, and I have had a good life. I’m struggling with my speech now and I am walking with a stick. But the people I meet are very caring. I feel they’re looking at me, rememberin­g me before I became damaged goods.’

 ??  ?? Gentleman Jim: The Bullseye host with a model of Bully, the show’s mascot
Gentleman Jim: The Bullseye host with a model of Bully, the show’s mascot
 ??  ?? Prize guy: Bowen poses with speedboat
Prize guy: Bowen poses with speedboat

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