In mourning for brightest star of TV golden age
TO MILLIONS of viewers, Bruce Forsyth was entertainment.
We grew up secure in our response to “Nice to see you”, “Nothing for a pair” and “What do points make?”
It’s possibly an illusion but life seemed a cosier, comfier place when you’d just had sausage and chips for your tea on a Saturday night and the whole family – mum, dad, brothers and sisters – were lined up in front of Bruce on the telly.
He was a point of our shared culture. He was fun and funny.
He knew sometimes his audience were laughing with him, sometimes at him – it was all part of the act. He brought us into the joke, into the game show and made us part of it.
In more recent times with Strictly Come Dancing, he showed that he could still bring families together on a Saturday night.
With all due respect to Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, that show is a shell without him.
Because Bruce was from the old-school entertainers who grew up with the skills of performing in theatre variety shows but with the intelligence to translate it to TV.
The last time I interviewed him we spoke about how blessed he felt to have had such a long and successful career.
And he spoke at length about his brother John, a 21-year-old RAF pilot whose body was never found after his plane fell out of the sky during a training exercise in 1943.
“We never got over it,” Bruce said. “Now, I live for the day and take every day as it comes.”
We, your viewers, will always be grateful you lived so long and gave us so many laughs along the way, Brucie.
Nice to have seen you...
Life seemed a cosier, comfier place when Bruce was on the telly on Saturday