Super smashin’ great
Tributes pour in for legendary host of TV gameshow bullesye who died yesterday aged 80
WITH the genial Jim Bowen as host, you really couldn’t beat a bit of Bully.
The funnyman’s darts-based quiz Bullseye ran for 14 years and was watched by more than 17million people.
And as fans mourned his death yesterday aged 80, the stars of the darts world paid tribute to him with Bobby George saying: “We had so much fun.”
Lancashire-born Jim passed away with wife Phyllis by his side after several weeks in Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
Family friend John Pleus said: “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.
“As with people getting on, Jim has had several strokes, one in 2011. Strokes just make you weaker and more susceptible to infections but we don’t know what the cause of death will be.”
Jim became a household name with Bullseye, which featured three pairs of contestants – a “thrower”, who would play the dart board, and a “knower”, who would answer general knowledge questions.
The show became a popular feature of ITV’s Sunday schedules and ran from 1981 to 1995.
And his catchphrases were loved as much as the format – including “You can’t beat a bit of Bully”, “Let’s look at what you could have won” and “Keep out of the black and into the red, nothing in this game for two in a bed”.
Former professional darts players George, Keith Deller and Eric Bristow were among those honouring him last night. George, 72, thanked Jim for “the great Bullseye days”.
Deller, 58, said: “So sad to hear the news of my friend Jim Bowen who passed away.
“I was very fortunate to go on Bullseye many times.
“He always made you very welcomed and he made Bullseye the great show it was. RIP Jim.”
Bristow, 60, added: “I did every year of Bullseye 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.”
And former heavyweight boxing champ Frank Bruno tweeted: “Jim Bowen RIP great
comic. We worked together many times had a lot of laughs together.”
Bullseye’s Twitter account posted a message from creator Andrew Wood and his daughter Laura, saying: “Our love and thoughts go out to Jim’s family. Thank you for all the memories, Jim, you will be greatly missed.”
John Clayton, Bowen’s editor at BBC Radio Lancashire – where he worked for three years from 1999 – said every day with him was “a joy”. He said: “He took our listeners on a radio adventure where no one was ever quite sure about the destination, least of all Jim.
“Sketches, competitions, interviews and even ‘talent’ shows, Jim handled them all in his unique, irreverent and delightfully shambolic way.
“But his humanity and his love of life and the people of Lancashire always shone through.
“In an interview to mark his 80th birthday, Jim said the years spent on the Happy Daft Farm were the best and happiest of his long career in entertainment and all of us at BBC Radio Lancashire were delighted and proud to share them with him.”
Jim was born Peter Williams in Heswall, Cheshire, on August 20, 1937.
He went to Accrington Grammar School before becoming a teacher, ending up as deputy head of Caton Primary School, near Lancaster.
While teaching, he became involved with the local dramatic society. But it was the legendary Ken Dodd, who died earlier this week aged 90, who inspired him to take up comedy.
Jim had seen the funnyman performing in an epic show in Blackpool.
He said last year: “I watched seven hours of Ken Dodd and I watched him completely decimate 7000 people. He left them in ruins with laughter.
“And I thought, that’s some feeling that he must get from that. And so I learned his act.”
Jim worked part-time as a stand-up comic on the northern club circuit.
Granada TV’s The Comedians gave him the chance to do national TV, which made him want to be a full-time entertainer.
He appeared in Granada’s The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club and Thames Television’s late-night chat show Take Two before landing Bullseye.
He also appeared in TV dramas and comedies, playing a crooked accountant in ITV’s 1982 drama Muck and Brass, and later guest-starred in BBC1’s Jonathan Creek and Peter Kay’s Channel 4 comedy Phoenix Nights. Jim began presenting on BBC Radio Lancashire in 1999 but resigned three years later after referring to a guest on his show as a “n**-n**”.
He said even though he had apologised almost immediately, he believed his showbusiness career was over.
But Jim returned to the limelight in 2005, when he performed a solo show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe about Bullseye, called You Can’t Beat a Bit of Bully. He returned to Edinburgh in the summer of 2006, performing at Jongleurs.
In February 2011, he suffered two mild strokes and said afterwards he had learned to “appreciate all the things in life”.
I thought that’s some feeling he must get from that. So I learned his act JIM ON KEN DODD