I’ll have burger with the Syd order of fries
Former comedy star now runs pub restaurant
SYD Little has given up showbiz to serve large burgers.
The entertainer – one half of legendary comedy duo Little and Large – helps out at his wife’s restaurant.
He hands out grub, including the Syd Special Burger – two quarter pounders and two onion rings inside one bun – at the Little Restaurant in the Steamer pub.
Syd, 74, said: “I do it for fun really, my wife doesn’t pay me or owt. But it’s nice being with her and it is quite good to see what people think.
“People come and then they put on the internet, ‘Oh wow, we couldn’t believe it when we were being served by Syd Little’. They say to me, ‘Why you doing this?’ I tell them, ‘If I sat at home I’d be vegetating’.”
Syd, real name Cyril Mead, added: “It keeps me fit because, I tell you what, waiting is not easy!”
His job in Fleetwood, Lancs, is a far cry from his stint as one of Britain’s bestknown entertainers in the 1980s.
Eighteen million regularly watched the Little and Large show on BBC1.
They eventually split in 2003 when pal Eddie Large, 76 – who dubbed Syd ‘Supersonic’ – needed a heart transplant.
Syd worked on cruise ships for a while and was a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef in 2015. Eddie, 76, of Portishead, near Bristol, does one-man shows and after dinner speeches.
Syd said: “We were 14 years on television, but after that you start to come down. You go to theatres and they’re half full and me and Eddie thought, ‘Hello, this is it’. Every act has its shelf life.
“We call each other up nearly every day now ’cos we’re like two old fellas. It’s amazing.
“We can’t not say we’ve had a great life and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.
“I liked doing the cruise ships at first, but I hated the travelling. It sounds glamorous, but it wasn’t in the end.”
He added: “I’m amazed when people come in and say, ‘You haven’t changed a bit’. I always say, ‘You don’t look in the mirror every day!’
“I think with me it’s the voice, but I can’t be anything but me. I’m a people person and I love it. I’ll talk to dead people, my wife says.”
I do it for fun. My wife doesn’t pay me or owt but it’s good to see what people think SYD LITTLE ON RESTAURANT JOB