WW2 plane rusts in peace
Comic’s widow opens up
A DOWNED US Flying Fortress bomber from the Second World War lies in a watery grave at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea.
The eerie images of the four-engined
B-17 were taken by specialist underwater photographer Martin Strmiska.
The Slovakian, 40, travelled to Vis Island 32 miles off the coast of Croatia to snap the sleeping giant. Its crew were forced to ditch in the sea after the aircraft suffered critical damage during a mission in November 1944.
Going to the supermarket took hours, he chatted
to everyone
COMEDY legend Bobby Ball never lost his talent for making people laugh – even as he fought for his life in hospital.
The showman kept up the spirits of medics and fellow patients by “telling jokes to the end”, his heartbroken widow Yvonne has revealed.
In her first interview since 76-yearold Bobby’s death in October, she has spoken about his final days and his battle with coronavirus.
Yvonne has also opened up about struggling to cope without Bobby, her partner of 50 years who was best known as the braces-wearing cheeky chappy in the comedy double act,
Cannon and Ball.
Yvonne, 70, said: “I’m getting by, day by day. At first, I went into meltdown if anyone spoke about him but I’m a lot stronger now.
“There’s been a lot of firsts – Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays – all without Bob. The first are the worst. I miss him terribly.”
Yvonne is now focusing on raising money for the trust that runs the hospital where Bobby was treated, and for a statue of him in his home town of Lytham St Annes, Lancs.
Difficult
Recalling his final days, Yvonne said they both tested negative for Covid while he was preparing for a new series of the BBC sitcom Not Going Out, in which he played Lee Mack’s father.
But after seeing a band in a local hotel, the couple were among 12 people to fall ill.
They both tested positive but when Bobby had a high temperature, they called 111 and we was taken to hospital.
Yvonne said: “When the paramedics came for him, he looked at me and said, ‘I’m not going to come out’. I was being positive so I said: ‘Course you are’.”
Bobby was on medication for COPD – a lung condition called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which causes breathing difficulties.
Covid rules meant Yvonne could not visit him at Blackpool Victoria Hospital but during his 18-day stay there, they often spoke via Facetime.
Yvonne said: “He was chatting all the nurses up, telling jokes to the end. They told me he was on the ward talking to all the other patients, cheering them up.
“I’ve got cards and letters from doctors and nurses telling me how he helped lift their spirits. It’s been so difficult for them.”
Yvonne, who received her first Covid jab two weeks ago, said: “If it wasn’t for Covid, Bob would still be here. At the end, he had 20% oxygen and his organs failed.
“I was very ill but I was more worried about Bob than myself. A friend was coming round to make sure I was eating and drinking but as I slowly got stronger, he was still bad. I have to say, the staff at Blackpool
Victoria were wonderful. They did everything they could for him.”
Yvonne also relived the harrowing moment when Bobby died. She told how he was intubated in intensive care when a nurse called.
She said: “I was due to go and visit him, but the night before, at 9.15pm, I got a call from a nurse saying he only had two minutes to live.
“I’d been on Facetime to him earlier and he was still being upbeat, he was still talking. I said, ‘I’m coming to see you tomorrow, Bob’, and that everything would be fine.
“When the next call came, he was gone. It was literally two minutes.
“I was on my way upstairs to get my coat to go to the hospital when the second call came. It’s an awful disease, it took him so quickly.”
Yvonne and Bobby met in 1971 at Fiesta’s nightclub in Stockton, Co Durham, where she worked as the equivalent of a Bunny Girl.
She recalled how Bobby and his partner Tommy Cannon were taking to the stage as The Harper Brothers, and were bottom of the bill.
For 5ft 4.5in Bobby, it was love at first sight – but 5ft 10in Yvonne, who called him the Little Fella, was not so sure.
She said: “At first it was a no, but we talked and talked until 9am. He made me laugh. He always had that little bit of mischief in his eyes.”
Bobby never stopped working and was always writing scripts, jokes and songs. The couple married in 1974 in a low-key ceremony at
STATUE SPOT: Yvonne with Bobby’s grandkids
Oldham register office and had a one-night honeymoon, in a room above a pub in Rochdale.
During the 1979 summer season in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, Cannon and Ball got their big break by travelling to London to film segments for Bruce Forsyth’s Big Night Out.
The Cannon and Ball Show, with Bobby twanging his braces and declaring, ‘Rock on, Tommy’, would go on to run from 1979 to 1988, pulling in huge Saturday night audiences. The pair also starred in 1982 film, The Boys in Blue.
Bobby, who had a daughter with Yvonne, two sons from a previous marriage and 12 grandchildren, was also a successful TV actor.
As well as Not Going Out – which he starred in for 12 years – he also played Mr Turner in Heartbeat, Lenny in Last of the Summer Wine and Barry in Sky drama Mount Pleasant alongside Sally Lindsay.
In 2005, he was also a big hit on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
Yvonne said: “With Bob, he was always very high or very low, there was no middle ground. He was always wanting to go out to see other acts. There was always something happening.
“He loved having an audience. Just going to the supermarket would take hours. He would stop and chat to everyone, telling jokes.
“I’d tell him I was going to the butcher’s counter and when I came back he would still be there, laughing and joking. That was Bob.
Emotional
“After I lost him, I didn’t want to go out. I still don’t. When people stop me and talk about Bob, I know they’re being kind, but I just get so emotional. People don’t know what to say with us being together for so long.
“I still expect him to come walking through the front door, telling me about his tour or the panto. When he was away, he’d call ten times a day. Not having him here, it’s strange.”
Due to Covid restrictions, Bobby’s funeral was limited to 30 mourners but Yvonne said: “The amount of people who came out was amazing. They were outside wearing braces and throwing flowers. Blackpool Tower was lit up like his braces and there were pictures of Bob on all three piers.”
Yvonne now hopes to raise £100,000 for a bronze statue which will be one-and-a-half times bigger than Bobby. She also plans to help the Blue Skies charity, which supports Blackpool Teaching Hospitals.
Two charity shows – Bobby’s Ball – are due to take place in Blackpool in November with a host of star acts.
She said: “His legacy will be that he made people laugh, he made people smile. Every Christmas Day for years he went to the Salvation Army, taking 25 pairs of socks, 25 pairs of underpants and 25 pairs of gloves as gifts.
“He would help serve breakfast, come home for his dinner and on Boxing Day, he would be back off doing panto.”
■ To donate to the statue, visit justgiving. com/campaign/bobbyballstatue
I still expect him to come walking through
the door