THE CURSE OF EMU!

THE world of panto witches was plunged into mourning last week by the death of Grotbags actress Carol Lee Scott.

Somerset-born Carol, who was 74, appeared in children’s programmes in the 1980s and early 1990s, including ITV’s Rod Hull’s Emu’s World.

And that link with Emu has sent a shudder down spines.

Because Carol is not the only person to have met an untimely death after coming into contact with the famed blue bird.

So today we investigate... The Curse of Emu!

ROD HULL IF anyone was going to fall foul of Emu’s Curse, it was Rod Hull.

Rod spent 28 years with his hand up the aggressive bird’s arse and the pair were inseparable.

They got together in Australia and their appearance in the 1972 Royal Variety show was a triumph which saw their partnership go from strength to strength.

But the Curse was never far away. In 1999, while pissed and trying to fix his TV aerial in a gale, Rod Hull fell to his DEATH. He was just 63.

RONNIE CORBETT OVER the years, Rod Hull and Emu met hundreds of fellow performers. Is it coincidence that most of them are DEAD?

Irene Handl, Victor Spinetti, Paul Shane. All starred alongside Emu on TV or in panto – all are dead.

But one of the biggest losses was that of little Ronnie Corbett – one of the smallest men in showbiz – who met Emu many times.

You know the rest. In 2016, aged just 85, the golf- mad midget was taken from us – another victim of Emu’s Curse.

RICHARD PRYOR IF there was one thing everyone could agree on, it was that Rod Hull and Emu’s act would not work in America. How wrong they were! The pairing were a smash and appeared on the Johnny Carson Show – the biggest TV chat show of all time.

It was during that appearance that Rod and Emu met Richard Pryor, stand- up comic and Superman 3 actor.

Inevitably, Emu attacked Richard.

And just as inevitably, Pryor DIED!

On December 10, 2005, Pryor suffered a heart attack in Los Angeles and his wife’s attempts to resuscitate him failed.

He was just 65 years old.

MRS THATCHER SHE may have only needed four hours sleep and single- handedly wrested the country from the grip of beer- soaked union barons.

She may have faced down the Soviet Evil Empire and trounced the Argies.

But Mrs Thatcher was no match for the Curse of Emu.

On December 12 1985, with the Miners’ Strike won, Mrs Thatcher met up with Rod Hull and Emu at a Christmas event.

Within five years, she’d lost power – and in 2013, a mere 28 years after crossing Emu’s path, Lady Thatcher was dead.

She was just 87.