It was always alright on the night for British comedy great Denis Norden

Denis Norden was the king of the blooper whose sharp wit led to him being best known as the host of the longrunning out-takes show, It’ll Be Alright On The Night.

But while he presented the popular ITV show, armed with his trademark clipboard, from 1977 to 2006, he had previously come to prominence as a successful scriptwriter.

With the late Frank Muir, Norden forged one of British comedy’s most creative teams, producing scripts for shows such as Take It From Here and Whack-O! as well as appearing on radio’s My Word! and My Music.

Their 1949 parody travel documentary, Balham, Gateway To The South, is also fondly remembered.

But Norden worked for the big screen too, including co-writing the screenplay for the 1968 American comedy Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell.

Born in east London, in 1922, he trained with the Hyams brothers, owners of London picture palaces, but went off to the Second World War where he served in the RAF with other future famous names such as Eric Sykes, and wrote shows to entertain the troops.

In 2015, he spoke about how he “accidentally” visited the the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Norden and Sykes had gone to the liberated camp in north Germany to find lighting for a show they were putting on.

In 1977, Norden got chatting to Paul Smith, the future producer of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in the canteen at London Weekend Television.

One of them wondered if there could be a whole show based on funny outtakes.

They rang Michael Grade, at the time LWT’s director of programmes, and within half an hour they had a commission and a title – It’ll Be Alright On The Night.

It ran for 29 years.

After retiring, he spent time raising awareness of macular disease, a degenerative eye condition from which he suffered, and became a patron of the Macular Society.

Norden died yesterday at the age of

96.

TV personality Denis Norden has died at the age of 96