John Bird, razor sharp master of satire, dies at 86
Bremner pays tribute to his old friend – ‘a pillar of the anti-Establishment’
RORY Bremner led tributes to his former comedy co-star John Bird yesterday, hailing him as ‘one of the greatest satirists’ after his death at 86.
Impressionist Bremner said Bird, with whom he memorably appeared in the Channel 4 TV series Bremner, Bird And Fortune, ‘had this brilliant instinct for absurdity, and the sharpest of minds’.
Bird, who had a long-running double act with his friend John Fortune, died peacefully at Pendean House care home in West Sussex. His death was announced in a statement yesterday.
Bremner said it was ‘striking’ that Bird had died on Christmas Eve ‘nine years, almost to the day’ after Fortune, who died aged 74 on New Year’s Eve in 2013.
‘Lord knows, satire has missed them this past decade and now that loss is permanent,’ he added.
In one of Bird and Fortune’s most famous recurring sketches, known as The Long Johns and largely improvised, one of the two Johns would portray a senior figure from public life, being interviewed by the other John.
Bremner, 61, said it was an irony that Bird, who was ‘so brilliant at portraying ministers, civil servants or high-ranking officials who exuded self- satisfaction’, was himself ‘so modest and self-effacing’.
‘John Bird was, to the end, never pleased with himself, always feeling he should have done better, been less lazy, had a late period like Brahms, “where everything was spare and abstract”,’ he said. ‘The reality was that he and Fortune, together with Peter Cook, were pillars of the anti-Establishment.’
Born in Nottingham, Bird went to grammar school before going to Cambridge University, where he met Fortune and was involved with the Footlights Revue along with Cook and Eleanor Bron.
Bird first became well known during the TV satire boom of the 1960s, coming up with the title of That Was The Week That Was.
Bremner, Bird And Fortune ran for 16 series, as well as one-off specials, between 1999 and 2008.
Bird won a Bafta in 1966 and he and Fortune, who were also writing partners, were nominated for four more. They won the TV award for their performance on another collaboration, Rory Bremner, Who Else?, in 1997.
Bird, Bremner and Fortune also collaborated in the BBC shows Now Something Else and The Rory Bremner Show. Bird appeared in the fantasy film Jabberwocky, comedy shows Yes, Prime Minister, A Very Peculiar Practice, Chambers and One Foot In The Grave.
And he had roles in the detective series Jonathan Creek, Inspector Morse and Midsomer Murders.
A family funeral will be followed by a celebration of his life in the New Year. Bird is survived by his wife, Libby, a concert pianist, and his stepsons Dan and Josh.
‘So modest and self-effacing’