Robert Alan Monkhouse OBE (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, television presenter, writer and actor.
He was the host of television game shows including The Golden Shot, Celebrity Squares, Family Fortunes and Wipeout.
[citation needed] Monkhouse was educated at Goring Hall School in Worthing, Sussex, and Dulwich College in south London, from which he was expelled for climbing the clock tower.
[6] [better source needed] While still at school, Monkhouse wrote for The Beano and The Dandy and drew for other comics including Hotspur, Wizard and Adventure.
[7] He established a comics writing and art partnership with Dulwich schoolmate Denis Gifford and the two formed their own publishing company, Streamline, in the early 1950s.
[8] Before establishing himself as a successful writer and comedian, Monkhouse appeared on stage in London, first as Aladdin in a stage show of the same name written by S. J. Perelman and Cole Porter and then in the first London production of the musical The Boys from Syracuse (Antipholus of Syracuse) in 1963 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, alongside Ronnie Corbett.
Aside from performing as a double act, Monkhouse and Goodwin wrote for comedians such as Arthur Askey, Jimmy Edwards, Ted Ray and Max Miller.
[4][10] In addition, they were gag writers for American comedians including Bob Hope, supplying jokes for British tours.
[12] Monkhouse's final stand-up show was performed at the Albany Comedy Club in London on 25 August 2003,[13] four months before his death.
[14] Among the audience were a number of British comedians who had been personally invited by Monkhouse, including Reece Shearsmith, Jon Culshaw, David Walliams, Fiona Allen and Mark Steel.
[11] The dozens of other shows Monkhouse presented included Celebrity Squares, Family Fortunes and Bob's Full House.
[11] Monkhouse was a keen supporter of new comedy and used the show to introduce audiences to new comedians such as Kelly Monteith, Robin Williams and Jim Carrey.
The format of the interviews varied between "true" chat and analysis of comedy to scripted routines in which Monkhouse would willingly play the role of the guest's stooge, as he did with Bob Hope.
the guest was the comedian Pamela Stephenson, who, after prior arrangement with the show's producer, appeared in a series of fake plaster casts, apparently the result of accidents whilst at home.
[citation needed] An expert on the history of silent cinema and a film collector, Monkhouse presented Mad Movies in 1966.
[15] In 2008, the British Film Institute was contacted by Monkhouse's daughter, Abigail, who asked if they would like to view the collection and provide some advice as to the best way of preserving it.
It was catalogued and restored to digital formats for a major event at British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) on 24 October 2009.
His eldest son, Gary Alan, who had cerebral palsy, lived at Naish Farm House, a residential home for the disabled in Christchurch Road, New Milton, Hampshire.
His other son, Simon, a stand-up poet, from whom he had been estranged for 13 years, died aged 46 from a heroin overdose in a hotel in northern Thailand in April 2001.
[4][21] Monkhouse lived in a house called "Claridges" in Eggington, near Leighton Buzzard, and had a flat in London and a holiday home in Barbados.
"[23] Throughout his career Monkhouse had jotted down jokes, odd facts, one-liners, sketches and ideas in a series of leather-bound books, which he took with him to every television, radio, stage and nightclub appearance he made.
He later told his friend Colin Edmonds that this may have been a mistake, but that he wanted to be associated with a winner and he knew Margaret Thatcher could not lose the 1987 general election.