Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English radio DJ and television entertainer, known for his zany comedic style.

Starting in the late 1970s, he transitioned to television where he made numerous comedy series on ITV and BBC, often appearing with Cleo Rocos, whose glamour and curvaceous figure were often used to comic effect.

Maurice James Christopher Cole was born on Christmas Day 1944 at 14 Hereford Road, Seaforth,[1] 5 miles (8 km) north of Liverpool city centre.

Nerves got the better of him, and it didn't lead to a job offer, but they suggested he send a tape to the producers looking for presenters for the soon to be launched pirate station Radio London.

[11] While at Radio 1, he continued to develop his distinctive presentation style, encouraged by producer Angela Bond, who had persuaded her superiors to give him his first programme,[12] although he later reacted against her as a representative of the BBC.

In 1970, Everett again found himself dismissed, this time after suggesting on air that Mary Peyton, the British Transport Minister's wife, had bribed her driving test examiner.

[9] In fact, in the year after Everett's death, it was stated that the bribery quip was merely an excuse and that the real reason was because he threatened to go public on the restrictive practices and deals with the Musicians' Union that were not only frustrating him and his listeners, but also making Radio One much less popular than the pirate stations it had been set up to displace.

In May 1975, Everett found early mornings too much for his lifestyle and he vacated the breakfast show to Graham Dene and moved to less high-pressure weekend timeslots at Capital on Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes.

[14][15][16][17] In 1976, he also presented a pre-recorded programme on Saturday lunch-time for Radio Victory in Portsmouth, later providing Captain Kremmen to the station for transmission in Dave Christian's late show.

Although never a regular presenter on Top of the Pops, in 1973 Everett made seven appearances (six as solo host, and one as a co-host), in the months leading up to his departure from the BBC to join Capital Radio.

Various pop and TV stars made cameo appearances on the show, including Rod Stewart, Elkie Brooks, Billy Connolly, Kate Bush, Cliff Richard, Freddie Mercury, Terry Wogan and Suzi Quatro.

In the fourth series (Video Cassette), Kremmen was featured as live action with Anna Dawson playing Carla; the segments were comedy shorts rather than the earlier stories.

Other characters included: ageing rock-and-roller Sid Snot, unsuccessfully flipping cigarettes into his mouth—at one point Everett managed to catch one in his mouth, to the amusement of the studio crew; Marcel Wave, a lecherous Frenchman played by Everett wearing an absurdly false latex chin; and "Angry of Mayfair", a right-wing, upper-middle-class City gent complaining of the permissive, risqué content of the show, banging the camera's lens hood with his umbrella before storming off, turning his back to the camera to reveal him wearing women's lingerie in lieu of the entire back half of his suit.

The character was often the butt of Everett's rants and was said to symbolise his contempt for senior management at the company, claiming they lived behind an ancient, cobweb-covered door marked as the "Office of Saying 'No'".

The writing team was bolstered by the addition of Andrew Marshall, David Renwick and Neil Shand and the production standards were raised by the heavier investment from the corporation.

Although this action failed, it did lead to the creation of new characters such as General Cheeseburger whose monologues were seen as a satire on US foreign policy, agony aunt Verity Treacle, mime artist Maurice Mimer whose drawings turn into real objects, upper class socialite Jeremy Mince who was perpetually drunk on champagne, orange-haired punk Gizzard Puke (intended to replace Sid Snot) and the spooneristically named Cupid Stunt, a blonde glamorous American B-movie actress with pneumatic breasts.

Played in full drag but with no attempt to disguise Everett's beard, she told a cardboard cut-out of chat show host Michael Parkinson (and later Terry Wogan depicted as a skeleton in a suit) about her latest trashy film projects and lurid tales of life on set with male stars such as Burt Reynolds.

Her final action in each sketch was to uncross her legs then swing them wildly to recross them (brazenly giving viewers an eyeful of her racy red lingerie) as she uttered the catchphrase "It's all done in the best possible taste!"

Inept TV handyman Reg Prescott became another firm viewers' favourite, as each week he managed to visibly injure himself with tools while attempting to demonstrate DIY tips.

Produced and directed by co-writer Ray Cameron, this 'too rude for television' production would get a nationwide Freeview broadcast under the name Kenny Everett Naughty Video by That's TV in January 2022.

The video was recorded with an audience (in-vision beside Everett for much of the time), while co-writer Barry Cryer has an on-screen role, appearing as a guest alongside Lionel Blair and Willie Rushton.

Sheila Steafel, Cleo Rocos, Debbie Linden, Linda Lusardi and Jane Score also feature in the cast, while Nikolai Grishanovich turns up at the end to make a comment about the Soviet Union.

Vincent Price was featured as the villain, credited only as the "Sinister Man", and a number of other popular comedians and actors also appeared, including Pamela Stephenson, Gareth Hunt and Don Warrington.

His co-host David Cash, in the documentary Unforgettable Kenny Everett, states that "Once I got to know him socially off the ship, it was very obvious that his sexual tendencies were homosexual and he looked at it as bad and so he fought it all the way."

Egged on by film director Michael Winner, Everett bounded onto the stage, wearing the enormously oversized foam rubber hands familiar from his mock-evangelical character Brother Lee Love.

Everett clarified that he was not a "full Tory", but that he had been appalled by the actions of Arthur Scargill, whom he saw as "inciting violence" and "rabble rousing" and who he thought looked like "Hitler reborn".

The album, narrated by Barry Cryer, is a chronological look at Everett's BBC Radio career that combines clips from his various series with interviews that he gave on programmes such as Desert Island Discs.

[50] Everett is the subject of a 1997 episode of the Thames Television series Heroes of Comedy which covers his life and career from his beginnings on pirate radio until his death.

[citation needed] In March 2010 the BBC confirmed that it was producing a 90-minute TV biographical film called Number One in Heaven, to be written by Tim Whitnall and focusing on Everett's unhappiness at secondary school.

[51][needs update] On 3 October 2012 the BBC broadcast a 90-minute TV biopic called The Best Possible Taste which focused on the performer's relationship with his wife, singer Lee Middleton.