ATV Icon: Bob Monkhouse

The latest personality to be inducted into ATV Icons to celebrate 70 years of ITV is Bob Monkhouse…

Robert Alan Monkhouse, OBE (1928–2003) is fondly remembered as a comedian and telly presenter. But he was also a writer, unofficial film and TV archivist and actor. He became famous as the host of many popular British game shows – including from ATV, Celebrity Squares, Family Fortunes and The Golden Shot. Over his long career he became regarded as an “elder statesman” of comedy.

Monkhouse was born on 1 June 1928 in Beckenham, Kent, into a wealthy family; his grandfather co-founded the Monk and Glass custard-powder business.

He had a difficult childhood: his father was strict, to the point of once striking him so hard he needed stitches, and his mother was emotionally distant. He later admitted in an interview she had hugged him only once, during a wartime air-raid. As a boy he developed a lifelong stammer after his grandfather’s death and to cope, Monkhouse began writing jokes and drawing cartoons from an early age. He would go on to sell gag lines and illustrations to children’s comics such as The Beano and The Dandy.

The Bob Monkhouse Hour / ATV

Bob Monkhouse in The Big Noise / BBC

Bob was educated at Dulwich College in south London, where he excelled academically – earning five honours at the Higher School Certificate – and continued writing humour. After World War II he completed National Service in the Royal Air Force.

After his spell with the RAF, Monkhouse famously conned his way onto the BBC comedy roster in 1947. Posted to the RAF medical services, he forged a letter from his (non-existent) RAF psychiatrist to persuade the Beeb to audition him for radio.

The ruse succeeded: the corporation signed him as one of its first contracted comedians. He partnered with fellow Dulwich graduate Denis Goodwin to form a double act and writing team. In their early 20s they became resident stars of the BBC radio series Calling All Forces, which ran weekly for seven years.

Monkhouse and Goodwin scripted and performed those radio shows and also wrote comedy material for leading entertainers of the day – even supplying jokes and routines to American stars such as Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra. At this time Bob also wrote prolifically for print, he churned out hundreds of short stories, cartoon panels and even racy pulp books under pseudonyms in the late 1940s.

Bob Monkhouse on The Golden Shot / ATV

Bob Monkhouse hosts Family Fortunes / ATV

By the 1950s and 60s Monkhouse had become a familiar face on British television. He began hosting light entertainment and variety programmes including the UK version of Candid Camera (ABC for ITV) and The Bob Monkhouse Show (ATV for ITV) it was however in 1967 his TV career really took off.

While on a comedy tour in South Africa he was asked to step in as host of Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV for ITV); his energetic hosting of the live variety show impressed boss Lew Grade and it would see Bob take on one of his best remembered roles as the longest serving host of bow and arrow game show The Golden Shot (ATV for ITV).

After The Golden Shot, Monkhouse went on to present dozens more quiz and panel shows. He became the regular host of programs such as Celebrity Squares (ATV for ITV), Family Fortunes (ATV/Central for ITV) and Bob’s Full House (BBC One)– all prime-time games that regularly topped the ratings. There were also several comedy specials including The Bob Monkhouse Hour (ATV for ITV) and I’m Bob he’s Dickie (ATV for ITV) with Dickie Henderson.

Having hopped over to the Beeb in 1983, leaving Family Fortunes in the incapable hands of Max Bygraves, to host a self-titled comedy chat show he also fronted several programmes for the corporation at this time. In 1987 it was old ITV talent show Opportunity Knocks (Thames TV for ITV) that was revamped and relaunched as Bob Says Opportunity Knocks.

Bob Monkhouse on the ‘big box game’ Celebrity Squares / Central

The $64,000 Question / Central

The 1990s saw Bob work for both ITV and the BBC. There was a revival of Celebrity Squares (Central for ITV) Bob’s Your Uncle (Central/LWT for ITV) and The $64,000 Question (Central for ITV). Bob would later he probably presented too many quiz shows at the expense of performing comedy, he did however with the BBC showcase his quick wit with the ad-lib series Bob Monkhouse on the Spot where he would be asked to tell jokes off the cuff from topics posed by the audience.

In the mid-1990s he became the ‘face’ of The National Lottery Live (BBC One) and, from 1998 until shortly before his death, took over hosting duties from Paul Daniels on a revamped now weekday daytime quiz Wipeout (BBC One). Audiences continued to love his quick wit – he even improvised comedy routines when, for example, the autocue failed during a live lottery broadcast. 1998 was also the year he hosted the 50th BAFTA TV Awards. (Carlton for ITV).

Monkhouse also made several acting appearances. He had a small role in Carry On Sergeant (1958), the first of the famous Carry On series, and he starred in the dentist-themed comedies Dentist in the Chair (1960) and Dentist on the Job (1961). Bob later joked that he regretted choosing the dentist movies over Carry On sequels. He continued to do the nightclub and cabaret circuit throughout these years, starred a Beeb comedy drama The Big Noise in 1964 and in 1966 appeared as himself in daytime daily soap Crossroads (ATV for ITV). Later acting parts included in BBC drama Johnathan Creek (BBC One).

Bob celebrates his 70th birthday with a BBC One special ‘Over the Limit’ / BBC

Bob Monkhouse ‘On The Spot’ / BBC

On top of his broadcasting work, Monkhouse remained a popular stand-up comedian. He was famous for rapid-fire one-liners: his peers noted he had “instant recall of hundreds of thousands of one-liners”.

He was a master of polishing jokes meticulously over time and loved delivering gags on stage and at private functions. He also became a sought-after after-dinner speaker and authored several joke books and speaking guides. While the rise of alternative comedy in the 1980s made his old-fashioned slick style seem out-of-date, Monkhouse experienced a revival in the 1990s when he appeared as a guest on shows like Have I Got News for You and Gag Tag, which introduced his humour to a younger audience, and he continued headlining live shows until three months before his death. Throughout his career, he prided himself on perfecting his material; one obituary noted he would “polish a joke for two years in order to get it right”

Bob married Belfast-born Elizabeth Thompson in 1949. The wedding caused a rift with his parents, his mother Dorothy wore black and refused to attend. Elizabeth and Bob had three children: first son Gary (born 1951, three months premature and with cerebral palsy), then son Simon (born 1952), and in 1958 they adopted a daughter, Abigail. Tragically, both of his sons predeceased him: Gary died as a child and Simon died in 2001 from a drug overdose.

The marriage was difficult. Monkhouse later quipped that his infidelities made him “feel no more guilt than a cockerel” – and it ended in divorce in the mid-1960s. In 1973 he married his long-time assistant Jacqueline (Jackie) Harding and they remained together until his death.

Bob hosts ‘Monkhouse’s Memory Masters’ / BBC

Bob hosts comedy panel quiz, Gag Tag / BBC

Bob Monkhouse was known off-camera as a bit of a playboy. He once dubbed himself the “Casanova of the comedy circuit”. In 1956 he had a publicized affair with actress Diana Dors, which so enraged Dors’s husband that Monkhouse was threatened with violence. His love of film wasn’t just contained to silver screen stars, he collected old movies and television programmes, many which wouldn’t survive today if he’d not had the foresight to keep a copy. He also had many books full of gags, and a great memory for quick wit being able to pull out a joke on any subject instantaneously. This saw him host quiz series Monkhouse’s Memory Masters for BBC One.

In 1993 he was bestowed an OBE, was given the 1995 Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Comedy Awards and in 2001 he was honoured with a Special Award by the Television & Radio Industries Club (TRIC) for his service to entertainment. His health began to decline in the early 2000s: he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and fought the disease for two years. Monkhouse died at his home in Eggington, Bedfordshire, on 29 December 2003, aged 75.

The BBC marked his death with a tribute special in 2004, and many younger comedians later cited him as an influence for his craftsmanship. In 2005, fellow comedians voted him among the UK’s 50 all-time great stand-ups.

In a posthumous ‘comeback’, a 2007 UK public health advertisement digitally revived Monkhouse’s image – using archive footage and a voice actor – to raise awareness of prostate cancer. His legacy endures in British comedy: he is remembered as a consummate joke-writer and the definitive television game-show host of his era, as well as the “king of the gag” who could turn any routine into laughs.

Bob hosts the BAFTA TV Awards in 1998 / Carlton

Wipeout / BBC