A LIFE LESS ORDINARY (REMEMBERING TIM BROOKE-TAYLOR)

Tim Brooke-Taylor may have been one of the most underrated comic writers and performers of his generation.

Best known for being part of the surreal English comedy troupe The Goodies, he rubbed shoulders with various members of Monty Python, Marty Feldman and Willie Rushden.

He also got to know the great Hollywood actor and director Orson Welles, collaborating with him on two projects.

But in later years, he was a firm staple of the tongue in cheek BBC Radio 4 panel show 'I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue' where he got to demonstrate his sharp wit alongside Barry Cryer, Jack Dee, Stephen Fry and Graeme Garden.

Born in Buxton in Derbyshire in 1940, he attended Winchester College and later Cambridge University, after a brief spell teaching in a preparatory school.

His mother was an international lacrosse player and his father was a solicitor.

While studying economics and politics at Pembroke College in Cambridge, Brooke-Taylor started to dabble in writing and performing comedy.

It was through the Cambridge Footlights Club where he first met Cleese, Graham Chapman, Jonathan Lynn and his future collaborators on 'The Goodies', Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie.

Brooke-Taylor would serve as the society's president for a year and during his tenure, the Footlights show 'A Clump of Plinths' proved so successful at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that it transferred to the West End, Broadway and toured New Zealand under the title 'Cambridge Circus'.

It was inevitable that he would be drawn into radio comedy - writing and performing 'I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again' alongside Cleese, Garden, Oddie and Jo Kendall.

During this period, he indulged his passion for acting too.

There was uncredited role in Ken Loach's controversial BBC neo-realist drama 'Cathy Come Home' in 1966.

However his big television break came a year later in ITV's 'At Last the 1948 Show' with Cleese, Feldman, Graham Chapman and Aimi MacDonald - a sketch show produced by David Frost that featured appearances by Ronnie Corbett, Barry Cryer and Eric Idle.

The show featured Brooke-Taylor's much celebrated 'Four Yorkshiremen' sketch, which would gain notoriety after its performance in the 1981 Amnesty international benefit gig film 'The Secret' Policeman's Ball'.

'At Last the 1948 Show' ran for two series, spawning Feldman's show 'Marty' which Brooke-Taylor would write and perform in.

Frost brought him together with Cleese, Chapman, Connie Booth and Michael Palin for the 1968 satirical sketch show 'How To Irritate People' which, along with the BBC2 show 'Broaden Your Mind', would pave the way for Monty Python.

He landed dual roles in Orson Welles' unfinished short film 'One Man Band' with Garden and Jonathan Lynn, in which the legendary actor-director performed in sketches as Winston Churchill, an American tourist and a Morris Dancer.

However the project was abandoned when CBS pulled funding.

In 1969, there was another big screen venture in Nicolas Gessner and Luciano Lucignani's comedy 'Thirteen Chairs' with Sharon Tate, Orson Welles, Vittorio da Silva, Lionel Jeffries and Terry Thomas.

He would later recall how he had a hand in persuading Welles to take part.

"The producer Ed Pope was on the phone trying to persuade Orson to do the film," he told We Are Cult.

"He was running through a list of the cast, big names but Orson was not liking them. Eventually, Mr Pope got to my name. Pope had no clue who I was and asked where I might be.

"I nervously put my hand up and was given the phone with the whisper 'Get him to do it.'

"A limo was ordered for me to meet Orson a cafe in the is Veneto. Orson's first words were: 'This is a load of crap'.

"He was partly right but I kept pointing out the good bits as I desperately wanted hi. To do it. We agreed to completely re-write his scenes."

It would be Tate's final film before her murder by the Charles Manson gang.

Brooke-Taylor teamed up with his old collaborators Oddie and Garden for 'The Goodies', a surreal mixture of sketches and sitcom which initially ran on BBC2 before switching channels to ITV.

Usually revolving around the trio being cash strapped, Brooke-Taylor often donned a Union flag waistcoat and he also ended up in drag in some episodes.

It spawned the Goodies' hit single 'The Funky Gibbon' and featured John Cleese in a Jack and the Beanstalk style episode.

Some episodes tackled issues such as Apartheid and women's rights but some critics rather sniffly called it a children's show because of its appeal to younger audiences.

In 1971, he appeared in Rodney Amateau's critically lambasted comedy movie 'The Statue' with David Niven, Virna Kisi, John Cleese and Graham Chapman.

There was also an appearance in Mel Stuart's celebrated movie version of Roald Dahl's 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' with Gene Wilder, Peter Ostrum, Jack Albertson and Roy Kinnear.

He joined John Junkin and Barry Cryer on the ITV sketch show 'Hello Cheeky', which he co-wrote and also aired as a BBC radio show.

After winding up 'The Goodies' after nine series, the comedy trio teamed up for three series of the children's animated superhero spoof 'Bananaman' with Brooke-Taylor providing the voices for Eric, King Zorg of the Nerks, Auntie, Eddie the Gent and Appleman.

There was a stint in the 1980s as a henpecked husband in the ITV sitcom 'Me and My Girl' with Richard O'Sullivan.

He also joined Wayne Knight, Cleo Rocos, Barry Cryer and Daniel Peacock in the fast paced adult sketch show 'Assaulted Nuts' - a joint production between Channel 4 in the UK and Cinemax in the US.

Brooke-Taylor had another stab at a sitcom in 1987 with 'You Must Be The Husband' with Diane Keen and Sheila Staefel about a couple whose life changes when the wife becomes a successful author. It ran for two series.

Over the years, there would be appearances on British television in popular sitcoms and dramas like 'The Upper Hand', 'One Foot In The Grave', Heartbeat' and 'Agatha Christie's Marple' and also in the 2005 Stephen Fry and John Bird sitcom 'Absolute Power'.

There was also a notable role as The Earl of Sandwich alongside Harry Enfield's Tim Nice But Dim on BBC2's irreverent, star studded historical sketch show 'The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything' in 1999.

In his final years, he enjoyed his role as a regular on 'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue' on BBC Radio 4.

Tim Brooke-Taylor passed away from the effects of Coronavirus, in a death that rocked many of his contemporaries.

Stephen Fry, David Walliams, Rob Brydon, David Mitchell, Richard Osman, Jon Culshaw and Jack Dee were among those, along with Bill Oddie, who paid tribute to his immense contribution to British comedy.

But one of the most touching tributes came from John Cleese who described him as "a great performer and companion."

As he came to terms with the news of his friend's death, the Python added: "I have just lost the will to be silly."

(Tim Brooke-Taylor passed away at at the age of 79 on April 12, 2020)