Tim Brooke-Taylor of The Goodies Dies With COVID-19

COMEDIAN, actor, writer, presenter and unlikely pop star Tim Brooke-Taylor OBE died at the weekend aged 79 fron COVID-19. Despite his varied CV he will always be best remembered as one third of the 1970s anarchic and irreverent sketch-comedy show “The Goodies”. Co-stars Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden were among the many stars paying tribute to him, alongside contemporary comedians such as Jack dee, Susan Calman, Stephen Fry, David Walliams and Rory Bremner. Despite his image as the “dim handsome one” in The Goodies he started his showbiz career, like so many of the 1960/70s new wave of comedians, at the Cambridge Footlights Club among several future Monty Python stars as well as Oddie and Garden. The Goodies became a firm family favourite immediately it was aired, with many tuning in for the slapstick element and often missing the satire which made subtle digs at things such as institutionalised racism and police brutality, pretty much no-go areas for comics at that time. The trio also had a series of pop hits as their on-screen personas, including Top 5 novelty song the Funky Gibbon, also an unlikely hit in the USA and a chart topper in Australia where The Goodies were even bigger than in the UK. Brooke-Taylor largely spent the second half of his career hosting TV andradio shows, while appearing on numerous panel shows. His family said that he died after a short battle with the Covid-19 virus. He leaves behind his wife of 42 years and two children.