35 Facts About Benny Hill

1.

Alfred Hawthorne Hill, better known as Benny Hill, was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer.

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2.

Benny Hill is remembered for his television programme The Benny Hill Show, an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double entendre in a format that included live comedy and filmed segments, with Hill at the focus of almost every segment.

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3.

Benny Hill was a prominent figure in British television for several decades.

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4.

Benny Hill's show was among the most-watched programmes in the UK, with the audience peaking at more than 21 million in 1971.

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5.

The Benny Hill Show was exported to many countries around the world.

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6.

Benny Hill received a BAFTA Television Award for Best Writer and a Rose d'Or, and was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance and two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety.

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7.

In 2006, Benny Hill was voted by the British public number 17 in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars.

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8.

Alfred Hawthorne Benny Hill was born on 21 January 1924 in Southampton, Hampshire.

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9.

Benny Hill was called up in 1942 and trained as a mechanic in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, British Army.

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10.

Benny Hill served as a mechanic, truck driver and searchlight operator in Normandy after September 1944 and later transferred to the Combined Services Entertainment division before the end of the war.

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11.

Benny Hill took on the nickname of "Benny" in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny.

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12.

Benny Hill had a radio programme lasting for three series called Benny Hill Time on BBC Radio's Light Programme, from 1964 to 1966.

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13.

Benny Hill played a number of characters in the series, such as Harry Hill and Fred Scuttle.

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14.

Finally, a clip-show film spin-off of his early Thames Television shows, called The Best of Benny Hill, was a theatrically released compilation of Benny Hill Show episodes.

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15.

Benny Hill received an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in 1972.

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16.

Benny Hill had struggled on stage and had uneven success in radio, but in television he found a medium that played to his strengths.

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17.

The Benny Hill Show had a music hall-derived format combining live on-stage comedy and filmed segments, and its humour relied on slapstick, innuendo and parody.

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18.

Benny Hill remained mostly with the BBC through to 1968, except for a few sojourns with ITV and ATV stations between 1957 and 1960 and again in 1967.

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19.

In late May 1989, Benny Hill announced that after 21 years with Thames Television he was quitting and taking a year off.

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20.

Benny Hill's shows had earned Thames £26 million, with a large percentage due to the success of his shows in the United States.

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21.

However, Benny Hill only managed to record one special called Greetings from New York, with the show becoming billed as "his final TV appearance" when released onto DVD.

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22.

In February 1992, Thames Television, which received a steady stream of requests from viewers for The Benny Hill Show repeats, finally gave in and put together a number of re-edited shows.

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23.

Benny Hill died on the same day that a new contract arrived in the post from Central Independent Television, for which he was to have made a series of specials.

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24.

Benny Hill had turned down competing offers from Carlton and Thames.

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25.

Johnny Carson and sidekick Ed McMahon were both fans of Benny Hill and tried several times to get him to come to Los Angeles and be a guest on Carson's The Tonight Show.

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26.

Eugene told Benny Hill that his father was a great fan and used to watch the tapes with great enjoyment in his final years.

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27.

Benny Hill never owned his own home in London and instead preferred to rent a flat rather than buy one.

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28.

Benny Hill rented a double-room apartment on London's Queen's Gate for 26 years until around 1986 when he moved to Fairwater House in Teddington.

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29.

Benny Hill was a Francophile and enjoyed visits to France, including to Marseille, where until the 1980s, he could go to outdoor cafes anonymously, travelling on public transport and socialising with local women.

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30.

Benny Hill spoke French fluently and knew basic German, Spanish, Dutch and Italian.

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31.

Benny Hill's health declined in the late 1980s and after working for Thames Television.

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32.

Benny Hill declined, and a week later was found to have kidney failure.

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33.

Benny Hill died at his flat in Teddington on 20 April 1992, at the age of 68.

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34.

Benny Hill was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery, near his birthplace in Southampton, on 26 April 1992.

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35.

In November 2021, That's TV announced that The Benny Hill Show would feature in its Christmas schedule alongside other ITV programmes like Beadle's About and Kenny Everett's New Year Specials.

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