Jim Bowen was the long-time host of the ITV game show Bullseye, which he presented from its beginning in 1981 through to the end of its original run in 1995.
21 Facts About Jim Bowen
2.
In early adulthood, Bowen was a teacher and took part in local dramatic groups.
3.
Jim Bowen first appeared on television in The Comedians and he eventually devoted himself to comedy full-time, appearing in other television shows in the 1970s.
4.
Jim Bowen was born in Heswall, Wirral, Cheshire, to an unmarried mother and was adopted at nine months from an orphanage in Wirral, by a working-class couple, Joe Whittaker, a World War I veteran and his wife, Annie Whittaker; who were both from Clayton-le-Moors, Lancashire.
5.
Jim Bowen grew up in Clayton-le-Moors, just outside Accrington, where Joe was a bricklayer for Accrington's Nori brick factory and Annie worked as a weaver at Atlas Street Mill.
6.
Jim Bowen studied at Chester Diocesan Training College, eventually becoming a deputy headmaster of Caton Primary School near Lancaster.
7.
Jim Bowen took his stage name from his wife's maiden name, Owen, adding the initial of his mother's, Brown.
8.
Jim Bowen starred alongside Ray Burdis, John Blundell, Pauline Quirke and the pop group Flintlock in two series of Thames Television's children's sketch show You Must Be Joking in 1975 and 1976.
9.
Jim Bowen played a crooked accountant in ITV's 1982 mini-series Muck and Brass, and later guest-starred in BBC1's Jonathan Creek and Channel 4's Phoenix Nights, playing the hotel owner Frank "Hoss" Cartwright.
10.
In 1981, Jim Bowen became the presenter of a new ITV gameshow, Bullseye, which mixed general knowledge questions with darts.
11.
Jim Bowen was the presenter throughout, along with Tony Green as the darts commentator, and several of the catchphrases he used on the programme became well-known.
12.
Jim Bowen would warn contestants that if they gambled and lost, all they would receive was their "BFH: Bus Fare Home".
13.
Jim Bowen always asked contestants who lost the gamble to "look at what you could have won".
14.
In 1999, Jim Bowen began presenting on BBC Radio Lancashire but in 2002, after working there for three years, he resigned after referring to a guest on his show as a "nig-nog".
15.
Jim Bowen apologised for the remark almost immediately, and afterwards stated "No racial connotation was ever intended".
16.
On 27 August 2012, Jim Bowen re-united with Happy Daft Farm co-presenter Sally Naden for a one-off show on the station.
17.
Jim Bowen returned to radio in 2009, presenting a mid-morning radio show on 106.6 Indigo FM in Cumbria.
18.
In 2005, Jim Bowen performed a solo show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe about Bullseye, called "You Can't Beat a Bit of Bully".
19.
Jim Bowen supported him throughout his career, driving him to shows, and was by his bedside when he died.
20.
Jim Bowen converted the main station building into a private dwelling.
21.
In early 2011, it was announced that Jim Bowen was recovering in the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, after having suffered two mild strokes.