Interesting fact Benny was a WW2 veteran, called up in 1942 He served as a mechanic, truck driver, and searchlight operator in Normandy. Real name Alfred Hawthorne.
I do love Benny Hill - once a week my mother and father and I settled down on the sofa to watch his show - we knew we would have a good laugh and when my father laughed, the walls shook. Thank you for bringing him back in my life !!
A comedy genius who was tossed aside like a used towel, such a sad story to how his life eventually ended, heartbroken and alone.. Benny deserved better, much better.
That is horrible. Poor Mr. Hill. That sounds like the genius Alan Turing. He broke the enigma code & could not control his homosexual urges & killed himself at aged just 42 in 1954.
@@maudeboggins9834 It's a little more complicated than that. Alan Turing was convicted of homosexual acts, he was then forced to undergo a series of estrogen injections. That was believed to be an effective "cure" at the time. It was that and other things that eventually drove him to suicide. Dark period in our history.
Yes he was by the BBC , he lived a simple life in a Flat, near the studios, after they canceled his shows he just waited away died in the flat. He could have a Mansion.
Bloody loved Benny Hill when I was a kid! Unfortunately he died alone and apparently wasn't found for 2 weeks 😔 R.I.P Benny Hill...you were a comic genius x
YES HE WAS AND STILL IS ONE THE BEST FOR ME!! BENNY HILL,WHEN I WAS A KID( CHILD) I HAD A BIG LAUGHING ABOUT HIS EPISODES! I CAN NEVER FORGET THIS! THANK HIM FOR SUPER THINGS AND LAUGH 😂🤣🤣😂😂
I've never been a huge fan of Benny Hill but near where I live is a daycare center called the Berry Hill child care center and the first time I saw the sign for it I mistook it for the Benny Hill child care center , I did a double take, and now every time we go past it we sing the music and imagine all the kids running around like Benny hill 😂
The song is ''Holding Out For A Hero'' by Bonnie Tyler - a Welsh singer who was very popular in the 80s and is still going today. Another couple of hers are ''Total Eclipse of the Heart'' and ''It's a Heartache''.
The first dance and final scene is a spoof of a TV show in the UK called Tenko. Tenko was a serious series about Australian/British/Dutch female POWs during the fall of Singapore to the Japanese during WW2. It was a hugely popular show when Benny Hill was on TV, that is why he used it.
In the last skit where they undressed, the music was 'We're going to hang out our washing on the Siegfried line' & 'Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler?' Both classic WW2 songs.
Benny Hill was on tv here in Canada in the early seventies before he really became more well known elsewhere. There were newer shows but they didn't seem to have the same edge as the original.
I worked with a guy for Leningrad who had been allowed to emigrate but was then not allowed to return. Under Gorbachev the policy was dropped and he went to his old home town on holiday. This coincided with with a fortnight (could have been loner) of British shows on soviet TV. The Benny Hill show being one. A KGB member was sent to view a screening for approval. He apparently was in stitches from laughing. Anyway my college met up with some old friends who had seen the show and commented " so this is the Western culture we've about".
nice touch on the contemporary army scene where the last private makes off with Bob Godfrey in Drag as the same pairing as the Viking and the Celtic Man were !
Historical Fact. The "V" sign with the two fingers is from the battle of Agincourt of 1415 where the French said they would win the war & cut off the Englishmen's bow fingers (bow & arrows were the weapons back then). The English won that war & stuck up their two fingers to say "We still have our bow fingers".
I love Benny Hill as you’ve said before he wouldn’t be able to get away with this nowadays keep up the great work man and I love the Liverpool banner in the background
There is a video here on YT that I watched recently, Alan, about just how many famous Americnas of the day loved Benny Hill's antics. From Mickey Rooney to Burt Reynolds, and many more, etc . . . It's not over long, so may be worth a watch even if only for yourself? But it could even be a reaction one for you as well, seeing as I haven't seen anyone else has done one on it . . . ???
When I was a student, after a beer or two or three... we'd often sing (badly, but who cares) a selection of Benny's hits. A firm favourite was the balad of Samuel Pepys (pronounced peeps, for the benefit of overseas visitors). One verse sticks in the mind and gives the flavour..... "A fair young maid has took a room down at the village Inn. Her bedside lamp is oh so bright and the curtain oh so thin! At nine O clock, she enters the room, at half past nine she sleeps, Lord Clarendon walks swiftly on, but naughty Samuel Pepys!!" N. B. The chorus after each verse went: "Oh we know it is right, it's in black and white, and it's all written down in his diary." (Pepys being one of the great diarists of his era, and shall we say somewhat of a fan of basic pleasures which he did sometimes record in detail.... and so to bed.....) Benny was much appreciated in other countries, I once saw, an interview from French Television where he was explaining why he thought his material was popular. I should add he was speaking French. I reckon there's a lot of intelligence under pinning successful slapstick.
A I was watching benny hill in the 4th or 5th grade he came on channel 20 at 11pm in Maryland then he came 1130 then 12 man I still watched them all everybody was sleep and all the sudden I'm lmao in tears 1977 till 80 and it never came back on until you tube or interner
You should also look up another household comedian we grew up with in the 70's and 80's " Frankie Howard " he had a TV series we would watch weekly called " Up Pompeii "
I remember sneaking on our living late midnight just to watch Benny Hill in 1991. :)) This was airing on local TV at late midnight of 12 & moved to 1PM. Due to its naughty humor.(half-naked ladies in their undies)
I recall being at school in the 1960's and if Benny Hill was on TV that night,we'd all be excited. Next day we would discuss the programme and re-live the funny bits.This would continue for at least a couple of hours. There would be a lot of disappointed people when the final programme i the series was shown. Can't imagine schoolkids today getting excited about any " alternative comedian " appearing on TV.
I really like hearing, annually - "I love my kids but..." - meaning they've been off school at home for far too long, normally around day 3 of the summer holidays, which does last six whole weeks. Covid lockdown and school closures were a strain on many families.
Benny Hill was a very talented writer … listen to some of his songs like ‘Broken Hearted Lover’s Stew’ or ‘Gather In The Mushrooms’ - the wordplay was so clever.
I loved watching Benny Hill when I was a child; I didn't understand a lot of it, but the visuals still made me laugh. Some might say such a show was inappropriate for children, but it's nothing compared to what horrors children are watching on their Phones and Tablets these days.
I grew up with Benny hill as my dad used to watch it, one of my most fondest memories is hearing my dad laughing during the show .. it's sad what they did to Benny .. he was a really talented and funny guy .. that just happened to like woman .. what's so wrong about that? 🤷♂️
@@TheEclecticBeard nowhere near as good as you... They've done some of the English football chants but nothing compares to your laughter... I used to live in Kidderminster (kiddy) so yes that chant about the sisters and the brothers is very much on point
Only a suggestion but if you turned your camera views 90° then you could have a 50/50 view of what you're watching if the viewer turned their device round rather than the 25/75 you have now.
Sad fact the day the tv company made a multi million pound deal on his shows they sacked him for being politically incorrect ( didn't renew his contract)
It's a shame Benny was screwed by his TV company, by cancelling his shows, saying his scantly dressed women humour was out of date. Especially when you think, millions of women still dress like that, for their husbands/partners. RIP Benny.
Hill's comedy was juvenile slapstick - effectively like a 'silent movie'; visual prop gags etc. When there was dialogue it was silly. His main 'running' joke can be summed up as "Little man with no hope of getting a woman - sees beautiful girl, rejected , result Frustration'."
@@jillhobson6128 while less sexist they still had sexist and racist bits like hill but were more clever in the 70/80s than hill was you'd have to go back to hills late 50s and 60s work to find stuff as clever which he first became famous for with less sexist stuff to boot before he became lazy mostly in the 80s
Always find it curious when people "react" to the same sketch shortly after each other. Guess someone watched your reaction and then decided, hey I can do that as well. I'm guessing that's how this community might work on the grander of scales. One true innovator and the rest copying the innovator?
Your not allowed to see comedy like this anymore thats the problem with the world today, everone just wants to be offended so they can cry on bloody Twitter.
