‘Gentleman of comedy’ Eric Sykes dies at 89

Eric Sykes, one of the most popular comic actors of his generation, was still staring in the West End shows into his 80s, even though he became almost totally deaf and nearly blind.

But he was much more than an actor. He was a hugely successful comedy scriptwriter, a novelist, a director, and a producer.

Sykes, who has died at the age of 89 after a short illness, is probably best remembered for the acclaimed Sykes And A... television series with Hattie Jacques.

Sykes wrote the scripts for the programme in conjunction with Johnny Speight, the man who created Alf Garnett.

In his heyday, he was also writing scripts for stars including Peter Sellers, and Frankie Howerd.

He co-wrote 24 episodes of radio comedy The Goon Show with Spike Milligan.

His humour was always gentle and warm-hearted. He invariably steered away from smut and had little to say in favour of modern comedians, whose bawdy repertoire entirely failed to appeal to him.

Bruce Forsyth paid tribute to the Oldham-born star: “Eric was one of the greats of comedy in this country. He was universally loved here. My only sadness is that I haven’t seen him recently.

“He was just one of the funniest men ever in comedy.”

Actor Bernard Cribbins, who starred in two of Sykes’s comedy shorts, The Plank and It’s Your Move, also paid tribute. “He will be very sadly missed. I just wish him a lot of rest up there with all the other comics, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe.

“They will all be up there, having a laugh together.”

Former Python Michael Palin said of Sykes: “He was one of the nicest, most decent men in the business and one of a kind.”

Sykes was born on May 4, 1923. He served as a wireless operator in the mobile signals unit, Royal Air Force, from 1941 until after the end of the Second World War.

He was introduced to showbusiness during his wartime service. He tried to forge a career in comedy, but found very little work until he met Bill Fraser, a friend from his RAF days, who was enjoying success on the London stage.

Fraser asked Sykes to write some scripts for him and before long, Sykes found himself in huge demand as a writer.

He was soon writing for hit BBC radio shows such as Educating Archie and Variety Bandbox. Then he became one of television’s first fledgling scriptwriters.

It was relatively early in life that he was afflicted by deafness, but that disability seemed to have little effect on either the quality or quantity of his work.