Des O'Goner

[Sean of the Shed]

Des O'Connor has died.

[Sits]

RIP, seemed like a nice guy. I hope he was.

[Jah Womble]

Just posted the same gag elsewhere. As I’m sure have several thousand others.

RIP - he was a very good sport, if nowt else.

[johnr]

He once tried to get off with my mum, and aunt, in a Butlins chalet. He quickly left when my dad and uncle walked in.

[Jah Womble]

He once tried to get off with my mum, and aunt, in a Butlins chalet. He quickly left when my dad and uncle walked in.

Careless hands, etc.

[Benjm]

RIP - he was a very good sport, if nowt else.

Yes, he seemed quite relaxed about being a byword for a certain kind of, often not very highly regarded, light entertainment. As a child, I thought he and Bob Monkhouse were almost interchangeable, but Monkhouse made a concerted effort to reassert his credentials as a comedian rather just a general TV face in his later years.

[Tony C]

Proper old school all round entertainer - could sing, dance, knew how to crack a gag. I always admired people like him who made it to tv level whilst thousands of others threw in the towel after getting no love from tough, hard to please audiences at Butlins or working men's clubs around the country. Took a lot of grit to make it. RIP.

[Satchmo Distel]

It's a generational thing. If your main memories centre around 1968, he's having a No. 1 hit. If it's the 70s, it's obviously Morecambe and Wise. If it's the 80s, it's peak-time ITV and fokkers, although he did earlier have a BBC stint around 1978 which introduced us to Kelly Monteith (see the opening night of the 1978 World Cup, https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedule...don/1978-06-01)

[Ray de Galles]

Interesting about Monteith, especially in light of this ;

https://twitter.com/bbcradio4/status/1327915203628068864?s=21

[Nocturnal Submission]

He once tried to get off with my mum, and aunt, in a Butlins chalet. He quickly left when my dad and uncle walked in.

The BBC website is asking for anecdotes or memories of the man, so...

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Next virtual thon we want more on that johnr!

RIP. Like Andre Previn, famous in his own right but mainly in my memory as a Morecambe and Wise guest (and good humoured butt of their jokes).

[Sporting]

Proper old school all round entertainer - could sing, dance, knew how to crack a gag. I always admired people like him who made it to tv level whilst thousands of others threw in the towel after getting no love from tough, hard to please audiences at Butlins or working men's clubs around the country. Took a lot of grit to make it. RIP.

+1000

[longeared]

If your main memories centre around 1968, he's having a No. 1 hit.

It's quite funny to look at the list of UK number ones for 1968, it's absolutely chock full of famous songs, many of which are still played today - and in the middle of it all for a week in July is Des with I Pretend. I've just listened to it and, well, let's just say that if you really like easy listening then it might appeal.

[Bored Of Education]

Next virtual thon we want more on that johnr!

RIP. Like Andre Previn, famous in his own right but mainly in my memory as a Morecambe and Wise guest (and good humoured butt of their jokes).

As I mention on FB, some people seem to think that it is doing Des O'Connor a disservice to keep referring to him being the butt of Morecambe & Wise's jokes. I think most of us would happily have that as the first line of our obituaries.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Maybe July was the time of the year when grandma, mum and dad went out and bought records they could play in the caravan on holiday, to drown out that awful Beatles rubbish the kids were into?

[Tony C]

As I mention on FB, some people seem to think that it is doing Des O'Connor a disservice to keep referring to him being the butt of Morecambe & Wise's jokes. I think most of us would happily have that as the first line of our obituaries.

"Ah, Des. Short for Desperate".

[kokamoa]

As I mention on FB, some people seem to think that it is doing Des O'Connor a disservice to keep referring to him being the butt of Morecambe & Wise's jokes. I think most of us would happily have that as the first line of our obituaries.

In the words of Clive James reviewing Morecambe and Wise’s 1979 Christmas special, “Des O’Connor showed up to collect his annual million pounds worth of good publicity. Getting goosed by Eric and Ernie is the best thing that could have happened to him, and he is smart enough to be grateful.”

I think he was the epitome of the old showbusiness adage, “Take your work seriously, yourself less so.” Also, a great example of chat show host who gave the guests room to be stars, regardless of how well known they were.

[elguapo4]

His chat show in the 80s gave a lot of young comedians a break, as said above, and Des himself was a great audience for them, the mildest quip would have him rolling on the floor.

[Jah Womble]

Yes, he seemed quite relaxed about being a byword for a certain kind of, often not very highly regarded, light entertainment. As a child, I thought he and Bob Monkhouse were almost interchangeable, but Monkhouse made a concerted effort to reassert his credentials as a comedian rather just a general TV face in his later years.

In my head, he’s always associated (if not interchangeable) with Max Bygraves: as a kid, both represented to me that type of genial entertainer / pop singer / TV host. Bygraves was a bit older (and has been gone a while), but notably had more hits than O’Connor, although the latter at least managed a number one.

[Mr Cogito]

My first reaction on seeing the news about Des was to check if Max Bygraves was still alive. I did it automatically before I even caught myself wondering why I was doing that.

Max died in 2012, it turns out.

[Jah Womble]

Not just me, then.

The association, I mean. I didn’t die in 2012. (Unless this is hell.)

[Sits]

It's quite funny to look at the list of UK number ones for 1968, it's absolutely chock full of famous songs, many of which are still played today - and in the middle of it all for a week in July is Des with I Pretend. I've just listened to it and, well, let's just say that if you really like easy listening then it might appeal.

I was expecting that to say Dick a Dum Dum.