Benny Hill

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Lore & Background

Alfred Hawthorne Hill was born 21 January 1924 (although some sources give his birth year as 1925) in Southampton, Hampshire. His father, Alfred Hill (1893–1972), manager of a surgical appliance shop, and grandfather, Henry Hill (born 1871), had been circus clowns. His mother was Helen (née Cave; 1894–1976). After leaving Taunton's School in Southampton, Hill worked at the Eastleigh branch of Woolworths and as a milkman, a bridge operator, a driver and a drummer before becoming assistant stage manager with a touring revue. He was called up in 1942 and trained as a mechanic in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, British Army. He served as a mechanic, truck driver and searchlight operator in Normandy after September 1944, and transferred to the Combined Services Entertainment division before the end of the war. He took the nickname 'Benny' in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny. After the Second World War, Hill worked as a performer on radio, making his debut on Variety Bandbox on 5 October 1947. His first job in theatre was as Reg Varney's straight man, with Hill beating a then unknown Peter Sellers to the role. His first appearance on television was in 1949. He later starred in a sitcom anthology, Benny Hill, which ran from 1962 to 1963, in which he played a different character in each episode. In 1964, he played Nick Bottom in an all-star TV film production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He also had a radio programme lasting three series called Benny Hill Time on BBC Radio's Light Programme from 1964 to 1966. The Benny Hill Show debuted in 1955 and was among the most-watched programmes in the UK; his audience was more than 21 million in 1971. The show was also exported to over 100 countries, a global appeal which the BFI attributed to 'Hill's emphasis on visual humour transcending language barriers'. 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 for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety. In 1990 Anthony Burgess described Hill as 'a comic genius steeped in the British music hall tradition'. In 2006, Hill was voted by the British public number 17 in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars.

Reader's Guide

Benny Hill's significance lies in his pioneering role as the first British comedian to achieve fame through television, with a career spanning over forty years. His show, The Benny Hill Show, which aired on the BBC and ITV (from 1969) between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989, became a global phenomenon, reaching audiences in over 100 countries through its reliance on visual humour that transcended language barriers. The show's closing chase sequence, the 'run-off', accompanied by Boots Randolph's 'Yakety Sax', became iconic and widely parodied. In a 2015 UK-wide poll, the show's theme song was voted number 1 on the ITV special The Sound of ITV – The Nation's Favourite Theme Tune. Hill's legacy is complex: while celebrated for his comic genius and music hall tradition, his later work attracted criticism. In late May 1989, Hill announced he was quitting Thames Television and taking a year off. John Howard Davies, the head of Light Entertainment at Thames Television, was cited by the British press as the man who sacked Hill when the company decided not to renew his contract. 'The show was past its sell-by date', Davies told The Guardian. 'The audiences were going down, the programme was costing a vast amount of money, and he (Hill) was looking a little tired.' In 1991, Hill started work on a new television series called Benny Hill's World Tour, but managed to record only one special, called Greetings from New York (with regular cast members such as Henry McGee, Bob Todd and Sue Upton), with the show becoming billed as 'his final TV appearance' when released on DVD.

Did You Know?

• Hill's comedy song 'Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)' was 1971's Christmas number one on the UK singles chart and earned him an Ivor Novello Award in 1972.
• Hill took the nickname 'Benny' in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny.
• His first job in theatre was as Reg Varney's straight man, with Hill beating a then unknown Peter Sellers to the role.
• The most common running gag in Hill's shows was the closing sequence, the 'run-off', which was literally a running gag featuring various members of the cast chasing Hill.
• In 1964, Hill played Nick Bottom in an all-star TV film production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.