Bob's the talk of the town.IF you want a book filled with sex, scandal and revelations, forget the latest Jilly Cooper or Jackie Collins. Just get yourself a copy of Bob Monkhouse's autobiography Crying With Laughter. Bob (pictured) has packed more into his career than most comedians could ever dream of. In over 60 years in showbusiness, he has made more comebacks than The Rolling Stones. In this week's Parkinson he joins Phoenix Nights funnyman fun·ny·man n. A humorous person, especially a professional comedian. Peter Kay (pictured) and singers Lulu and Ronan Keating (pictured) for another hour of chat and music. It's nine years since Bob hit retirement age but he shows no sign of quitting. At the age of 74, the man behind Celebrity Squares, Bob's Full House and countless other game shows has never been busier - even his battle against prostate cancer prostate cancer, cancer originating in the prostate gland. Prostate cancer is the leading malignancy in men in the United States and is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death in men. doesn't seem to slow him down. ``When I turned 65, I wrote my autobiography and thought, `That's it'. ``Jackie and I were spending more and more time with our little sandcastle sand·cas·tle n. 1. A castlelike structure built of wet sand, as by children at a beach. 2. Something that lacks substance or significance. in Barbados and I thought: `This is where I am going to wind up, hoping for book commissions and tapping away on my word processor for the rest of my life'.'' Of course nothing was further from the truth. ``I think it was the impetus of the book - and the fact that I came free of an exclusive contract for the first time in 19 years and I could do other shows to promote it - which led to invitations to Have I Got News For You, Room 101 and a straight role with Hugh Laurie in All Or Nothing At All.'' Bob believes the accumulation of doing those things led to him being reassessed. ``I hadn't been away, so I can't say it was a comeback - although I've been asked to go away, I have never really gone.'' Bob is all in favour of encouraging younger talent like fellow guest Peter Kay. ``I like to help them as much as they will let me. And they do let me. It's very gratifying to me at my age to be able to make suggestions to someone of 25 or 26. ``I take inspiration from that wonderful Scottish actor Finlay Currie,'' Bob remarks in his book Over The Limit. ``Shortly before he died at the age of 90, he appeared on a TV chat show where he was asked if he'd ever played a romantic lead. `Not yet laddie lad·die n. A boy or young man; a lad. Noun 1. laddie - a male child (a familiar term of address to a boy) sonny, sonny boy, cub, lad ,' he replied.'' Parkinson (BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. 1, 10.25pm) |
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