Sir Bruce Forsyth was the king of variety telly for 75 years who tapdanced his way into our hearts

HE was one of the last great variety stars whose showbiz career spanned an incredible 75 years.

Sir Bruce Forsyth was the song and dance man who became TV’s game show presenter par excellence.

He could act, sing, dance and tell jokes; play the piano, ukulele and accordion; he even once had a career as a stage strongman.

Most of all, however, he was everybody’s favourite TV host — the king of the catchphrase and, with his big chin and slight stutter, an impressionist’s dream.

Brucie stepped from relative obscurity into TV stardom as presenter of Val Parnell’s Sunday Night at the London Palladium in 1958.

His effortless mastery of the show’s popular Beat The Clock slot set the standard for generations.

Half a century and several catchphrases later he was still the king of Saturday night TV as host of Strictly Come Dancing.

Nice to see him? It always was, and didn’t the garage mechanic’s son from North London do well?

Family history may have pointed Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson towards a gardening career when he was born in 1928 in Edmonton, a baby brother to John and Maisie.

His great-great-great-great grandfather, William Forsyth, was a Scottish botanist, royal head gardener and a founder of the Royal Horticultural Society who gave his name to forsythia plants.

Great-grandfather Joseph Forsyth Johnson was a Victorian landscape architect, but Brucie’s talents would blossom in other directions.

Dad John and mum Florence ran a car repair business.

But both also played brass instruments in the Salvation Army band, and mum Florence sang.
And it was entertainment that the young Bruce enjoyed.

He recalled: “My father would say, ‘son, you’re not going to have filthy hands like me. You’re going into show business’.”

Educated at the local Latymer school, he was inspired to take up dancing aged eight by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Follow the Fleet and Swing Time.

Bruce made his TV debut in 1939, aged 11, singing and dancing on BBC talent show Come and be Televised. And music seemed to cure his shyness.

He bought a Hawaiian guitar from a door-to-door salesman.

Inspired by George Formby he moved on to a ukelele banjo and then the accordion.

Aged 14, having left school, he was playing regularly at charity shows.

He was spotted by a local variety agent who offered him a job as an office boy and the chance to perform on stage.

His parents helped him come up with the stage name Boy Bruce, the Mighty Atom, and the then hefty sum of £25 the agent needed to put on Bruce’s first gig — at the run-down Theatre Royal in Bilston.

After playing to mostly empty theatres for a week, the show shut. A pal told his parents: “He’ll either quit now or be in it for life.” A lifetime in the limelight beckoned.

Bruce suffered wartime tragedy when RAF pilot brother John died in a training exercise in 1943.
After the war he worked in panto and as a circus strongman, before being called up for National Service.

He met first wife Penny Calvert in 1947 when they were dancers at London’s Windmill Theatre.

They wed in 1953 before a four-month tour of India as a double act after they were promised better digs as man and wife. The couple went on to have three daughters.

Bruce was championed in his showbiz career by mum Florence. He promised her a fur coat if he ever appeared on Sunday Night at the London Palladium.

Sadly for Bruce, she died in 1957 — a year before a successful performance alongside comedian Dickie Henderson led to a job of compere.

He later said his “biggest regret” was his mum missing out.

Two stints as host turned Bruce into a household name. Audiences loved his irreverent attitude and his “I’m in charge!” catchphrase.

During the 1960s he concentrated on his stage career and co-starred with Julie Andrews in 1968 musical film Star! The same year he sang the I’m Backing Britain campaign song, but the single sold just 7,319 copies and failed to chart.

In 1971, after a small part in the Disney movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Bruce hit the big time with his own TV gameshow.

Bruce Forsyth and the Generation Game attracted audiences in their millions on a Saturday evening.
TV stardom was assured as he sang the theme tune and added catchphrases “nice to see you, to see you, nice”, “good game, good game” and “didn’t they do well?”.

Bruce also encouraged co-star Anthea Redfern to “give us a twirl” each week as the two of them grew close.

His marriage to Penny ended amicably and he wed Anthea in 1973. The Generation Game ran from 1971 to 1977 until Bruce left the BBC to present the less successful Bruce’s Big Night for rivals ITV
Other hits included Bruce Forsyth’s Play Your Cards Right from 1980 to 1987 and 1994 to 2003.

The show spawned catchphrases “what do points make? Prizes!” and “you’re such a lovely audience — so much better than last week”.

Bruce also fronted Hollywood or Bust in 1984; You Bet! from 1988 to 1990; Takeover Bid from 1990 to 1991; Bruce’s Price is Right from 1995 to 2001 and 2004’s Didn’t They Do Well. Among his TV acting roles was a supermarket manager in ITV sitcom Slinger’s Day from 1986 to 1987.

By 1979 his marriage to Anthea, who gave him two more daughters, was over. In 1980, while judging the Miss World contest, he fell for Puerto Rican fellow judge Wilnelia Merced.

Bruce and the 1975 Miss World married in 1983 and had one son. In 1998, at the age of 70, he returned to the London Palladium for a week’s run of his one-man show.

He credited daily yoga exercises, and his love of golf, Bruce’s home was next to Surrey’s Wentworth Golf Course, for his continuing health.

In 2003 he guest-hosted satirical TV show Have I Got News For You.

Thanks to that performance he regained his light entertainment crown as co-host of Strictly Come Dancing from 2004 until 2014.

And in 2011 Bruce was knighted after a long public campaign to make him a ‘Sir’. He earned a place in the 2013 Guinness Book of World Records as the male TV entertainer with the longest career — one estimated to have made him £17 million.

The same year he became one of the eldest performers to play the Glastonbury Festival, aged 85.

But he admitted: “I know I’m on borrowed time. How I’m still here I just don’t know.

“When the time is up I’ll be ready for it. I probably won’t be very happy about it but I’ll know it’s time to go.”

Time was certainly up for his role at the helm of Strictly in 2014.

In October 2015 he suffered a fall at home which saw him rushed to hospital with minor concussion and cuts on his face.

Further investigation uncovered an abdominal aortic aneurysm which required keyhole surgery.

At the end of February Bruce was rushed to a hospital intensive care unit after being struck down with a severe chest infection, although he was said to be in good spirits.

He returned home after a five-day stay in hospital, to be nursed by his devoted wife Wilnelia, 59.

Now the time he predicted has come. He was always ‘In charge,’ but the clock has finally beaten Sir Bruce.