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98-521: The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketches typified by slapstick , mime , parody , and double entendre . At its peak, The Benny Hill Show was among the most-watched programmes in the UK with the audience reaching more than 21 million viewers in 1971. In 1972, Hill received

196-579: A BAFTA Television Award for Best Writer , and he was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance . In the late 1970s, the Thames Television version of the show gained a following in the United States and would run in syndication until 1991. In 1980 and 1981, it received Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Variety . In 1984, Hill received a Rose d'Or . Thames cancelled production of

294-512: A 30-minute compilation that included examples of Hill's humour from his BBC and ITV shows. In November 2021, That's TV announced that The Benny Hill Show would feature in its Christmas schedule, alongside other ITV programmes, such as Beadle's About and Kenny Everett's New Year Specials . In addition to operating a number of local television channels on Freeview, That's TV had another national slot on channel 65, meaning that Hill's show would be seen in full, nationwide on British television, for

392-458: A TV production. Finally, a clip-show film spin-off of his early Thames Television shows (1969–1973), called The Best of Benny Hill (1974), was a theatrically-released compilation of The Benny Hill Show episodes. Hill's audio recordings include " Gather in the Mushrooms " (1961), " Pepys' Diary " (1961), " Transistor Radio " (1961), " Harvest of Love " (1963) and "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in

490-608: A compilation including her most popular songs in English, reached number 3 in the UK album charts in 1976 and won for her a gold disc. In August 1974, while in Australia, Mouskouri was presented with a plaque representing the sale of twenty Gold Records. As her fame began spreading outside her fan base in Europe, the United States, and the Commonwealth, Mouskouri was asked to record songs for

588-450: 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. It was a topical show; for example, a March 1964 episode featured James Bond, 007 , in "From Moscow with Love", and his version of The Beatles . He played

686-596: 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. Inspired by

784-456: A few occasions, Hill even impersonated his former straight man , Nicholas Parsons . A spoof of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? saw him playing both Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor . The show's closing theme tune, " Yakety Sax ", which has gained a following in its own right, was written by James Q. "Spider" Rich and Boots Randolph . The show's musical director was pianist and easy listening conductor Ronnie Aldrich , and vocal backing

882-634: A five-month Forever Young Tour through parts of Europe and North America. In 2015, she was awarded with the Echo Music Prize for Outstanding achievements by the German music association Deutsche Phono-Akademie. Despite her 'farewell tour' and 'final concert', she continues to make occasional appearances on TV shows, especially in Germany, though increasingly using 'le playback' (miming), which, unlike many other singers, she rarely used through most of her career;

980-555: A flat rather than buy one. He rented a double-room apartment on London's Queen's Gate for 26 years until around 1986, when he moved to Fairwater House in Teddington . While looking for somewhere to live, he briefly stayed at 22 Westrow Gardens in Southampton . Despite being a millionaire, he continued with the frugal habits he picked up from his parents, such as buying cheap food at supermarkets, walking for miles rather than paying for

1078-446: A folk melody. It became a success, selling over a million copies in Germany. The song was later translated into several languages and it went on to become one of Mouskouri's signature tunes. Mouskouri has been married twice: first at age 25, to Yorgos (George) Petsilas, a guitarist in her backing band (the trio "The Athenians") They had two children (Nicolas Petsilas in 1968 and Hélène (Lénou) Petsilas in 1970) but divorced when Mouskouri

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1176-611: A group of children, including the families of Dennis Kirkland (the show's director) and Sue Upton. Jenny Lee-Wright (who first appeared on Hill's show in 1970) earned the nickname, "The Sexiest Stooge", coined by Hill. The alternative comedian Ben Elton made a headline-grabbing allegation, both on the TV show Saturday Live and in the pages of Q magazine (in its January 1987 issue), that The Benny Hill Show incited crimes and misdemeanours. "We know in Britain, women can't even walk safe in

1274-478: A guest appearance at that year's Eurovision Song Contest which was held, for the first time ever, in her native Greece. In the same year, she announced her plans to retire. From 2005 until 2008, she conducted a farewell concert tour of Europe , Australia, New Zealand, Asia , South America , the United States , and Canada . On July 23 and 24, 2008, Mouskouri gave her two final 'Farewell Concert' performances at

1372-409: A guest on Carson's The Tonight Show . Radio and TV host Adam Carolla said that he was a fan of Hill, and that he considered Hill "as American as The Beatles". During an episode of The Man Show , Carolla performed in what was billed as a tribute to "our favourite Englishman, Sir Benny Hill" ( sic ; in fact, Hill was never knighted), in more risqué versions of some of the sketches. Carolla played

1470-620: A husky, dark alto , which she later dropped, to a ringing coloratura mezzo ), as opposed to her breathy, raspy speaking voice. Mouskouri's early childhood was marked by the German Nazi occupation of Greece . Her father became part of the anti-Nazi resistance movement in Athens. Mouskouri began singing lessons at age 12. As a child, she listened to radio broadcasts of singers including Frank Sinatra , Ella Fitzgerald , Judy Garland , Charles Trenet , Billie Holiday , and Édith Piaf . In 1950, she

1568-600: A large audience at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus ; her first performance in her homeland since 1962. In 1985, Mouskouri recorded "Only Love", the theme song to the American TV series Mistral's Daughter  – based upon the novel by Judith Krantz  – which reached number 2 in the UK charts. The song was also a hit in its other versions: L'Amour en héritage (French), Come un'eredità (Italian), La dicha del amor (Spanish), and Aber die Liebe bleibt (German). The German version

1666-405: A large percentage due to the success of his shows in the United States. At its peak in 1977, 21.10 million viewers in the UK watched Hill's show. In 1989, the last Thames episode attracted 9.58 million viewers. Despite declining ratings in the UK, the show was still one of Britain's most successful TV exports, airing in 97 other countries. Even though it was a ratings winner in the 1970s and 80s, in

1764-405: A modest stage presence and her bespectacled appearance, made her a very distinctive star, as Yvonne Littlewood later explained: Mouskouri's international appeal encouraged the BBC to sell her programmes to television stations across the world, a fact which she acknowledged in a BBC interview in 2014: Mouskouri also hosted her own shows for French and West German broadcasters during this period. At

1862-450: A music hall-derived format combining live on-stage comedy and filmed segments, and its humour relied on slapstick, innuendo and parody. Recurring players on his show during the BBC years included Patricia Hayes , Jeremy Hawk , Peter Vernon, Ronnie Brody and his cowriter from the early 1950s to early 1960s, Dave Freeman . Short, bald Jackie Wright was a frequent supporting player who in many sketches had to put up with Hill slapping him on

1960-431: A new series. Instead, Davies informed Hill that his programme would discontinue production, and that he was dismissing Hill himself. In an episode about Hill from the documentary series Living Famously , Davies stated there were three reasons why he did so: "The audiences were going down, the programme was costing a vast amount of money, and he (Hill) was looking a little tired." His shows had earned Thames £100 million, with

2058-562: A number of characters in the series, such as Harry Hill and Fred Scuttle. Hill appeared in five full-length feature films: Who Done It? (1956), Light Up the Sky! (1960), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and The Italian Job (1969). He also made two short-subject films : The Waiters (1969) and Eddie in August (1970), the latter

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2156-558: A park anymore. That, for me, is worrying." A writer in The Independent newspaper, though, opined that Elton's charge was "like watching an elderly uncle being kicked to death by young thugs". GQ magazine stated, "Pompous and portentous as this is, blaming Hill for rape statistics is like pointing a finger at concert pianists for causing elephant poaching." Elton later parodied himself in Harry Enfield & Chums as Benny Elton,

2254-544: A politically correct spoilsport; Elton ends up being chased by angry women, accompanied by the "Yakety Sax" theme, after trying to force them to be more feminist. A spokesman for the Broadcasting Standards Council commented that "the convention is becoming increasingly offensive ]...] It's not as funny as it was to have half-naked girls chased across the screen by a dirty old man." In late May 1989, Hill announced that after 21 years with Thames Television, he

2352-633: A regular contributor to British TV for more than 20 years. In 1969, Mouskouri released her first British LP, Over and over , which reached number 10 and spent a total of 102 weeks in the UK album charts. This began a series of albums for the UK market which, boosted by her TV appearances, sold extremely well during the early 1970s, including The exquisite Nana Mouskouri (1969), Turn on the sun (1970), A place in my heart (1971) and Presenting Nana Mouskouri - Songs from her TV series (1973), while concerts from two of her British tours were also recorded and released as LPs: British Concert (1972) and Live at

2450-539: A ridiculous number of fans backstage at a Genesis concert. In a June 2011 interview with The Observer , the rapper Snoop Dogg declared himself to be a fan of Hill. In the Omnibus episode, "Benny Hill – Clown Imperial", filmed shortly before his death, several celebrities, including Burt Reynolds , Michael Caine , John Mortimer , Mickey Rooney and Walter Cronkite , among others, expressed their appreciation of and admiration for Hill and his humour. In Reynolds' case,

2548-460: A rude and lecherous waiter, a typical Hill role, and the sketch featured many of the staples of Hill's shows, including a Jackie Wright -esque bald man, as well as scantily clad women. During a British tour in the 1970s, Michael Jackson said in an interview that he was a fan of Hill. In 1987, Genesis filmed a video for their song " Anything She Does ", featuring Hill as his character Fred Scuttle, portraying an incompetent security guard who lets

2646-625: A script from one of his regular cast members in 1976, Cherri Gilham , to whom he wrote from Spain, telling her he was using her "Fat Lady" idea on the show in January 1977). "To this day, The Benny Hill Show , as watched by 21.1 million people in 1977, and which over the years won its star a BAFTA , the Golden Rose of Montreux , and a Variety Club of Great Britain ITV Personality of the Year award, remains

2744-624: A series of specials. He had turned down competing offers from Carlton and Thames. "My father was mad about Benny Hill, Monty Python and The Avengers , Bond movies and the Peter Sellers films, so that's what I grew up watching. Those clearly had a big influence on me." — Mike Myers lists some of the British pop cultural influences on his own career, June 2007. Johnny Carson and sidekick Ed McMahon were both fans of Hill, and tried several times to get him to travel to Los Angeles to be

2842-949: A single take. Hill also used the television camera to create comedic illusions. For example, in a murder mystery farce entitled "Murder on the Oregon Express" from 1976 (a parody of Murder on the Orient Express ), Hill used editing, camera angles and impersonations to depict a Quinn Martin –like TV "mystery" featuring Hill in the roles of 1970s American television detectives Ironside , McCloud , Kojak and Cannon , plus Hercule Poirot . During his television career, Hill performed impersonations or parodies of such American celebrities as W. C. Fields , Orson Welles (renamed "Orson Buggy"), Kenny Rogers , Marlon Brando , Raymond Burr , and fictional characters that range from The Six Million Dollar Man and Starsky & Hutch to The A-Team (parodied as "The B-Team", in which he played

2940-520: A slow and quiet voice. He introduced a song with a long translation into English of all the events supposedly mentioned in the song... and then sang just a single line of "Greek". Andrea Martin played Mouskouri in a sketch, 'The Nana Mouskouri Story', during the 1981–1982 season of SCTV (later included in a DVD compilation). In 1976, Ronnie Barker performed a song in drag as a parody of Mouskouri in The Two Ronnies as Nana Moussaka. Mouskouri

3038-444: A sped-up chase scene involving Hill and often a crew of scantily clad women (usually with Hill being the one chased, due to silly predicaments that he himself caused), accompanied by the instrumental " Yakety Sax ", in a send-up on the stereotypical Keystone Cops chase scenes. Hill also composed and sang patter songs and often entertained his audience with lengthy high-speed double-entendre rhymes and songs, which he recited or sang in

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3136-463: A spokesperson for UNICEF in 1993 and was elected to the European Parliament as a Greek deputy from 1994 to 1999. In 2006 she was a special guest on Eurovision Song Contest 2006 's final, presented as the best selling artist of all time. In 2015, she was awarded the Echo Music Prize for Outstanding achievements by the German music association Deutsche Phono-Akademie. Nana Mouskouri

3234-430: A taxi unless someone picked up the tab for a limousine , and regularly patching and mending the same clothes. He also never owned a car, despite having a valid driving licence. Hill never married and had no children. He had proposed to two women, but neither accepted. Shortly after his death in 1992, actress Annette Andre said that she turned down his proposal of marriage in the early 1960s. Rumours circulated that he

3332-429: A time when TV programmes could attract huge audiences, her popularity as a multilingual television personality turned her into a truly international star. Although music series such as hers started to become less common on British TV as the 1970s wore on, the BBC continued to engage Mouskouri regularly for one-off television specials and guest appearances on other programmes until the mid-1980s, by which time she had been

3430-526: The BBC invited Mouskouri and her backing group, The Athenians, to start hosting a TV series called Presenting Nana Mouskouri from 1968 onwards. A typical episode of her series contained contemporary British, American and French pop and folk music, popular classical pieces, and the Greek songs which had originally made her famous. The shows also featured European and world music stars of the time as guests, making it one of

3528-648: The Ealing comedy Who Done It? (1956), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and The Italian Job (1969). His comedy song , " Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) ", was 1971's number one Christmas song on the UK Singles Chart , and earned Hill an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in 1972. Alfred Hawthorne Hill

3626-532: The Eurovision Song Contest with the song " À force de prier ". Her friendship with the composer Michel Legrand led to the recording by Mouskouri of the theme song of the Oscar-nominated film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg . From 1968 to 1976, she hosted her own TV show produced by BBC , Presenting Nana Mouskouri . Her popularity as a multilingual television personality and distinctive image, owing to

3724-586: The Mediterranean Song Festival , held in Barcelona that year. The song won first prize, and she went on to sign a recording contract with Paris -based Philips-Fontana . In 1961, Mouskouri performed the soundtrack of a German documentary about Greece. This resulted in the German-language single Weiße Rosen aus Athen ("White Roses from Athens"). The song was originally adapted by Hadjidakis from

3822-604: The United Kingdom with the song "My Colouring Book" (later included in her 1973 album Songs from her TV series ). In 1965, she recorded her second English-language album to be released in the United States, entitled Nana Sings . American singer Harry Belafonte heard and liked the album. Belafonte brought Mouskouri on tour with him through 1966. They teamed up for a duo album entitled An Evening With Belafonte/Mouskouri . During this tour, Belafonte suggested that Mouskouri remove her signature black-rimmed glasses when on stage. She

3920-519: The "star comedians" of British music hall shows, Hill set out to make his mark in show business. He took the nickname of "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 appearance on television was in 1950. He later starred in a sitcom anthology, Benny Hill , which ran from 1962 to 1963, in which he played

4018-635: The 1970–1979 Annuals and 1980–1989 Annuals, with a set containing all the Annuals "double bundled up together". In 2005, Warner Home Video released a DVD featuring a three-hour collection of clips from some of the surviving black-and-white episodes Hill did for the BBC in the 1950s and 1960s (roughly half of them no longer exist) on Region 1 DVD as Benny Hill: The Lost Years . In Australia, Via Vision released The Benny Hill Annuals complete box set (1970–1989) on August 3, 2022. Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne " Benny " Hill (21 January 1924 – 18 April 1992)

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4116-676: The 1990s touring the globe. Among her early 1990s albums were spiritual music, Gospel (1990), the Spanish-language Nuestras Canciones , the multilingual, Mediterranean-themed Côté Sud, Côté Coeur (1992), Dix Mille Ans Encore , Falling in Love Again: Great Songs From the Movies . Falling in Love featured two duets with Harry Belafonte. In 1993, Mouskouri recorded the album Hollywood . Produced by Michel Legrand it

4214-451: The 20th century, after Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel. On 28 December 2006, Channel 4 broadcast the documentary, Is Benny Hill Still Funny? . The programme featured an audience that comprised a cross-section of young adults who had little or no knowledge of Hill, to discover whether his comedy was valid to a generation that enjoyed the likes of Little Britain , The Catherine Tate Show and Borat . The participants favourably rated

4312-417: The 21st Century The Benny Hill Show was not repeated in full on national TV for 20 years, until That's TV announced that the programme would feature in its Christmas schedule, alongside other ITV programmes like Beadle's About and Kenny Everett's New Year Specials . In 2004, the hour-long Thames specials were released uncut (except for ad-break bumpers) in a six-set, 18 disc Region 1 DVD collection for

4410-556: The Albert Hall (1974). During the 1970s, Mouskouri - always a prolific recording artist - recorded several hit records in German, such as Sieben schwarze Rosen (1975) and Lieder, die die Liebe schreibt (1978), and she continued to release a series of top-selling records in France, including Comme un soleil (1971), Une voix qui vient du cœur (1972), Vieilles chansons de France (1973), and Quand tu chantes (1976). Meanwhile, Passport,

4508-505: The British music hall tradition" (as were Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel , two of Hill's childhood idols) and "one of the great artists of our age". A meeting between the two men was described in a newspaper article by Burgess, and recalled in the Telegraph newspaper by the satirist Craig Brown . Hill was noted for his frugality. He never owned his own home in London and preferred to rent

4606-692: The Conservatoire and began performing at the Tzaki club in Athens. She began singing jazz in nightclubs with a bias towards Ella Fitzgerald's repertoire. In 1957, she recorded her first song, "Fascination", in both Greek and English for Odeon/EMI Greece. By 1958 while still performing at the Tzaki, she met Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis . Hadjidakis was impressed by Nana's voice and offered to write songs for her. In 1959 Mouskouri performed Hadjidakis' "Κάπου υπάρχει η αγάπη μου" ( Kápou ipárchi i agápi mou , "Somewhere my love exists"; co-written with poet Nikos Gatsos ) at

4704-514: The French pop classic " Le Temps des cerises ". Mouskouri made her first appearance at Paris' legendary Olympia concert theatre the same year, singing French pop, Greek folk, and Hadjidakis numbers. These successes across Europe and elsewhere impressed Yvonne Littlewood , the BBC producer who had first met Mouskouri at the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest in London. Following several successful guest appearances on British TV after her Eurovision performance,

4802-635: The French pop classics, Hommages . In 1997, she staged a high-profile Concert for Peace at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. This concert was later released as an album, and aired as a TV special on PBS in the United States. On 30 May 2013, Mouskouri was awarded an honorary degree by McGill University , Canada. Mouskouri was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in October 1993. She took over from

4900-700: The Japanese and Taiwanese markets. In 1976, a renowned Taiwanese author, Echo, heard her music and introduced it to one of her female radio DJ friends. Mouskouri's records then became popular in Taiwan, especially among high school and college students, with one of her British albums, Nana's book of songs (1974) becoming particularly popular. In 1979, Mouskouri released another English-language album named Roses and Sunshine . This album consisted largely of folk and country material, and included work from sources including Neil Young , Dolly Parton , Bob Dylan and John Denver . It

4998-547: The Thames years (1969–1989) were showcased in the collection, but Hill's 1977 Australian TV special ("Down Under") was not, and remains unavailable on DVD. In 2005, the Thames specials began to appear uncut (including the original ad-break bumpers) in Region 2 DVD sets, each representing one year and entitled The Benny Hill Annual . Sets for each year from 1970 through 1989 have been released on DVD by Network. Two box sets were released of

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5096-421: The U.S. by A&E Home Video (under license from Thames , talkbackTHAMES and FremantleMedia International ), entitled Benny Hill: Complete & Unadulterated . Each DVD set has three discs, representing multiple years of the show in order of the original show airings, with "Benny Hill Trivia Challenges", a booklet containing a listing of sketches from each DVD disk, and documentary extras. All 58 episodes of

5194-477: The UK ITV channel in the autumn of 2011, Mouskouri told the actress Joanna Lumley how she had been scheduled to sing at the amphitheatre at Epidauros with other students of the Conservatoire, when upon arrival at the amphitheatre word came through from the Conservatoire in Athens that she had just been barred from participating in the performance there owing to her involvement in light music. Mouskouri subsequently left

5292-535: The UK, and his audience was more than 21 million in 1971. The Benny Hill Show was also exported to many countries around the world. He 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 2006, Hill was voted by the British public number 17 in ITV 's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars . Outside television, Hill starred in films including

5390-466: The West)", which was the number one UK Christmas single in 1971. He received an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in 1972. Hill had struggled on stage and had uneven success in radio, but in television he found a medium that played to his strengths. The Benny Hill Show aired on the BBC and ITV (from 1969) between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. It had

5488-763: The ancient Herodes Atticus Theatre , in Athens, Greece, before a packed stadium, including Greece's Prime Minister and the mayor of Athens, plus the mayors of Berlin, Paris and Luxembourg, along with fans from around the world and thousands of her Athenian admirers. In 2010, in response to the financial crisis in Greece, Mouskouri announced that she would forgo her pension to contribute to the country's recovery. She commented: "Everywhere I see stories about my country going bankrupt. And people are aggressive about it. It's frightening. And it's painful for me. Nobody wants their country to be treated badly. It's frustrating and very sad." In late 2011, Mouskouri released two newly recorded CDs,

5586-507: The appreciation extended to the Hill's Angels as well. The novelist Anthony Burgess made no secret of his admiration for Hill. Burgess, whose novels were often comic, relished language, wordplay and dialect, and admired the verbal and comedic skill that underlay Hill's success. Reviewing a biography of Hill, Saucy Boy , in The Guardian in 1990, Burgess described Hill as "a comic genius steeped in

5684-412: The day, usually tweaking names for comic effect: The main supporting cast included Henry McGee , Jon Jon Keefe , Ken Sedd , Nicholas Parsons , Bob Todd , Cyril Cross , Jackie Wright . The regular sexpot-type women include Jenny Lee-Wright , Sue Bond , Bettina Le Beau , Lesley Goldie , Cherri Gilham and Diana Darvey . In later years, the show included a dance troupe, the Hill's Angels, which

5782-482: The double LP The Classical Nana (a.k.a. Nana Classique ), which featured adaptations of classical songs and excerpts from opera. By the end of 1987, she had performed a series of concerts in Asia, including South Korea , Taiwan , Singapore , Hong Kong , Malaysia and Thailand . Mouskouri's 1991 English album, Only Love: The Best of Nana Mouskouri , became her best-selling release in the United States. She spent much of

5880-530: The first BBC TV series to do so regularly. Despite the fact that stars from mainland Europe singing in languages other than English have tended to find it difficult to break into the British market, the series proved very popular with viewers of the new BBC-2 channel, and it ran until 1976. As well as performing songs known to British viewers, Mouskouri welcomed the television audience, chatted to her guest stars and gave spoken introductions to her French and Greek songs in fluent English. These introductions, along with

5978-550: The first featuring songs of the Greek Islands, recorded with other Greek singers, and the second featuring duets with French contemporaries. In late November 2011, Mouskouri sang again at a single concert, with guests, in Berlin, commemorating the 50th anniversary of her hit single "The White Rose of Athens". She then did a concert tour in Germany in 2012. At age 80, she embarked on a three-year Happy Birthday Tour; in 2018 she had booked

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6076-460: The first major exposure to some non-UK-based musical groups, including Luis Alberto del Paraná and Los Paraguayos . With few exceptions, most of the musical numbers did not make it to the U.S. syndicated series. In May 1989, Thames Television's Head of Light Entertainment since March 1988, John Howard Davies , invited Hill in for a meeting. Having just returned from a triumphant Cannes TV festival, Hill assumed that they were to discuss details of

6174-440: The first time in nearly 20 years. Nana Mouskouri Mouskouri became well known throughout Europe for the song "The White Rose of Athens", recorded first in German as "Weiße Rosen aus Athen" as an adaptation of her Greek song " Σαν σφυρίξεις τρείς φορές " ( San sfyríxeis tris forés , "When you whistle three times"). It became her first record to sell over one million copies. Later in 1963, she represented Luxembourg at

6272-422: The inaugural Greek Song Festival . The song won first prize, and Mouskouri began to be noticed. At the 1960 Greek Song Festival, she performed two more Hadjidakis compositions, "Τιμωρία" ( Timōría , "Punishment") and "Κυπαρισσάκι" ( Kyparissáki , "Little cypress"). Both these songs tied for first prize. Mouskouri performed Kostas Yannidis ' composition, "Ξύπνα αγάπη μου" ( Xýpna agápi mou , "Wake up, my love"), at

6370-411: The mid-to-late 1980s. After Hill had a mild heart attack 24 February 1992, doctors recommended a heart bypass ; he refused. A week later, he was found to have kidney failure, but he refused to undergo kidney dialysis . Hill died at his flat in Teddington on 18 April 1992 at the age of 68, but his body was not found until 20 April. He died while watching television in his armchair. The cause of death

6468-435: The more gifted sibling. Financially unable to support both girls' studies, the parents asked their tutor which one should continue. The tutor conceded that Jenny had the better voice, but Nana was the one with the true inner need to sing. Mouskouri has said that a medical examination revealed she has only one functioning vocal cord and this could well account for her remarkable singing voice (in her younger years ranging from

6566-468: The most recent at time of writing was the 2023-12-2 German (ARD1) 'Das Adventsfest der 100 000 Lichter' (advent celebration of 100,000 lights - coincidentally the show's title partially reflecting one of her early [1965] German hits ), in which she duetted one song and participated in the finale. The British comedian Benny Hill impersonated Mouskouri on The Benny Hill Show . Wearing a long dress, large glasses and long black hair, he talked and sang with

6664-417: The night of 4 October 1992, following speculation that Hill had been buried with a large amount of gold and jewellery, grave robbers excavated and broke open Hill's coffin. The coffin was reburied with a thick concrete slab over it. In 1998, Channel 4 featured Hill in one of its Heroes of Comedy programmes. In 2002, D. J. Taylor of The Independent ranked him the third greatest British comedian of

6762-587: The previous ambassador, the recently deceased actress Audrey Hepburn . Mouskouri's first U.N. mission took her to Bosnia to draw attention to the plight of children affected by the Bosnian war. She went on to give a series of fund-raising concerts in Sweden and Belgium . She was a Member of the European Parliament for Greece through the centre-right New Democracy party from 1994 until 1999, when she resigned from her position as an MEP. Several reasons have been given for

6860-464: 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 , which would see Hill performing his sketches in various places around the world in places his show had become popular. However, Hill 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

6958-472: The resignation, one being her pacifism, and another being that she felt ill-equipped for the day-to-day work of a politician. Mouskouri lives in Switzerland with Chapelle, and, until her final performance in 2008, performed hundreds of concerts every year throughout her career. In 2004, her French record company released a 34- CD box set of more than 600 of Mouskouri's mostly French songs. In 2006, she made

7056-546: The roles of both Hannibal and B.A. ) and Cagney & Lacey . He also impersonated such international celebrities as Nana Mouskouri and Miriam Makeba as well as British stars such as Shirley Bassey , Michael Caine (in his Alfie role), newscasters Reginald Bosanquet , Alan Whicker and Cliff Michelmore , pop-music show hosts Jimmy Savile and Tony Blackburn , musician Roger Whittaker , his former 1960s record producer Tony Hatch , political figures Lord Boothby and Denis Healey and Irish comedian Dave Allen . On

7154-454: The screen and reappearing running on from the other. The tune used in all the chases, Boots Randolph 's " Yakety Sax ", is so strongly associated with the show that it is commonly referred to as "The Benny Hill Theme". It has been used as a form of parody in many ways by television shows and films. 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 . From

7252-401: The show becoming billed as "his final TV appearance" when released on DVD . In February 1992, Thames Television, which received a steady stream of requests from viewers for The Benny Hill Show repeats, finally gave in and put together a number of re-edited shows. Hill died on the same day a new contract arrived in the post from Central Independent Television , for which he was to have made

7350-408: The show in 1989 due to declining ratings and large production costs at £450,000 (equivalent to £1,414,100 in 2023) per show. In a 2015 UK poll, the show's theme song was voted number 1 on the ITV special The Sound of ITV – The Nation's Favourite Theme Tune . The Benny Hill Show features Benny Hill in various short comedy sketches and occasional, extravagant musical performances by artists of

7448-517: The show was the enthusiastic announcer intro: "Yes! It's The Benny Hill Show! " (The announcer was often cast member Henry McGee .) From 1975 forward, Hill was also introduced at the start of each show as "The Lad Himself". The show closed with Hill's salute: "Thank you for being with us, and we look forward to seeing you all again—very, very soon. Until then, bye bye." Hill created both long-running fictional characters, such as Fred Scuttle, and frequently spoof impersonations of other TV personalities of

7546-620: The sole programme that spoke directly to the dream experience of the hot-blooded adolescent. This was perhaps why Thames could sell the show to so many foreign markets, from France, Spain and West Germany to the remotest jungle clearing in Brazil – deep up the Amazon River, photos of Hill were to be found in mud huts." —Roger Lewis in GQ magazine on the popularity of the show in Britain and abroad, April 2014. The most common running gag in Hill's shows

7644-669: The song achieved only eighth place in the contest, it achieved commercial success, and helped win her the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque in France. Mouskouri soon attracted the attention of French composer Michel Legrand , who composed two songs which became major French hits for her: " Les Parapluies de Cherbourg " (1964) and an arrangement of Katherine K. Davis 's "Carol of the Drum", "L'Enfant au Tambour" (1965). In 1962, she met Quincy Jones , who persuaded her to travel to New York City to record an album of American jazz titled The Girl from Greece Sings . Following that she scored another hit in

7742-493: The start of the 1980s, the show featured a troupe of attractive young women, known collectively as "Hill's Angels". They would appear either on their own in a dance sequence or in character as foils against Hill. Sue Upton was one of the longest-serving members of the Angels. Jane Leeves appeared as well. Henry McGee and Bob Todd joined Jackie Wright as comic supporting players, and later shows also featured "Hill's Little Angels",

7840-796: The then unusual signature black-rimmed glasses, turned Mouskouri into an international star. " Je chante avec toi Liberté ", recorded in 1981, is perhaps her biggest hit to date, performed in at least five languages – French, English as "Song for Liberty", German as "Lied der Freiheit", Spanish as "Libertad" and Portuguese as "Liberdade". " Only Love ", a song recorded in 1984 as the theme song of TV series Mistral's Daughter , gained worldwide popularity along with its other versions in French (as "L'Amour en Héritage"), Italian (as "Come un'eredità"), Spanish (as "La dicha del amor"), and German (as "Aber die Liebe bleibt"). It became her only UK hit single when it reached number two in February 1986. Mouskouri became

7938-534: The time. Hill appears in many different costumes and portrays a vast array of characters. Slapstick , burlesque , and double entendres are his hallmarks. Critics accused the show of sexism and objectification of women, but Hill argued that the female characters kept their dignity while the men who chased them were portrayed as buffoons . The show often uses undercranking and sight gags to create what Hill called "live animation", employing comedic techniques such as mime and parody. The show typically closes with

8036-565: The top of his head. Hill remained mostly with the BBC through 1968, except for a few sojourns with ITV and ATV stations between 1957 and 1960, and again in 1967. In 1969, his show moved from the BBC to Thames Television , where it remained until its cancellation in 1989, with an erratic schedule of one-hour specials. The series showcased Hill's talents as an imaginative writer, comic performer and impressionist. He may have bought scripts from various comedy writers, but if so, they never received an onscreen credit (some evidence indicates he bought

8134-519: Was 39. Not long after that, she started a relationship with her record producer André Chapelle , but they did not marry then because she "didn't want to bring another man into the family" and divorce was against her conservative upbringing. They eventually married on January 13, 2003, and live primarily in Switzerland. In 1960, Mouskouri moved to Paris. She performed Luxembourg's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 , " À force de prier ". Although

8232-591: Was a collection of famous songs from films, and served not only as a tribute to the world of cinema, but also as a personal reference to childhood memories of sitting with her father in his projection room in Crete. She recorded several more albums in 1996 and 1997, including the Spanish Nana Latina (which featured duets with Julio Iglesias and Mercedes Sosa ), the English-language Return to Love , and

8330-556: Was accepted at the Conservatoire. She studied classical music with an emphasis on singing opera . After eight years at the Conservatoire, Mouskouri was encouraged by her friends to experiment with jazz music. She began singing with her friends' jazz group at night. However, when Mouskouri's Conservatory professor found out about Mouskouri's involvement with a genre of music that was not in keeping with her classical studies, he prevented her from sitting for her end-of-year exams. During an episode of Joanna Lumley's Greek Odyssey , shown on

8428-561: Was also parodied in the first episode of the 1970s New Zealand political satire A Week Of It . In 1991, British comedian Victoria Wood mentioned Mouskouri in her original song, "The Reincarnation Song." The song was included in Wood's television special of that year, Victoria Wood: Sold Out . In the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode O-Ed-Eleven , Eddy's brother is shown to have a Nana Mouskouri poster in his old bedroom. Karl Pilkington included Mouskouri as

8526-554: Was also recorded with an alternate set of lyrics under the title Der wilde Wein ; it was withdrawn in favour of Aber die Liebe bleibt . That same year, Mouskouri made a play for the Spanish-language market with the hit single Con Toda el Alma . The song was a major success in Spain , Argentina and Chile . She released five albums in different languages in 1987, and the following year returned to her classical conservatory roots with

8624-414: Was an English comedian, actor, and scriptwriter. He is remembered for his television programme, The Benny Hill Show , an amalgam of slapstick , burlesque and double entendre in a format that included live comedy and filmed segments, with Hill at the focus of almost every segment. Hill was a prominent figure in British television for several decades. His show was among the most-watched programmes in

8722-467: 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 Woolworths and as a milkman, a bridge operator,

8820-562: Was born on 13 October 1934 in Chania, Crete , where her father, Constantinos, worked as a film projectionist in a local cinema; her mother, Aliki, worked in the same cinema as an usher . When Mouskouri was three, her family moved to Athens . Mouskouri's family sent her and her older sister Eugenía (Jenny) to the Athens Conservatoire . Although Mouskouri had displayed exceptional musical talent from age six, Jenny initially appeared to be

8918-700: Was briefly preceded by the Love Machine. Regular Angels were Sue Upton and Louise English , whilst Jane Leeves also appeared as a Hill's Angel in a few episodes in the early 1980s; among those who appeared only once were Susan Clark and Sue McIntosh . The female singing group The Ladybirds , featuring the bespectacled Maggie Stredder, were regulars on the show as background singers to Hill, and occasionally singing numbers on their own. Character actresses include Anna Dawson , Bella Emberg , Rita Webb , Helen Horton , and Patricia Hayes . Occasionally, Hill would briefly chat with his guests on stage. Hill also gave

9016-464: Was gay, but he always denied them. Hill was a Francophile and enjoyed visits to France, including to Marseille , where, until the 1980s, he could go to outdoor cafes anonymously, travelling on public transport and socialising with local women. He spoke French fluently, and also knew basic German, Spanish, Dutch and Italian. Travel was the only luxury he permitted himself; even then, he would stay in modest accommodations. Hill's health declined in

9114-465: Was provided by session singers the Ladybirds (who also frequently appeared on camera from 1969 to 1974). The saxophone soloist on Aldrich's version of "Yakety Sax" was Peter Hughes. For three episodes of the 1973–1974 season, Albert Elms filled in for Aldrich as musical director. "Yakety Sax" first appeared in the 19 November 1969 episode, which was also the first show for Thames. Another signature of

9212-451: Was quitting and taking a year off. His shows had earned Thames £26 million, with a large percentage due to the success of his shows in the United States. John Howard Davies , the head of Light Entertainment at Thames Television, was cited by the British press as the man who sacked Benny Hill when the company decided not to renew Hill's contract. "The show was past its sell-by date", Davies told The Guardian . "The audiences were going down,

9310-410: Was recorded as coronary thrombosis . Hill was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery , near his birthplace in Southampton, 28 April 1992. Hill's estate was probated at £7,548,192, equivalent to £19,700,000 in 2023. His will , written thirty years earlier, left most of his estate to his parents, who had predeceased him; ultimately, Hill's estate was divided among his seven nieces and nephews. During

9408-741: Was so unhappy with the request that she wanted to quit the show after only two days. Finally, Belafonte relented and respected her wish to perform while wearing glasses. On September 15, 1965, Mouskouri appeared for the first time on American television with Harry Belafonte on the Danny Kaye Show . While on the show Mouskouri performed "Telalima" followed by "Σήκω χόρεψε κουκλί μου" ( Siko horepse koukli mou ) accompanied by Harry Belafonte and Danny Kaye . Mouskouri's 1967 French album Le jour où la colombe raised her to super-stardom in France. This album featured many of her French songs, "Au cœur de septembre", "Adieu Angélina", "Robe bleue, robe blanche" and

9506-399: Was the closing sequence, the "run-off", which was literally a running gag featuring various members of the cast chasing Hill, along with other stock comedy characters, such as policemen, vicars and old women. This was commonly filmed using "under-cranking" camera techniques, and included other comic features, such as jogging instead of a run at full speed and characters running off one side of

9604-601: Was well received in Canada, and one of the album's tracks, "Even Now" (not the same song as the 1978 Barry Manilow hit), became a staple on beautiful music radio stations in the United States. She scored a worldwide hit in 1981 with " Je chante avec toi Liberté ", which was translated into several languages after its success in France. The momentum from this album also helped boost her following German album, Meine Lieder sind mein Leben . In 1984, Mouskouri returned to Greece and performed to

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