Robert Alan "Bob" Monkhouse Passes Away

Today in Masonic History Robert Alan "Bob" Monkhouse passes away in 2003.

Robert Alan "Bob" Monkhouse was a British comedian.

Monkhouse was born on June 1st, 1928 in Beckenham, Kent, England. He was educated at Goring Hall School and Dulwich College. The latter he was expelled from. Before being expelled, he began writing for comic strips such as The Beano and The Dandy. After being expelled he joined the Royal Air Force, completing his service in 1948. His unwitting group captain signed a letter for Monkhouse which he sent to the BBC telling them they should give him an audition because Monkhouse was a war hero.

Monkhouse initially had a successful career as a script writer working in a partnership with Dennis Goodwin. The two wrote sketches for famous comedians of the time, including Bob Hope who turned to the duo when he needed something for a British audience. The partnership dissolved in 1962, when Goodwin took a job with Hope.

In the late 1950's Monkhouse began appearing in films. The first was in 1958 in a film called Carry on Sergeant, which was part of a series of films known as the Carry On series. He left the Carry On series to appear in another series of movies for a series of dental comedies, which he later regretted.

The main stay of Monkhouse's career was hosting game shows. Starting in 1956, he hosted the show Do You Trust Your Wife?. He hosted gameshows all the way to 2002 when he stopped hosting the show Wipeout which he had been hosting for four years. In the course of his gameshows he did experience controversy when at one point in time he was accused of putting branded products on one of his in exchange for money.

Monkhouse also hosted a variety of talk shows. One of his most popular was The Bob Monkhouse Show. On the show he had a variety of current and upcoming comedians, they chatted about the craft of comedy and analyzed it. Monkhouse was criticized for the show because people felt he was being a sycophant with his guests. Monkhouse responded to this by stating the people he had on the show he truly admired and many were personal heroes.

Monkhouse passed away on December 29th, 2003 from prostate cancer.

Monkhouse was a member of Chelsea Lodge No 3098, London, England.

This article provided by Brother Eric C. Steele.