Presenter Beadle dies from pneumonia aged 59

Published Thursday 31 January 2008 at 16:05 by Patrick Newley

TV presenter Jeremy Beadle, Britain’s best known practical joker, died yesterday at the age of 59.

He regularly attracted audiences of 15 million for his programmes Beadle’s About and You’ve Been Framed.

The quick-witted star shot to fame in 1981 as a co-host of Game For a Laugh, the hit ITV show that used hidden camera set-ups. But it was Beadle’s About, in which members of the public fell victim to practical jokes, that made him a national institution.

Once dubbed ‘the most hated man in Britain’ by critics, Beadle raised more than £100m for charities and was awarded an MBE in 2001.

Beadle was born in Hackney, east London, in 1948. He broke into television and radio as a writer and producer in the seventies.

He was a presenter on Capital Radio and LBC and joined Terry Wogan’s game show, You Must Be Joking. In 1980 he presented the Saturday morning children’s TV show Fun Factory.

Game For a Laugh, in which he co-starred with Henry Kelly, Matthew Kelly and Sarah Kennedy, made him a star name in the eighties and he progressed to Beadle’s About in 1987.

He was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2005, only months after having a kidney tumour removed. He had been working on some new television formats before he was admitted to hospital last week suffering from pneumonia.

ITV entertainment chief Paul Jackson said: “Jeremy Beadle entertained a whole generation of viewers - he was the ultimate joker and consummate prankster.”