A Tribute To Tim Brooke-Taylor

A Tribute To Tim Brooke-Taylor

I sit here in my union flag underpants, typing away my tribute to Mr Tim Brooke-Taylor. Which is no easy feat as spring on the carriage return on the typewriter is very painful in this confined space of said pants.

So where to start…?

Tim will always represent one of the two people who managed to pull off drag and look natural doing it. The other being the great Danny La Rue. And that’s not a line you often start a tribute with!
Tim was the forgotten Beatle, the missing link in the prehistory of Monty Python. He was also, when the occasion demanded, a teapot.

Tim Julian Brooke-Taylor (formerly known as Lady Constance de Coverlet) was born in Buxton, during the blackout, on the 17th July 1940. And being born into a family known for their athletic prowess, you’d expect a world class competitor naturally to emerge.

Tim’s Grandfather was the local parson and a centre-forward in the local team. His mother was a lacrosse champion.

With a family combination such as this, I’m sure Tim (had he put his mind to it) could have rattled off a quick situation comedy around his ancestry.

So Tim made his way through his educational adventure, coming out the other end with a fistful of qualifications.

As a budding actor he performed 5 days a week for a whole academic year as a teacher at a school in Hemel Hempstead. Boy that must have been a tough gig!

But soon, Tim knotted his little union jack hanky on the end of a stick and made his way to the dreamy spires of Cambridge.

Upon arrival he joined the famous Footlights at just the right time under the guise of studying Law. Making friends with such luminaries as Cleese, Chapman, Garden and some little hairy tearaway from Birmingham.

Tim headed up the Footlights, at one point travelling abroad in 1964 with one of their revues. He was an avid writer, director and performer. He was one of the famous four who co-wrote the legendary 'Four Yorkshireman' sketch. I would tell you more about that, but you’d ‘never believe me.’

He appeared on the popular ‘Frost’ franchise of comedy programmes, co-writing with John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Marty Feldman and the great John Junkin.

This would ultimately lead up to the coming together of Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden on the TV programme ‘Broaden Your Mind’ which only survives in a handful of film clips; Oddie joining the cast for the second season.

Very late on the evening of 8th November 1970, the three members of the Cricklewood Royalty would appear to audiences in the form of ‘The Goodies’.

Their shows are a fizzing cauldron of creativity, comedy, slapstick, pathos and sometimes tragedy. The great and the good all lined up to appear or be lampooned in their show. The Royalist, the Mad Scientist and the hairy little Common One.

Awards such as the Montreux Rose were won, and all ages watched eagerly to catch up on the antics of these three Goodies during some of the darkest years of the 1970s. One of Tim’s uncles was even played by the great John Le Mes; that’s how much the programme drew the stars.

Even during the ‘Goodies’ era Tim still found time to work on the wireless in programmes such as ‘Hello Cheeky’ and ‘I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again’ for which he created his character the legendary high pitched Lady Constance de Coverlet.

His acting skills took him to the land of sitcom with series like ‘You Must Be The Husband’ alongside Diane Keen and ‘Me And My Girl’ with Richard O’Sullivan.

Tim was a hardworking performer/writer who enjoyed the challenge of fresh projects and ideas.

His career went on throughout the modern age, appearing recently in a launch with the other two for Network DVD’s release of their entire series of 'The Goodies'.

I was watching some episodes over the last few nights, thinking that the ideas are still as fresh and entertaining as ever.

Tim on screen was the same as the Tim off. A kind, warm and generous person who always wanted to reach that little segment of the audience that he knew had a hidden funny bone, but just needed the right encouragement.

Finally, in 2011 he was made an OBE, a long overdue gong, considering the promise the Royal Family made to him in the very first episode of ‘The Goodies’.

Whether it was being drowned in baked beans, coming out as a closet boy scout, dragging up (Tim never settled for half measures) or being a teapot, Tim was a true comedy legend.

The world can be a cruel lonely place sometimes that needs a belly laugh now and again, and Tim in ‘The Goodies’ definitely lifts my spirits. Give it a go sometime soon and rediscover your inner child.

That three-seater cycle today is missing a huge presence, and one we have the privilege of revisiting at any time.

Cheers Timbo!

Tim Julian Brooke-Taylor: 1940 - 2020.

(Written by Warren Cummings)

(Cover by Martin Holmes)