'Blockbusters' presenter Bob Holness dies, aged 83

[dutchman]

Blockbusters presenter Bob Holness has died at the age of 83.



Holness passed away on Friday morning (January 6) peacefully in his sleep, according to his family.

The TV icon, who has previously suffered from a series of strokes, was living in a nursing home.

Born Robert Wentworth John Holness in Natal, South Africa, Holness moved to the UK with his family as a child, before briefly returning to South Africa to work for a printing company.

He began his distinguished broadcasting career in 1955, the same year he also married his wife Mary. Bob and Mary returned to the UK together in 1961, where his career blossomed.

Holness landed his first job with the BBC on Late Night Extra and worked for Radio 1 and 2 with broadcasters including Terry Wogan and Michael Parkinson. His impressive radio credits included further stints with Radio 2 fronting Bob Holness Requests the Pleasure and Bob Holness and Friends, and the World Service's Anything Goes.

BBC gameshow Blockbusters launched Holness to mainstream fame and made him a much-loved TV presenter for all ages. The quiz had a strong cult audience and was particularly popular with students during its 11-year run between 1983 and 1994.

The show also spawned the famous humourous catchphrase, 'Can I have a P please, Bob?' and had its own hand-jive dance routine, which accompanied its closing credits. Holness always appeared happy to embrace the light-hearted and sillier elements of the quiz.

Holness's sense of humour was also highlighted when he regularly played along with the urban myth that he was the saxophonist on Gerry Rafferty's 1978 hit Baker Street, a made-up story created by a journalist at NME magazine.

Holness is survived by his wife Mary, three children and seven grandchildren.