Some men have died
Mike Reid 1940-2007
Ingmar Bergman 1918-2007
I have, to differing degrees, loved both of these men. Mike Reid had, sadly, left EastEnders by the time I arrived there in 2000, but he was already legend on the Square - not least for being one the castmember most likely to add his own lines to the script. There was little point in trying to write for Frank Butcher - Mike Reid knew him best. One such line had gone down in EastEnders history: "What do you take me for? Some kind of pilchard?" If that line isn't etched on Reid's gravestone, there is no justice. Although I was given it as an ironic Christmas present, T'rific, his autobiography, is a stormer, albeit vague to the point of infuriating. Again, more phrases that nobody else had ever used. At one point, the author describes himself as walking around "like prick the bishop." It seems only right that Mike Reid died in Spain, where he had moved. He represents every Englishman who has ever retired to Spain, to turn permanently salmon pink and buy the Sun and speak English in tapas bars.
Bergman, meanwhile, made more of an artistic contribution to the century - he was, after all, the greatest film director working in it - but was no less of a rogue than Mike. He had five wives and nine kids, all of whom he effectively abandoned, dedicated as he was to his art. BBC4 had only just shown three Bergman documentaries, the most enlightening of which was Bergman And Faro Island (the bleak but beautiful Swedish rock to which he moved permanently, and the setting of many of his films, not least my own personal favourite, the ultra-bleak Winter Light). This doc was made for Swedish television about four years ago, and filmmaker Marie Nyerod had unprecedented access to the old recluse, notching up 30 hours of interview. He clearly liked her, and she him. Aged 85 at the time, he seemed spritely and in reasonable spirits - driving around in a jeep like a madman - although he admitted, looking back on his life, that he was "family-lazy" and listed all his demons for Nyerod. He simply preferred his own company. At one poignant juncture, he spoke of his lack of religious belief (something that constantly came up in his films - son of a chaplain, of course), and yet, when his last wife, Ingrid von Rosen, died in 1995, he admitted that for the first time he had contemplated heaven, certain that when he died, he would meet Ingrid again; that she would be waiting for him. I hope he was right. He had a grandfather clock in his house on Faro that ticked loudly, and comforted him. It's still ticking. He, alas, is not.
Still no broadband access. BT inquiry ongoing. Today I am squatting at Radio 4, which seems like a good place to be on the day of Bergman's death.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 12:38 PM
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23 Comments:
The BBc website has banner for Bergman and rightly so. It is showing him in somekind of idyllic family snap shot though which is odd. As for Mike Reid I only realy know him from run around where he was a pleasingly grumpy host quite at odds with the likes od Dick and Dom we get now a days. Am I the only one to have thought the prizegiving "free for all" at the end of run a round could have led to a lot of tears before bedtime. Did anyone really want a chemistry set instead of bike?
Surely Mike Reid has to be saluted for the fact that when "Runaround" was at it's peak, there was a TRIFFIC chocolate(ish) bar doing the rounds with his face on the wrapper.
And whilst we are saying farewell to icons, Tommy Eytle who played Jules Tavernier in Eastenders has also died.
G.
Not forgetting Phil Drabble - and the Rev Goatboy off of that Popbitch.
I was sad to see that Mike Reid had died. He seemed like a decent bloke.
Well according to Wiki, the dear and departed Mikey did appear in the TV Doctor Who, with William Hartnell (and Kenneth Kendall) no less.
Here's the link to Mike's page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Reid_%28entertainer%29
and the follow on link to the episode "The War Machines". He played "an uncredited soldier".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Machines
It looks like a classy, or should I say, triffic, story, although I can't remember seeing it. I must get it. It does exist, having been pieced together, after the BBC master was wiped, from other copies sent in from around the world.
Off topic, but I can't decide what was worse in the 60s and 70s, the ripping up of all the little railway routes, or the wiping of old TV tapes. What a damn shame.
Hope the BT shambles resolves itself soon. All the best from Northamptonshire, m'ducks.
AnotherAnon
And now Michelangelo Antonioni.
Here is the BBC report
Mike Reid was as 'racist' as Bernard Manning was, Did any of you ever hear his material?
I find the different reactions to both comic's deaths laughable, Maybe it's because of eastenders and the nostalgic love-in with runaround.
Was surprised that Marcus Brigstocke or some other piss-poor comedian wasn't spitting fury at Reid's passing on the guardian
I was going to say, I thought he fell into the 'racist' comedian camp too.
I had hoped we'd get the triple whammy of Manning, Reid and Davidson in the space of a few weeks.
Chris
I was merely celebrating the man who brought a character to life on EastEnders. I have never watched his stand-up videos, and they were all racist in the 70s on The Comedians. No excuse, but they were.
I think there was a large element of racism, sexism and homophobia in his recent stand-up stuff too, though Andrew.
Mike Reid is a funny one, as he kind of splits opinion. I for one didn't like him at all, whereas other people I know loved him.
Chris
Eastenders is crap. Nobody would get a gravestone with 'pilchard' hammered into it.
Mike Reid was a horrible man- here's one of his jokes:
What is the most common name for a Russian prostitute? Onyerbackyabitch!'
Runaround!
Why would Radio 4 be a good place to be on the day of Ingmar Bergman's death? It would be better to be on Faro, I think, because then you could wave goodbye to his body as it rides away to Faro hospital. And then you could nip in his house and steal off with his famous projector. And you could even find someone who knows Ingmar Bergman and knows what they are talking about and can talk about him without being pretentious.
Bergman was a lovely man, and Mike Reid was sexist, racist joke.
Here's another sample, I can't be held accountable for the syntax etc, as I took it from some idiotic football fansite:
"went back to this birds house the other night f--k me she had freakin teddy bears and dolls all around her bed on shelves 100s of the things anyways, i giv it a good seeing to,and after were aving a fag
and i says to her,How was it for you,
She turned around and said you can ave anything off the bottom shelf."
Now, I'm not Noam Chomsky, but however badly that joke was transcribed, it is undoubtedly the work of a mind that didn't have a problem getting paid to spread muck designed to keeping working class women down (and before you phoney liberals start whining, Mike Reid's audience is undoubtedly working class and badly educated).
He wasted his life.
Wasted his life ? That is shockingly harsh. The man is not bloody cold and you are slagging him off ? Have a bit of respect.
I thought he was a pleasing personality. I always enjoyed watching him. I heard no less a person than Danny Kelly lauding him after he died and that is good enough for me.
I saw a dvd of his stand up a few years ago. A few joks that made me laugh but decided it was not really my thing. In much the same way that I suspect many Reid fans would probably not watch Jo Brand or Ben Elton (but then who would these days). All down to personal choice. Much like yours to post something unpleasant rather than just saying to each their own.
I thought Andrew's piece on Bergman was very respectful and I really cannot believe I have wasted 10 minutes replying to such an unpleasant, vitriolic post but there you are you made me cross.
Entirely off topic Andrew but for some reason I seem to recall the other day that the Q , probably at the time you were there used to refer to Billy Idol as 'The Greatest Living Eglishman.' Why was that, I am guessing either irony or my memory is playing tricks on me and I have made it up.
My exposure to Mike Reid is similarly limited to saturated seventies memories of children frantically hopping from one answer to the next, or brief glimpses of Al Murray as I flick the channels on the way to an Arena documentary or phoney liberal discussion programme. The examples of his stand-up humour that have been given here, if accurate, don't paint him in too lovable a light, though the gonk-winning-shag gag seems a slightly poor example of him at his sexist worst, as the joke is turned upon him at the end.
Nevertheless, the reason for the different reactions to his and Manning's deaths is fairly clear to me: Reid was on the telly, and Manning wasn't, because Reid had something else to offer than the old school stand-up, and Manning didn't. Either through lack of ability or stubborn lack of willingness, Manning stuck two fingers up at mainstream media, and so it's hardly surprising that it failed to mourn him fully when he went.
Wow, I think I've just been attacked for not knowing Ingmar Bergman personally but still having an opinion on him.
I don't think I ever defended Reid for being sexist or racist, I repeat: he was really good acting in a television programme.
Calm down, in other words.
This post has been removed by the author.
I dont think Mike Reid was an actor at all.He just 'played' the cockney geezer that he was.
By the way andrew,you dont need to tell us all to calm down (twice).Twas and still is a frank (pardon the pun) and honest exchange of views
I assumed the calm down request was directed mainly at the false Noam Chomsky, whose tone was aggressive and inappropriate. The blog owner has the right to assert this, I think.
Surely Mr Chomsky was having a pop at the pretentious twaddle that people say when the great and famous and maybe not so great and famous pass on.would it have been better to be at Radio one when Elvis died.Or radio two when val Doonican died?or Albert Squaer when Mike Reid died for that matter
My utterance "calm down" was indeed directed at N Chomsky, who wrote:
Why would Radio 4 be a good place to be on the day of Ingmar Bergman's death?
Because I was, and they asked me to present a programme about him, which goes out tomorrow at 4.30pm. I'm in the Arts department of R4 and am surrounded by people who appreciate how important Bergman was. I really like him, as I have stated.
It would be better to be on Faro, I think, because then you could wave goodbye to his body as it rides away to Faro hospital. And then you could nip in his house and steal off with his famous projector.
Don't understand this. Did I come across as some kind of morbid stalker?
And you could even find someone who knows Ingmar Bergman and knows what they are talking about and can talk about him without being pretentious.
I hope I wasn't pretentious, but the tone of this allusion was, I felt, a little aggressive, given the circumstances.
The Mike Reid teddy bear joke seemed to me to be about the teller's inability to give sexual satisfaction to a woman. Again, I'm not defending his sexism or racism, but saying he was trying to keep working class women down I think credits him with a lot more violence and political intent than his autobiography suggests.
But hey, his audience are working class and badly educated, so I don't suppose they'll have read his book.
On a point of order : Val Doonican is still alive.
fair point re Val Doonican
WALLOP!!
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