Reg in peace
The phrase "a good innings" is often rolled out when somebody dies, but Reg Varney, beloved star of On The Buses (and attendant box office-smashing movies) has died aged 92. That's 92. He was born in 1916. Varney seems to have done very little of note after On The Buses ended in 1973 - he did a series called Down The Gate in 1975, but I can't pretend to have heard of it; then he appeared in Eric Sykes' The Plank in 1979 before effectively retiring to paint and play the piano, both of which he did with much accomplishment. Anyway, let us praise him with this fact:On 27 June, 1967, Reg Varney was the first person in the world to use a cashpoint machine. The first ever electronic ATM was installed at Barclays Bank in Enfield, North London, and for reasons I have yet to specify, Reg was the first to use it, as shown in this picture.
Gawd bless him and his turtleneck jumper and his eye for the clippies. (He was already in his fifties when he was chasing those birds with Jack down the depot.) Anyone younger than 40 will presumably struggle to place Reg, but it is their loss.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 8:59 PM
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Reg did the advert about what it did, 'cos nobody knew yet, see? He was about the biggest star on TV at the time, in a decade of big stars. Bless him. I'm sure someone from Barclaycard Towers in Nithampton can fill in the details, if they have an eye to their history.
ahhh, those were the days when middle-aged men could chase dolly birds and it all seemed completely appropriate. Even in the 80s, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner and their middle-aged soft rock ilk could dally with 18 year old beauties in their videos. The question of how pug-ugly they were never came up.
There were no Diet Coke window cleaners back then. Men were allowed to be old and ugly.
I think I was born out of time.*
**NB: that is so politically incorrect, I must be joking.
Salute Reg, a man of his time, fare ye well, Sir Reg.
Always suprised me how little time Reg actually spent on a bus, he was either down the depot winding up Blakey or at home having his tea. Saw one of the films on cable not long ago and the exterior shots looked like a different planet let alone another era.
Hoops McCann
In 1990 I was on holiday with my family in a rented appartment in Dartmouth. One morning my sister came back from moving her car from the street to a nearby car park and said that she thought she'd seen Reg Varney from a distance. At that very point I looked out the window and there he was, right outside, looking across The Dart through a pair of binoculars. Maybe he was checking out ATM useage on the other side of the river.
Later that day, David Platt scored my favourite goal in the history of football, in the last minute against Belgium in the World Cup.
The IT Crowd is back on Friday. Loved the last series.
RIP Reg Varney.
God said, "I'll get you, Butler!".
And he did.
Ding ding.
We only discussing him in the office the other day, and wondered if he might already be dead. Now we have our answer.
And can you believe Stephen Lewis (Blakey) was but 33 when he started filming on On The Buses. He looked in his fifties too.
"And dyslexic Reg Varney was known for his role in On The Buses - or No The Subs, as he called it." Angus Deayton.
Hoops is right - there was next to no footage of Varney on any actual buses. I also never knew until having an idle glance now that the programme continued even after the characters of Stan and Arthur had departed. Imagine watching Porridge with just Warren, McClaren and Barrowclough on view.
The lady who played Varney's old mum was only 11 years older than him in real life.
We always test out new technology on comedians.
From Wikipedia:
"Ernie Wise made the first mobile phone call in the UK on 1 January 1985 from St Katherine's Dock, East London, to Vodafone's Headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire."
His retreat from public life was, I believe, health related. He'd had a heart attack, either before or during On the Buses. When Rupert Murdoch bought into LWT, he questioned why they weren't making On the Buses - one of their few bona fide hits at that point - all year round. As head of LE, Barry Took had to point out that a) there probably weren't enough writers around and b) the star could only be worked so hard before he had another heart attack.
Thanks for that, LF, and nice to have you around. (Louis is the author of Turned Out Nice Again: The Story of British Light Entertainment, just out in hardback. Maybe somebody will buy me it for Christmas. He also wrote Where Have All Good Times Gone?, an excellent history of the record industry.)
When Rupert Murdoch bought into LWT, he questioned why they weren't making On the Buses - one of their few bona fide hits at that point - all year round. As head of LE, Barry Took had to point out that a) there probably weren't enough writers around and b) the star could only be worked so hard before he had another heart attack.
I don't believe this. Murdoch would surely have kept going until he vomited up his own left ventricle.
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