My Friend Jeremy Beadle

Today I feel like I have lost a brother.

Jeremy Beadle MBE has died and I feel strangely miffed at the passing of one of the real good guys.

As a Christian I can usually come to terms with the vicissitudes of life, and death, and convince myself of the bigger picture, but when the passing seems premature it is always more difficult to understand.

Of course in Jeremy’s 59 years on this earth he packed in several lifetimes of experiences. Humanitarian, wit, raconteur, bibliophile, intellectual and thoroughly decent bloke; all of these he was in spades. He was also a loyal and trusted friend.

We hosted many charity quizzes together and took part in several others as team-mates.

As a host he was second-to-none. His ‘Beadle’s Barmy Bingo’ would often start proceedings off. Corporate team-members would come up and pay their £20 for a ticket, their expectations high. The game would start and soon the expectations became even higher as invariably, and inevitably, every player in the hall would be sweating on one number. And then in an ear-shattering crescendo of unified noise house would be called and the winning player would rise from their seat……………..that is……..every player! The genial host had rigged the game so that everyone would shout on the same number. This always brought loud guffaws of laughter but also served as a ploy to get the kitty going for whatever charity he was representing as no-one ever asked for their money back. The barmy bingo also defrosted the audience somewhat and by the end of the evening Jeremy would have everyone dancing on the tables, quite literally, the men often with their trousers around their ankles. Jeremy insisted his quiz nights were fun with a capital F.

As a quiz-player Jeremy was formidable to say the least. A Celebrity Mastermind winner, a multiple victor on Win Beadle’s Money, a member of an all-star team that won a British Quiz Association Grand Prix, and a top-30 placing as an individual in the British Quiz Championship of 2002. You see Jeremy had read virtually all of the tens of thousands of books he had collected in his magnificent library.

As a friend he was everything one would want and he showed me many kindnesses over the years. Our first contact was when Jeremy rang me up out of the blue to congratulate me on coming second to him in a poll of the nation’s top pranksters (I once pretended to be an Italian freelance writer to thwart the rules of Fifteen-to-One).
After the A to Z of Everything was published in 2001 Jeremy invited me to his home to sign a couple of copies of his ‘favourite book’. At least that is what Jeremy had told me. Of course he knew so many authors and you take these things with a pinch of salt but the following year he told me he almost pulled out of Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway after the production company refused to let him take a copy of my book into his ‘prison’ in the ‘Banged Up With Beadle’ section. You see, Jeremy had a way about him to always make you feel special. Incidentally, this sojourn into reality television left Jeremy vowing “never again” as uncomplimentary editing left him to the mercy of an unscrupulous team. He was later offered vast sums to appear on other reality shows but turned them all down for the sake of his beloved wife Sue and their children Bonnie and Cassie.
On one occasion Jeremy had invited me round for dinner and as I was with Chris Hughes (he of Eggheads fame) earlier in the day I turned up with Chris in tow, totally unannounced. Jeremy and Sue were completely unphased and welcomed Chris as one would an old friend. It turned out that Jeremy had organised this meeting as a networking exercise for me as I was soon to have my A to Z of Sport published. The other guests were the chief sports writer with The Times, the Leyton Orient chairman and the author of the Guinness Book of the Olympics. I couldn’t possibly divulge what we spoke about that evening but suffice to say Jeremy commented at separate times “wouldn’t the papers have a field day with this” and “wouldn’t this make a great television show” as revelation after revelation were disclosed. In vino veritas. The other remarkable thing about this particular evening was that although it was unquestionably of a sporting theme Jeremy actually had no interest in sport whatsoever!

On another occasion Jeremy invited me as a guest on his radio show and dedicated the whole programme to a phone-in where people could discuss my book’s content and ask us any question they liked and we would endeavour to answer them all.

We travelled up to Leicestershire in his car once and I commented that he knew almost everybody in show business. I went on to ask him who his particular heroes were and he replied “people like you”. Again I am sure this was a case of schmoozing the immediate company but what this did tell me was that Jeremy was never happier than when he was around quiz folk. He was a true scholar and shared the same thirst for knowledge as myself and I shall miss his advice on the latest reference book must-buy.
I shall also miss his always sound advice in dealing with my publisher, press, friends and enemies.

I read Henry Kelly’s wonderful obituary in today’s Sunday Telegraph and it brought a tear to my eye. Henry described the real Jeremy Beadle, the one I and all his friends knew.

He was universally loved by the general public and to go walkabout with Jeremy meant having to stop repeatedly for autographs and mobile phone calls as members of the public loved to have him talk to their loved ones on the phone.

I shared a lunchtime bun and coffee with Max Clifford a year or two ago when we were both at the BBC plugging our books. The subject of our mutual friend arose and Max confessed quite openly “I at least deserve my reputation as I am a bit of a b****** but Jeremy is the loveliest man on earth and does not deserve his”

I cannot comment on Max’s credentials but I can vouch that Jeremy was truly a great man, a noble man, a gentle man. He has left such a yawning gap in all our lives my heart goes out to Sue, Bonnie, Cassie, Leo and Clare.

God bless them and God bless Jeremy.