TV's golden boy

People with his talent don’t come around very often – he wrote about real life.

His work output was prolific but, of course, we will always remember him for Fools and Horses.

What fantastic entertainment that was – and still is.

If you are feeling low at any time just put an episode of Fools on and you will feel much better.

Some episodes stand out as Keith says, but they all made us roar out laughing at their antics and you never get fed up watching them, no matter how many times you view.

There are not many comedy series around that you want to keep repeating.

Keith’s friend Sue, he says, can recite the dialogue from many episodes.

It’s got to be good to want to do this.

Mind you, many of us can manage some of this.

My young grandson has every episode on DVD of Fools and he watches them regularly. Dell Boy, Dave-nee, Rodney, Uncle Albert, Trig and all the rest of the gang who we all know so well. What great characters, and most of them based on people he’d seen or met.

Some of the famous quotes include Dell to Rodders: ‘Mum said on her deathbed, send Rodney for the fish and chips’; Dell to Uncle Albert: ‘Albert, cook me a healthy fry-up’; and Trig commenting on his lifelong broom which had five new heads.

So many we could recite.

John wrote the theme tune for Fools and sang it as well which, I think, he did for some of his other works.

I can remember watching and getting a lot of pleasure from Citizen Smith, Dear John and Micawber among others, and his last, Rock and Chips.

Thank you John, you entertained myself and millions worldwide for many years.

So sad you are no longer with us.

He was made an OBE – he should have been knighted.

Frederick Melloy

Crescent Road

Bognor Regis