SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: How did Goodies star Tim Brooke-Taylor leave only £2,000 in his will?
Did much-loved comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor have the last laugh when it came to leaving his affairs in order?
For the Goodie, who died from Covid-19 in April last year, has shocked friends by leaving just £2,390 in his will, according to figures released by the probate office in London.
Brooke-Taylor, 79, who was best known for the television show The Goodies in a career which spanned more than 50 years, left a gross estate of £19,023. But after his outstanding affairs had been finalised, this produced a figure of just over £2,000, which goes to his widow, Christine.
Tim Brooke-Taylor, 79, left a gross estate of £19,023 but after his outstanding affairs had been finalised, this produced a figure of just over £2,000, which goes to his widow, Christine (pictured together)
Her spokesman tells me; ‘This is a private matter. She has not been left destitute and has no further comment to make.’ Brooke-Taylor started his performing career at Cambridge University, becoming president of the Footlights drama club, and moved onto BBC radio with I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again and worked in television alongside university friends John Cleese and Graham Chapman.
His anarchic wit led to him becoming a panelist on the radio show I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue for almost half a century. Brooke-Taylor, who lived at Cookham Dean in Berkshire, married Christine in 1968, and they had two sons, Ben and Edward.
He was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to light entertainment.
Brooke-Taylor was best known for the television show The Goodies (above) in a career which spanned more than 50 years
He appeared in eight films, including Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory as well as the acclaimed television play Cathy Come Home.
Brooke-Taylor was also an author, writing three books on his own, and co-writing three books with other members of The Goodies. The Goodies also had two top 10 chart hits with songs The Inbetweenies and the Funky Gibbon in the 1970s.
He died from complications after developing coronavirus. He is survived by his widow and sons.
Former Made In Chelsea star Georgia ‘Toff’ Toffolo admits she has a housekeeper four days a week because she’s incapable of chores.
‘I’ve avoided cleaning my whole life. I am no domestic goddess — I am the complete opposite. If I’m really pushed, I’ll put something in the dishwasher.’ says the 26-year-old.
‘But I’d never turn it on.’
Melissa and Yasmin’s summer of grub…
Melissa Odabash attended the launch of Yasmin Mills’s book, How To Eco Picnic, at the Treehouse Hotel in London this week
With beach holidays abroad looking increasingly unlikely this summer, the Duchess of Cambridge’s favourite swimwear designer, Melissa Odabash, is making the most of the great British outdoors instead.
Preparing for lots of alfresco dining, the 56-year-old attended the launch of Yasmin Mills’s book, How To Eco Picnic, at the Treehouse Hotel in London this week where guests enjoyed vanilla cupcakes, vegan and vegetarian sandwiches and champagne.
‘Oh my god, this was my first time out to a party,’ Melissa tells me.
‘I can’t wait to go on a picnic when the sun comes out.’
Best-selling novelist Kate Mosse, who co-founded the Women’s Prize For Fiction 25 years ago, is not sure if she’d be brave enough to launch the initiative today.
‘It did not make me popular. I’d like to think that I would have had the courage to do it in the days of social media, but the stuff that came our way — and my way in particular just because I was the spokeswoman for it — was pretty tough, even then,’ says Mosse.
‘And people had to take the effort to write you a letter.
‘If people had been able to get at you in the way they can now, and the level of vitriol that particularly women have when they’re setting things up… I like to think I would have had it in me to still do it, but I don’t know.’
Daisy is still a Force to be reckoned with
Is the Force still with Daisy Ridley? The Star Wars actress has just filed accounts for Fawks Ltd, the business through which she channels her earnings, and they report £12.6 million in shareholders’ funds — an increase of £637,000 on 2019.
However, that’s a huge drop from the previous year, when the funds shot up by £8.1 million in 12 months.
Ridley, 29, who played Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015, set up the company that year and its nature of business is reported at Companies House as ‘motion picture production activities’.
No pay for her is reported, but she borrowed £1.15 million from the business during the year, of which £464,000 was repaid.
Daisy grew up in London’s Maida Vale with her photographer father Christopher Ridley and banker mother, Louise Fawkner-Corbett.
Daisy Ridley has just filed accounts for Fawks Ltd, the business through which she channels her earnings, and they report £12.6 million in shareholders’ funds — an increase of £637,000 on 2019
The BBC is not the only broadcaster under fire. ITV’s former executive chairman Michael Grade is furious that the channel cancelled the finale of its drama Viewpoint after one of the cast, Noel Clarke, was accused of sexual harassment by a string of women who had worked with him in the past.
Former Doctor Who star Clarke hasn’t been arrested and ‘vehemently’ denies allegations of inappropriate behaviour. Lord Grade of Yarmouth says: ‘Innocent until proven guilty. I don’t like guilt by accusation — it hasn’t been tested in a court.’
They were one of the most successful groups in pop history, but Abba would have been a flop these days, claims their star Bjorn Ulvaeus — and short attention spans are to blame.
Speaking of their 1976 No 1 hit, he says: ‘Fernando has two verses before you even get to the chorus. That song wouldn’t stand a chance if we released it now. I don’t think I would have made it in today’s world at all. It’s a much more fierce competition for songwriters now.’
Fake cake fools magic man Max
Magic was always going to take centre stage at the wedding of Max Rendall — the magician son of conservationist John Rendall — and his businesswoman bride Talulla Barrow at London’s Hurlingham Club
Magic was always going to take centre stage at the wedding of Max Rendall — the magician son of conservationist John Rendall — and his businesswoman bride Talulla Barrow at London’s Hurlingham Club.
However, it was the club’s catering staff who executed the best trick of the day when they created a fourth tier to the couple’s wedding cake — made of polystyrene.
‘We had no idea,’ Max tells me. ‘No matter how hard we stabbed and jabbed the knife wouldn’t go through.
‘Talulla was bewildered, then shocked, and then when we realised what it was we just burst out laughing.’
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