 Welcome to Comic Geddon TV where all things geek culture collide. Today we're going to be looking at the life and times of Benny Hill. Hill was born Alfred Hawthorne Hill January 21st 1924 in Southampton on the South Coast of England. His father Alfred Hill and his grandfather Henry Hill were both performing circus clowns. His father eventually left the circus and became the manager of a surgical appliance store which allowed him to be home more but provided less money for the family. Money was always tight in those days and both of his parents taught him how to live very frugally. Hill started working at a young age and eventually worked at Woolsworth as a stock boy, a delivering milkman, a bridge operator, and a part-time driver before becoming a stage manager with a touring review. In 1942 he was drafted into the British Army where he served as a mechanic, a truck driver, and eventually a search light operator in Normandy. During his time in the military he helped put on variety shows to entertain his fellow troops. It was at this time he first began calling himself Benny Hill. It was an homage to his favorite comedian Jack Benny. After the war was over he stuck with the name Benny Hill and started working in radio. Although he was able to find work and have some success in radio he just could not help but feel that his true potential could not shine through without being both seen and heard. This is when Benny started to try out for television parts and movie roles. Once he started to land a few spots and he got a good understanding of how the shows were being put together, Benny went ahead and spent two months alone in his apartment writing scripts for his own sketch comedy show. He would perfect the scripts and practice his sales pitch to the potential television executives. The day Benny was able to get into a meeting with the BBC program director Benny was said to have made him laugh so hard that he asked Hill to stop so he could catch his breath. Hill was signed that very week and the Benny Hill variety show was born. Hill knew this was his big shot so he spent all his time either at the studio or back in his apartment working on scripts and perfecting his patented comedic deliveries. He was rarely seen anywhere else. The show took on many forms over the years before morphing into what everyone knows is the most popular version of the Benny Hill show. There was success but nothing compares to what came next. In 1969 Hill left the BBC for the Thames network which was a big shock to British television. This proved to be a great move on Benny's part because Thames was able to finally bring the show to the American audience. Not knowing how well this British humor would do in the States it was an expensive experiment. The experiment worked out better than anyone could have imagined. Not only did the American audience love the show but his popularity in the UK increased tremendously. By 1971 the Benny Hill show became the most watched program in the UK with an audience peaking at more than 21 million. With all of the success came a lot of money. For most people that would mean a lifestyle change but not for Benny Hill. Benny stayed in the same apartment, never bought a car, continued to take the bus to work, shopped the same corner market only buying items that were on sale at the time. He wore the same clothes until the threads frayed and he would even glue the soles of his shoes back on. Benny's father died in 1972 and his mother passed away in 1976. Both of his parents were able to see the height of his success and were very proud of him. Although his parents did not want Benny to spend any of his money on them Hill was happy that he had been able to pay for them to live comfortably from the early 60s on. The Benny Hill show continued to air in over 140 countries around the world until it was eventually canceled in 1989. Benny was quoted saying that he understands that the ratings had dropped but for them to just let him go without a pat on the back or a handshake goodbye was shocking considering the 20 plus years together. Over the next three years Benny was said to have fell into a depression. He started to eat and drink heavily, gained a lot of weight and then had a heart attack. Hill refused to have heart bypass surgery which could have prolonged his life instead choosing to just go back to his apartment and stay to himself. In April of 1992 neighbors in his apartment building called the police to have a welfare check on him because he would not answer the door answer his telephone and his TV had been on for three days. When the police made their way in Benny Hill was found dead on his couch in front of the TV. Next to him on his coffee table were uncashed royalty checks all made out for bank deposit along with a box of cash. As the police finished their investigation many more boxes of cash were found hidden in his apartment adding up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It seems he would always get cash back when depositing his royalty checks. Maybe he didn't trust the bank to keep all of his money. Benny Hill was never married. He had mentioned to a few people over the years that he had proposed to two different women in his life but was turned down both times. He left behind no survivors. Benny Hill was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery near his birthplace in Southampton on April 26, 1992. Pro-Bait was granted on Hills Estate in London on June 5, 1992. Its value at the time of his death was 7.5 million pounds sterling which equals 9.9 million US dollars. During the night of October 4, 1992, following speculation in the media that Hill had requested to be buried with large amounts of cash and gold, someone dug up his grave at Hollybrook Cemetery breaking open his coffin. The grave was found the following morning by a passerby. After police examination of the scene his body had not been damaged and nothing else was found in the coffin with him. The casket was reclosed and the grave filled back in. As an extra security major a one foot thick concrete slab was placed over top of the grave. No one can say for sure if anything was stolen out of the coffin or not because no one has ever been caught. Take care Geeks!