Hill 'despised' for stealing gags

Benny Hill was a prolific thief of jokes, a new biography has revealed.

He would sit in theatres with a notebook, judiciously ripping off other comedians' best lines, and even stole from books of corny gags.

Plundering the work of American comedians was his most fertile hunting ground, as the chances of getting found out where slimmer.

Biographer Mark Lewisohn said his blatant theft made him despised by comedy writers.

Scriptwriter Dave Freeman told him: "He had a terrible reputation for stealing material.

"People would go to shows at the London Palladium and see Benny sitting there with a notebook. He didn't feel guilty about it."

He also used to tune into American forces radio in the small hours, lifting lines from the likes of Bob Hope and Jimmy Durante.

And when his career took off he took to "writing abroad" - though his trips to the continent were just an excuse to steal visual cabaret jokes from another source.

The new book - Funny Peculiar, The True Story of Benny Hill - is currently being serialised in the Daily Mail.

It also tells of Hill's eccentric lifestyle: his awkwardness around women, his penny-pinching ways and his addiction to casual sex. When Hill died at Easter 1992, drawers in his Teddington home were found stuffed with uncashed cheques and discarded comedy awards.

The book, published by Sedgwick and Jackson, is priced £16.99. But click here to buy it from Amazon at a £3.40 discount.

Benny Hill biography

Published: 15 Apr 2002