Feud over Frankie Howerd's memory

A feud has blown up over Frankie Howerd’s diaries – after the comic’s sister, Betty, cast doubt on their authenticity.

Howerd is said to have left the documents are said to his personal manager Dennis Heymer, now 82, with whom he had a secret 37-year relationship.

Heymer signed everything that Howerd left him over to his new lover Chris Byrne – who is 40 years his junior – some years ago. The legacy included the copyright on Howerd's work, his former home, Wavering Down House in Cross, Somerset, and all Frankie's memorabilia.

Byrne has said: ‘The diaries will change the way people view the most famous people in history.’

However, 87-year-old Betty Howard told today’s Daily Mail: ‘I do not believe Frankie ever kept a diary, nor read other people's diaries. He just wasn't interested in them. He was too busy to write anything down and had trouble finding a pen most of the time, let alone scribbling down his innermost thoughts.

'I was very close to Frankie. I cannot recall ever seeing a diary, or Frankie writing in one. After he died, I found no diaries in his London flat. As far as I'm concerned they just don't exist, and if they do then I'd like to see them for myself.’

Byrne – a reformed alcoholic who is now chairman of the Frankie Howerd OBE Trust – insists that the diaries, which stretch back 38 years, do exist - and has been touting them around publishing houses.

He said: ‘Betty is obviously just very worried about what they are going to reveal, but it's nothing to do with her. They belonged to Frankie and Dennis. She didn't know about the life they led when she was not around.’

Last summer, Byrne put Wavering Down on the market for £800,000, offering to throw in all Frankie's memorabilia for a further £600,000 – but it failed to sell.

But Betty said: ‘ I just wish this Chris Byrne would stop talking about my brother. He says they are keeping his memory alive, but what for? Why can't they just let him rest in peace?’

Published: 16 May 2009