Benny Hill

Alfred Hawthorne Hill came into the world on 21 January 1924 in Southampton, Hampshire, England, and left it in April 1992 at his residence in Teddington, Middlesex, England. Show business claimed his attention while he was still young, and he soon worked the variety circuit with a focus on comedy sketches and celebrity impressions. By the time Pye Records offered him a contract in the early 1960s, he had already become a familiar face to British audiences. The lighthearted singles “Gather In The Mushrooms,” “Transistor Radio,” and “Harvest Of Love” each reached modest chart positions during those years. Later in the decade he headed the cast of The Benny Hill Show, one of its era’s most popular comedy programs. The series eventually drew large audiences across the United States and elsewhere, even though its cheeky, postcard-style humor remained distinctly English. Musical guests appeared regularly, and Hill regularly performed his own comic songs, which leaned on gentle double meanings and playful wordplay. Among those numbers, “Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)” caught the national fancy and reached the top of the UK singles chart over Christmas 1971. Collections of his suggestive story-songs remain available on album. He was discovered alone at home, having succumbed to coronary thrombosis over the Easter weekend of April 1992. The event prompted extensive press coverage that both celebrated his gifts and examined the size of the estate he left behind.