Willie Rushton

Infobox Person
name = Willie Rushton
birth_name = William George Rushton
birth_date = birth date|1937|08|18|df=yes
birth_place = Chelsea, London, England
death_date = death date and age|1996|12|11|1937|08|18|df=yes
death_place = Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London, England
death_cause = Heart attack
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nationality = British
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occupation = Comedian, satirist, cartoonist, writer
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William George Rushton, commonly known as Willie Rushton (18 August, 1937 in Chelsea, London–11 December, 1996 Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London) was an English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer who co-founded the "Private Eye" satirical magazine.

School and army

Rushton was educated at Shrewsbury School, where Christopher Booker, Paul Foot and Richard Ingrams were contemporaries. With Ingrams and Booker he produced "The Wallopian", a satire on the school magazine, and contributed cartoons.

It was during this period that the term “pseud” was coined. The expression was made popular in "Private Eye" and is still in use as an insult against pseudo-intellectuals.

Rushton completed his national service in the army, serving as an “other rank” after failing the officer selection board. Afterwards he worked in a solicitor’s office, still drawing cartoons in his spare time and submitting them to "Punch" magazine, where they were rejected.

Private Eye and the satire boom

His Shrewsbury contemporaries meanwhile had gone on to university. Ingrams, at Oxford, was editing two magazines, "Mesopotamia" and "Parson's Pleasure," to which Rushton contributed cartoons.

The first "Private Eye" appeared on 25 October 1961, early issues being assembled in Rushton's bedroom at his mother's Kensington home, with Rushton the layout artist and cartoonist. Rushton also supplied jokes and names for "Eye" characters, such as Lunchtime O'Booze, the hard-drinking hack reporter.

In 1963, while working for "Private Eye", Rushton fought the Kinross and West Perthshire by-election (under the slogan "Death to the Tories") against Sir Alec Douglas-Home (known in the "Eye" as Baillie Vass), who was seeking election so he could become Prime Minister. On the eve of poll Rushton retired from the election and endorsed the Liberal candidate, who seemed the most credible challenger. It was too late to take his name from the ballot paper and Rushton received 45 votes.

Rushton found fame as a television performer in "That Was The Week That Was", introduced by David Frost, where his weekly impressions of Conservative politicians — this was during the Macmillan government and the Profumo affair — were called “masterpieces of refined cruelty”.

Films, TV and radio

He appeared in cameo roles in films, including "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" (1965) and "Monte Carlo or Bust" (1969). On television he appeared as Plautus in Frankie Howerd's ancient Rome farce "Up Pompeii!" (1970), and Major Trumpington in the prisoner of war drama "Colditz" (1974). His role as a storyteller on Jackanory was acclaimed, especially his treatment of the Winnie the Pooh stories. He was a popular choice for narrating audio books, especially those for children. In particular he recorded 18 of the books by Rev. W. Awdry for "The Railway Stories" series; he also recorded adaptations of Asterix books and Alice in Wonderland.

Later in life he appeared as a guest on countless TV shows of varying quality, including "Through the Keyhole" (with Frost again) and the quiz show Celebrity Squares (1975–79). He provided all the voices in the claymation-style animated series "The Trap Door", and was also the voice-over on a number of TV adverts and at least one public information film.

For 22 years, he was a panelist in the long-running BBC Radio 4 radio panel comedy game show "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" which he joined as a regular team member from the third series in 1974, and continued until death in 1996. No permanent replacement has been found for Rushton; instead his seat has been filled by a series of guests. Producer, John Naismith has said that 'As befits such an irreplaceable character, he has never been formally replaced.' ["ISIHAC Live" CD]

In 1989 he performed at The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball. His act consisted of singing "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" and acting out the lyrics which left him standing in top hat, white tie, and tails — but no trousers.

Rushton also illustrated Auberon Waugh's "Way Of The World" column in "The Daily Telegraph" from 1990 until his death and contributed to the "Literary Review", which Waugh edited.

He illustrated many books and, after the "Spycatcher" controversy, wrote the send-up "Spy Thatcher: An Insult to British Intelligence". He also wrote and illustrated "Super Pig", a response to Shirley Conran's "Superwoman". The original drawings for "Willie Rushton's Great Moments in History" (1984) are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Rushton was also passionate about cricket. His father had sent him for coaching at Lord's before he went to Shrewsbury and later he played for the Lord's Taverners. He wrote a novel, "W G Grace's Last Case" (1984), based on a fictional episode in the life of the great cricketer. His cricket and general knowledge were called upon in his role as a regular team captain on BBC Radio 4's quiz show Trivia Test Match with Tim Rice and Brian Johnston which ran from 1986 to 1993.

Rushton contracted diabetes in the early 1980s, and gave up beer; he became, according to Ingrams, “quite grumpy as a result, but his grumpiness had an admirable and jaunty quality to it”. He went into Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, for heart surgery, and died from complications on 11 December 1996. According to Rushton's widow, his last words included a message to his long-time friend and comedy partner, Barry Cryer: "Tell Bazza he's too old to do pantomime".

Following the suicide of comedian Tony Hancock in Sydney Australia in 1968 Rushton flew back to Britain with Hancock's ashes in an Air France hold-all. [http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/ham4news1.html Retrieved on 2008-0625]

Rushton married the actress Arlene Dorgan in 1968, with whom he had a son; there were two stepsons from her previous marriage.

Memorials

on "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue".

BBC7 showcased his contribution to "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" – in the week of the 10th anniversary of his death – by rebroadcasting five episodes of the show, one on each weekday night (11–15 December 2006). The broadcasts chosen included the last shows he recorded for the programme.

Bibliography

* "William Rushton's Dirty Book" (1964)
* "Super Pig" (1976)
* "Pigsticking: a joy for life" (1977)
* "The Reluctant Euro: Rushton Versus Europe" (1980)
* "The Filth Amendment: Rushton Versus Sextremes" (1981)
* "W. G. Grace's Last Case" (1984)
* "Spy Thatcher: The Collected Ravings of a Senior MI5 Officer" (1987)
* "Humphrey — The Nine Lives of the Number Ten Cat" (Pavilion 1995)

References

* Dictionary of National Biography

External links

*
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clue/article/willie.shtml BBC biography]
* [http://www.michaelscycles.freeserve.co.uk/rushton.html Willie Rushton Tribute Page]

Persondata
NAME=Rushton, Willie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Rushton, William George
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English comedian, cartoonist, satirist
DATE OF BIRTH=1937-08-18
PLACE OF BIRTH=Chelsea, London, England
DATE OF DEATH=12|11
PLACE OF DEATH=Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London, England