50 Fun Facts About Benny Hill

Which 1963 instrumental became famous worldwide as the closing chase music of The Benny Hill Show?

Yakety Sax was voted the nation's favourite theme tune in a 2015 ITV special. The show first used it in 1969, in its first episode for Thames Television.

Benny Hill's 1971 UK Christmas number one, 'Ernie', is a comic ballad about a man in which job?

Milkman was a job Hill had held himself, for a dairy in Eastleigh, Hampshire. He wrote the song in 1955 as the opening of a screenplay that was never filmed.

In which 1969 Michael Caine film does Benny Hill play the computer expert Professor Simon Peach?

The Italian Job has Hill's professor sabotage Turin's traffic computers so that a gang can steal gold in the jam. It was also Noël Coward's last film.

Which character does Benny Hill play in the 1968 musical film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

The Toymaker hides the Potts family in his Vulgarian shop, then smuggles the heroes into the castle disguised as dolls. Roald Dahl co-wrote the screenplay.

Jane Leeves, a Hill's Angels dancer on The Benny Hill Show, later played Daphne Moon in which sitcom?

Frasier ran from 1993 to 2004 and brought Leeves an Emmy nomination. Her screen debut had been a small role on Hill's show in 1983.

The Benny Hill Show's chase tune was played outside Parliament in 2022 as Boris Johnson announced what?

His resignation as prime minister, on 7 July 2022, showed how the tune has become shorthand for political chaos, decades after the show itself ended.

Benny Hill was born and, in 1992, buried in which town or city on England's south coast?

Southampton's Hollybrook Cemetery holds his grave, which robbers broke open months later amid rumours of buried gold. It now lies under a concrete slab.

Which future British prime minister picked Benny Hill's 'Ernie' on Desert Island Discs in 2006?

David Cameron was Conservative Party leader, not yet in Downing Street, when he named it among his eight favourite records on the BBC radio show.

Which American pop superstar, a Benny Hill fan since a 1970s British tour, met the comedian in 1992?

Michael Jackson was far from Hill's only famous American fan: Burt Reynolds, Mickey Rooney and Walter Cronkite all praised him in a BBC documentary.

Which Nashville session musician recorded the 1963 hit that became The Benny Hill Show's chase theme?

Boots Randolph also played on Elvis Presley sessions and on Roy Orbison's Oh, Pretty Woman. His tune only charted when he re-recorded it for Monument Records.

Benny Hill, who took his stage name from American comedian Jack Benny, was born with which first name?

Alfred Hawthorne Hill shared the name with his father, who managed a surgical appliance shop. The son picked Benny because Jack Benny was his favourite comedian.

Benny Hill's father and grandfather had both worked in which branch of show business?

Circus clowns ran in the family for two generations before Hill. He chose a newer stage: the BFI calls him the first British comedian to find fame through television.

Which American talk-show host tried several times to bring Benny Hill to Los Angeles as a guest?

Johnny Carson and his Tonight Show sidekick Ed McMahon were both fans, part of an American following that grew after the show entered US syndication in the late 1970s.

In a spoof of a 1966 film drama, Benny Hill played both Richard Burton and which actress?

Elizabeth Taylor co-starred with Burton in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the film being spoofed. Hill's other impressions ranged from Marlon Brando to Shirley Bassey.

Benny Hill beat which future star of The Goon Show to a stage job as Reg Varney's straight man?

Peter Sellers was still unknown when he lost the part to Hill. Varney, their would-be partner, later found fame as the bus driver Stan Butler in On the Buses.

Benny Hill plays a bumbling security guard in the video for 'Anything She Does' by which band?

Genesis used the six-minute clip, essentially a Benny Hill sketch set to music, to introduce the band on stage during their Invisible Touch tour.

Which Benny Hill character from his 1960s radio series later resurfaced as a bumbling security guard?

Fred Scuttle was one of Hill's longest-running characters, lasting from BBC radio's Benny Hill Time to a 1980s rock video in which he lets hordes of fans slip backstage.

Which Benny Hill Show straight man and announcer played Mummy in the Sugar Puffs adverts?

Henry McGee was the Honey Monster's companion in the 1970s cereal adverts, and played the hero's love rival in the promotional film for Hill's Christmas number one.

Jackie Wright, the bald Benny Hill Show regular whose head Hill slapped, came from which city?

Belfast was home again by the 1930s, after Wright had worked on Cadillac car bodies in America. He stood just 4 feet 11 and was Hill's sidekick for fifteen years.

Nicholas Parsons, a former Benny Hill Show straight man, hosted which radio panel game for decades?

Just a Minute had Parsons in the chair from 1967 until 2019. Hill later spoofed his other famous job, hosting the quiz Sale of the Century, with himself as Parsons.

Benny Hill played Nick Bottom in a 1964 all-star television production of which Shakespeare comedy?

A Midsummer Night's Dream gave Hill a rare classical role as Bottom, the weaver who is magically given a donkey's head and adored by the fairy queen.

The Benny Hill Show's closing chases sent up which silent-era troupe from Mack Sennett's studio?

Keystone Cops chases were the model for the show's sped-up finales, though Hill usually ended up as the one being pursued, thanks to trouble he had caused himself.

Which novelist, the author of A Clockwork Orange, admired Benny Hill and reviewed his biography?

Anthony Burgess relished wordplay and dialect, and admired the verbal skill beneath Hill's slapstick. The two men met, and Burgess wrote up the encounter for a newspaper.

In a 1976 Benny Hill sketch, Hill played Kojak, Ironside, McCloud, Cannon and which other sleuth?

Hercule Poirot fitted the sketch's title, Murder on the Oregon Express, a play on the Agatha Christie train mystery. Editing let Hill appear as all five detectives.

Benny Hill's chart-topping comic ballad 'Ernie' won him which music industry honour in 1972?

Ivor Novello Award recognition capped a surprise hit: the single spent four weeks at number one over Christmas 1971, a year after Hill first sang it on television.

Besides Britain, Benny Hill's comic ballad 'Ernie' also reached number one in which country in 1972?

Australia sent it to number one in February 1972, while in New Zealand it stalled at number three. Hill also taped a one-off Australian special, Down Under, in 1977.

Why was Benny Hill's first television performance of 'Ernie', in 1970, recorded in black and white?

A technicians' strike forced three of Hill's colour-era shows into black and white. The song was re-recorded the next year and became a surprise chart-topper.

Benny Hill made his film debut as an ice-rink sweeper in which 1956 Ealing comedy?

Who Done It? was written by T. E. B. Clarke, who spent months studying Hill's stage and TV act to show off his mimicry. It was among the last films shot at Ealing.

In the 1960 film Light Up the Sky!, Benny Hill starred alongside which British rock and roll singer?

Tommy Steele and Hill play members of a searchlight unit in 1942, a job Hill knew at first hand: he had operated searchlights in Normandy during the war.

The sped-up look of The Benny Hill Show's chases came from which silent-film camera technique?

Undercranking means filming at a slower rate so that the action races on playback. Hill called the effect live animation and paired it with sight gags and mime.

Benny Hill plays a fire chief in a 1965 comedy about a 1910 air race from London to which city?

Paris is the finish line in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, where Hill's Fire Chief Perkins is one of several cameos by British comics, Tony Hancock among them.

Which city hosted the only episode Benny Hill completed of his planned World Tour series?

New York was meant to be the first of many stops in places where his show was loved. The special was later sold on DVD as his final TV appearance.

Benny Hill died alone at his flat in April 1992 while doing what, seated in an armchair?

Watching television, the medium that made him, was how Hill spent his last hours. A contract for a new series of specials arrived in the post the same day.

Which comedian, the star of Up Pompeii!, died over the same Easter weekend as Benny Hill in 1992?

Frankie Howerd died on Easter Sunday, 19 April 1992. Hill had died alone at home and was not found until the next day, so news of Howerd's death came out first.

After leaving school, Benny Hill worked at the Eastleigh branch of which chain store?

Woolworths taught Hill to study people, he said: serving thousands of customers gave him a sharp memory for the faces, voices and mannerisms that fed his impressions.

At London 2012, the Benny Hill chase tune played while crews raked the sand at which Olympic event?

Beach volleyball rakers had to dash out between sets to smooth the court, and their sprint was set to the tune made famous by Hill's sped-up chases.

Which dystopian film features a Benny Hill-style sketch mocking the dictator Chancellor Sutler?

V for Vendetta has Stephen Fry's talk-show host Gordon Deitrich lampoon the dictator on air, with the show's famous chase tune playing over the sketch.

Which comedian attacked The Benny Hill Show in 1987, then sent himself up on Harry Enfield's show?

Ben Elton claimed on Saturday Live that the show incited crime. In Harry Enfield & Chums he later played Benny Elton, a politically correct spoilsport chased by angry women.

Benny Hill, a fluent French speaker, loved to holiday unrecognised in which southern French city?

Marseille let Hill sit at outdoor cafes and ride public transport anonymously until the 1980s, when his fame finally caught up with him there.

Which American rapper declared himself a Benny Hill fan in a 2011 interview with The Observer?

Snoop Dogg is proof of how far the show carried: its visual humour crossed language barriers, and it was sold to television stations around the world.

In Benny Hill's 'Ernie', what is the name of the hero's cart horse, kicked by his love rival?

Trigger was also the name of cowboy star Roy Rogers's palomino, a fitting joke in a song that parodies American Western story ballads.

John Howard Davies, who axed The Benny Hill Show in 1989, played which Dickens title role as a child?

Oliver Twist, in David Lean's 1948 film, made Davies a star at nine. As a producer he went on to make the first series of Fawlty Towers before ending Hill's long ITV run.

Benny Hill's short films The Waiters and Eddie in August shared which unusual feature?

They were silent comedies of about half an hour each, and The Waiters was released in cinemas. Hill's television chases relied on the same wordless style.

Benny Hill Show stooge Bob Todd trained for which profession before bluffing his way into acting?

Dentist was the plan before war service as an RAF navigator and a failed cattle farm. He then told two scriptwriters in a pub that he was an actor, and they cast him.

Benny Hill spent his last years in which London suburb, close to the studios that made his show?

Teddington Studios was where Thames Television recorded the show, and Hill rented nearby from around 1986 after 26 years in a Kensington flat.

Which country guitarist had a 1965 hit with a six-string version of the Benny Hill chase tune?

Chet Atkins swapped the last word of the title for Axe, slang for a guitar, and took it to number four on the country chart, his biggest hit single.

Benny Hill won a BAFTA Television Award in 1972 in which category, for work done away from the camera?

Best Writer suited a star who scripted his own sketches and composed his own patter songs. BAFTA also nominated him for Best Entertainment Performance.

A King Curtis solo on a 1958 hit by which vocal group inspired The Benny Hill Show's chase tune?

The Coasters' record, written by Leiber and Stoller, had the chattering horn style that the Nashville player borrowed. The original is now in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Benny Hill suggested his B-side 'Ting-A-Ling-A-Loo' was copied in a 1986 hit from which TV comedy?

Spitting Image took The Chicken Song, a parody of summer holiday disco hits, to number one. Hill felt its melody leaned heavily on his own music hall spoof.

On the day Benny Hill died, a contract for a new series of specials arrived from which ITV company?

Central Television had won a three-way contest: Hill had turned down rival offers from Carlton and from Thames, the company that dropped him in 1989.