John Howard Davies RIP

I was sorry to hear of the death of John Howard Davies today. As a couple of paragraphs of his Daily Telegraph obituary make clear, we owe him a debt for his work on some of the very finest television comedies:

He was made a producer in 1968 and worked first on Misleading Cases, a legal satire starring Alastair Sim, moving on to The World of Beachcomber, starring Spike Milligan; and All Gas and Gaiters . Then came Monty Python; The Goodies; Steptoe and Son and Frankie Howerd’s Whoops Baghdad.

In 1973 Davies left to become managing director of EMI television productions, but was back at the BBC within a year, where he became Head of Comedy in 1978, launching yet more famous series, including Yes Minister , Not the Nine O’Clock News, and Only Fools and Horses.

All this, and he was the young star of David Lean's Oliver Twist too.