Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, television presenter, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including The Golden Shot, Celebrity Squares, Family Fortunes and Wipeout.
Monkhouse was born on 1 June 1928 at 168 Bromley Road, Beckenham, Kent, the son of chartered accountant Wilfred Adrian Monkhouse (1894–1957) and Dorothy Muriel Monkhouse (née Hansard, 1895–1971). Monkhouse had an elder brother, John, who was born in 1922. Monkhouse's grandfather, John Monkhouse (1862–1938), was a prosperous Methodist businessman who co-founded Monk and Glass, which made custard powder and jelly. In a 2015 documentary, it was revealed that Monkhouse and his older brother suffered from physical and verbal abuse by their mother.
Monkhouse was educated at Goring Hall School in Worthing, Sussex, and Dulwich College in south London, from which he was expelled for climbing the clock tower. While still at school, Monkhouse wrote for The Beano and The Dandy and drew for other comics including Hotspur, Wizard and Adventure. He established a comics writing and art partnership with Dulwich schoolmate Denis Gifford and the two formed their own publishing company, Streamline, in the early 1950s. Among other writing, Monkhouse wrote more than 100 Harlem Hotspots erotic novelettes.
Monkhouse completed his National service with the Royal Air Force in 1948. He won a contract with the BBC after his unwitting RAF Group captain signed a letter that Monkhouse had written telling the BBC he was a war hero and that the corporation should give him an audition.
Before establishing himself as a successful writer and comedian, Monkhouse appeared on stage in London, first as Aladdin in a stage show of the same name written by S. J. Perelman and Cole Porter and then in the first London production of the musical The Boys from Syracuse (Antipholus of Syracuse) in 1963 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, alongside Ronnie Corbett.
Monkhouse began his adult career as a scriptwriter for radio comedy in partnership with Denis Goodwin, a fellow Old Alleynian with whom he also compèred Smash Hits on Radio Luxembourg. Aside from performing as a double act, Monkhouse and Goodwin wrote for comedians such as Arthur Askey, Jimmy Edwards, Ted Ray and Max Miller. In addition, they were gag writers for American comedians including Bob Hope, supplying jokes for British tours. Indeed, when Goodwin broke up the partnership in 1962, it was to work for Hope.
In 1956, Monkhouse was the host of Do You Trust Your Wife?, the British version of an American game show. He went on to host more than 30 quiz shows on British television. His public profile growing, Monkhouse also began appearing in comedy films, including the first of the Carry On film series, Carry On Sergeant, in 1958. He starred in Dentist in the Chair (1960) and Dentist on the Job (1961), later regretting not choosing the Carry Ons over the dental comedies. Other presenting jobs in the 1960s included Candid Camera and Sunday Night at the London Palladium.
Around 1969 he was a partner, with Malcolm Mitchell, in the Mitchell Monkhouse Agency. In the early 1970s he appeared on BBC Radio in Mostly Monkhouse with Josephine Tewson and David Jason. In 1979 he starred in US sketch comedy television series Bonkers! with the Hudson Brothers and Joan Rivers, a job he disliked.
Monkhouse was a respected stand-up comedian, known for his talent at ad-libbing. He became much in demand as an after-dinner speaker and wrote a book about the subject, Just Say a Few Words (Lennard Publishing, 1988, 1999).
He also became a favourite with impressionists, and, as his comedy style fell out of favour in the 1980s, he was mocked for his slickness and accused of insincerity. He came back into fashion during the 1990s, and an appearance on Have I Got News for You helped to restore his popularity.
Monkhouse's final stand-up show was performed at the Albany Comedy Club in London on 25 August 2003, four months before his death. The show was broadcast by the BBC in 2016, November 2019, April 2020 and in December 2023 to mark the 20th anniversary of his death. Among the audience were a number of British comedians invited by Monkhouse, including Reece Shearsmith, Jon Culshaw, David Walliams, Fiona Allen and Mark Steel. The show also included a rare public appearance from Monkhouse's friend Mike Yarwood.
In his later years, Monkhouse was probably better known for hosting television quiz shows than for being a comedian. One of his biggest successes was The Golden Shot from July 1967 until January 1972 and again from July 1974 to April 1975. This was broadcast live for 52 weeks a year and drew up to 17 million viewers. His first tenure ended with allegations, which he denied, that he had taken bribes to include branded goods on the programme as advertisements. He returned in 1974 after subsequent presenters and comedians Norman Vaughan and Charlie Williams were found wanting.
The dozens of other shows Monkhouse presented included Celebrity Squares, Family Fortunes and Bob's Full House. Audiences regularly topped 15 million. From 1987 to 1989, he hosted three series of the revival of the talent show Opportunity Knocks, which aired as Bob Says Opportunity Knocks. He then moved to ITV to front two more game shows, Bob's Your Uncle and The $64,000 Question, neither of which was a popular success.
From 1996 to 1998, Monkhouse presented The National Lottery Live show on Saturday evenings on BBC1, for which he created the catchphrase: "I know I'm a sinner, but make me a winner!" The opening to each show would see him deliver several minutes of topical jokes and on one occasion, where his autocue failed, he improvised a new and topical routine. This talent was used in Bob Monkhouse On the Spot, a return to pure television comedy, in which audience members suggested topics and Monkhouse came up with a routine. He was also at the helm when, on 30 November 1996, the lottery machine failed live on air, causing the draw to be delayed by 50 minutes until after that night's episode of Casualty aired.
Monkhouse then returned to quizzes, taking over hosting duties on Wipeout from Paul Daniels when its studio recordings moved from London to Manchester and the show moved from primetime to daytime. Monkhouse hosted Wipeout from 1998 until a few months before his death in 2003.
After being a stalwart of chat shows, in the mid-1980s Monkhouse presented his own for the BBC, The Bob Monkhouse Show. The show lasted three series and showcased comedians of many generations. Monkhouse was criticised for sycophancy towards his guests but said that they were all heroes of his and that was how he felt about them. Monkhouse was a keen supporter of new comedy and used the show to introduce audiences to new comedians such as Kelly Monteith, Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. The format of the interviews varied between "true" chat and analysis of comedy to scripted routines in which Monkhouse would willingly play the role of the guest's stooge, as he did with Bob Hope.
On one occasion the guest was the comedian Pamela Stephenson, who, after prior arrangement with the show's producer, appeared in a series of fake plaster casts, apparently the result of accidents whilst at home. During the interview she produced a handgun and fired it on several occasions, destroying a plant pot on the set and a series of lights in the studio roof. She then presented a rocket launcher which she promptly 'fired', destroying a camera. The gun, launcher and camera were props. None of this was known to Monkhouse, who appeared genuinely frightened (but the production crew were aware).
An expert on the history of silent cinema and a film collector, Monkhouse presented Mad Movies in 1966. He wrote, produced, financed and syndicated the show worldwide. The show featured clips from comic silent films, many from his own private collection, some of which he had helped to recover and restore. This film collection was the cause of a court case at the Old Bailey in 1979. Having lent Terry Wogan's son a film, Monkhouse was charged with attempting to defraud film distributors of royalties, but after two years the judge decided that there was no case to answer. Many of the films in his collection were seized and not returned to Monkhouse.