Denis Norden, the legendary British comedy writer, TV presenter and host of It'll Be Alright On The Night, has died at the age of 96.
According to a statement released by his children, Nick and Maggie Norden, to the Press Association, he died on Wednesday morning after spending "many weeks" at the Royal Free Hospital in north London.
It added: "We'd like to say a huge thank you to all the dedicated staff and doctors who have looked after him - with much devotion.
"A wonderful dad, a loving grandfather and great great-grandfather - he gave his laughter-mongering to so many. He will be in our hearts forever."
Norden presented the hugely popular ITV bloopers show It'll Be Alright On The Night for 29 years until his retirement in 2006.
After stepping down he gave a lot of attention to raising awareness of macular disease, a degenerative eye condition from which he suffered, and became a patron of the Macular Society.
Born in Hackney, east London, in February 1922, he trained as a manager for the Hyams brothers, owners of impressive London picture palaces.
He served in the RAF in the Second World War with such other future famous names as Eric Sykes and Bill Fraser, and wrote shows to entertain the troops - and get off guard duty as a result.
Norden met future writing partner Frank Muir in 1947 and they created Take It From Here, the radio hit broadcast by the BBC between 1948 and 1960 starring Jimmy Edwards, Joy Nichols, June Whitfield and Dick Bentley.
Their 1949 parody travel documentary, Balham - Gateway To The South, is also fondly remembered. You can listen to Peter Sellers narrate it here.
Norden also worked for the big screen, including co-writing the screenplay for the 1968 American comedy Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell. His description of his film career was characteristically modest and witty. He said: "I've written not milestones of cinema, but millstones."
His small screen career kicked off in 1951 with Here's Television, the BBC sketch show starring Sid James and Ian Carmichael.
Norden and Muir amicably parted ways in 1964 after a series of successes and he wrote material for The Frost Report, hosted by the late Sir David Frost.
He became established as a television presenter in the 1970s, hosting Looks Familiar, the nostalgic chat show, before It'll be Alright On The Night hit the airwaves in 1977.
Its popularity saw ITV commission spin-off Denis Norden's Laughter File, with both running until his retirement.
