benniesposito.com

[GrahamP]

I thought it would be good to have a board about Benni's loves and hates. He was so passionate about the things he loved, and his passions were a huge part of his personality.

So, to get the ball rolling -

Loved:

On the Buses

Hated:

Blandness - he almost choked when one girl he was seeing asked him to go to a Gabrielle concert!

[Colin Ramone]

Hi Graham

I never knew Benni was a fan of On The Buses.

Quite right, what a great sitcom. It has a load of memorable characters, Blakie, Butler, Olive, the horrible brother-in-law and a baby that made fart noises.

Was it his comedy Hasselhoff?

[GrahamP]

Benni definitely loved 'On the Buses', he liked a lot of shows from the 70s. Another favourite of his was the kitschy John Pertwee Dr Who's.


He also loved TJ Hooker!


And was a big fan of Bob Monkhouse.

[martin esposito]

bob monkhouse, what a genius he was. i think benni and i first got into bob when he was team captain on a game show which i'm sure was called 'gagtag'. his opposing captain was frank skinner and it was presented by jonathon ross. i think the general idea was that the captains were teamed up with a couple of less well known stand ups and competed against each other by coming up with amusing gags and one liners in response to questions from jonathon. bob monkhouse was the master and seemed to have a side splitting answer for everything. we thought it was totally hilarious but i don't think got past the first series.

[GrahamP]

Benni loved his music, I hadn't heard of a lot of the bands he was into but I know that he was a big fan of Fugazi. He also liked The Sex Pistols, The Fall, The Smiths and David Hasselhoff, to name just a few.


Anyone else know other bands he was really into?

[martin esposito]

benni loved 'the prisoner' starring patrick mcgoohan. i got into it eventually by being forced to watch it over and over again by benni. it was one of his ambitions to go port merion in wales which was actually 'the village' in which the series was set. jo and i went there late last year whilst touring around snowdonia and spoke to benni on the phone from there. he was really jealous and said he would get round to visiting it eventually. it is a really amazing place and well worth a visit.

staying on the prisoner theme, benni was also a big fan of 'prisoner cell block H'. he used to stay up until the early hours to watch it in its 'prime time' spot. he had books on the series and could recite most of the scripts. having said that, i am convinced he only watched it because he fancied all those gorgeous inmates!

[GrahamP]

They've been reshowing 'The Prisoner' recently, I thought of Benni. He also loved 'Jerry Springer' - he'd made up a compilation tape full of his favourite moments, there were some classics in there. However he was very much a Springer-purist and lamented the decline in quality in the last few years.

I've just thought of another band he loved, Wat Tyler.

[simpfeld]

Never knew Benni was such a fan of On the Buses. Or Bob Monkhouse, I'm sure I'd have mentioned my appreciation for his work to him and I don't remember him commenting on this. Strange, maybe I just never did.

Bob is much malighned in modern comedy and I don't know why. My all time favourite joke of his is :

"When I was a young man I couldn't get women my own age, I had to go out with an older women. I never did find out how old she was but one day I said act your age, and she died"

Much better than most comics have ever produced.

I now know so much about Benni I didn't know before. Such as from the funeral his interest in philosophy. I'd certainly have liked to have had a conversation about philosophy, On the Buses and Bob Monkhouse with him.

I can't decide if I just never thought to bring up these subjects, he never thought I'd be interested or whether Benni kind of like tried to regulate the time he spent on his disperate interests by having friends for specific interests.

[GrahamP]

Don't worry about it Simpfeld, I knew Benni for years before discussing 'On the Buses'.

Infact Benni did one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me after we'd exchanged a series of emails on the subject, he took a still from 'On the Buses' - of Stan and Jack and had it put onto a hooded-top.

I wore it all the time, it was my favourite top. Unfortunately after Benni died I knew I'd never be able to wear it again, it made me too sad, I took it to a charity shop. Someone out there has a truly remarkable top, the tragedy is that they'll never know the truly remarkable person behind it.

[martin esposito]

hi graham
am really struggling to think of things that benni really hated. not sure if he was a big fan of the christian fellowship. there were lots of things that annoyed him and it was always great fun listening to him banter on about the various issues of the moment. i am sure he would have been loving the latest series of'celebrity fame academy' but hating lesley garretts over the top, annoying, false and nauseating positiveness for every celeb! in fact its me that hates her!

[Wayne Taylor]

And Dawn is gone! What the!

That was 1 of the only reasons I watched it, the other being Ade Edmondson's antics which crack me up every time! His 'It must be love' was great!

[GrahamP]

Hated seems a bit strong, 'couldn't stand' is better, I know one particular person who Benni couldn't stand. You know that person, the one who comes along on a night out but doesn't drink, they just sit in the corner ruining everyone else's night out and in the morning ........

[Andy]

Hi guys....

A number of rather bizarre likes that recall were gems such as...

"The Double Deckers" and "Doctor Who" particularly the cheesey 70's Pertwee stuff.

I also remember years ago (probably at school) getting pissed and watching "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" endlessly with Benni.

Of course he loved his beer...when he wasn't going through a "I'm not touching that stuff again" phase which he did frequently...

[GrahamP]

Benni had a mixed relationship with Magnum PI, he initially wasn't a fan but I got into it, we discussed it and he started to see its undoubted merits.

There are so many things though, that I'd love to know what Benni thought of. I've been watching 'Robin's Nest' lately, I wonder if he liked that.

Also, he loved Alan Partridge.

[GrahamP]

Neighbours - Benni loved it!

He reckoned it broke the day up nicely, at whatever time it was viewed - did a nice line in impressions from it too - best being Harold and Madge.