Alan Simpson 1929-2017

[GaryA]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38906672

[Brock]

Oh that is so sad. I was a great fan of both Hancock and Steptoe, as well as some of Galton and Simpson's lesser-known work like I Tell You It's Burt Reynolds. I heard Galton and Simpson interviewed on Radio 4 Extra in one of the three-hour "I Did It My Way" specials and they were an absolute joy to listen to. Alan Simpson would sometimes give one-off interviews at other times as well, for instance when The Missing Hancocks started on Radio 4.

And let's not forget his acting role in some of the early radio Hancocks, making attentive "mm-hm" and "I see" noises as Hancock recounted some tall story or other!

Glad to see that Ray Galton is still with us, anyway.

[ITMA]

I genuinely thought the pair of them were going to live forever. A great innings given they both would have died of TB were it not for the recently introduced penicillin.

[Gary C]

About 15 years ago, on a Saturday night, I was in my local chinese restaurant in Sunbury-On-Thames and soon after we had sat down I was gobsmacked to see Alan walk in with a couple of friends and proceed to sit down a couple of tables away from us for their evening out. The woman I was with wasn't interested in the least when I told her who he was.