Interview with Bruce Forsyth (From Bucks Free Press)

Interview with Bruce Forsyth

11:13am Thursday 29th May 2003

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Bruce Forsyth talks to Alice Eaton about the little known talent he will display in Wycombe next week.

GOOD game, good game I bet I can guess who you are thinking of at this very moment.

Big chin, dubious hair, a beautiful woman always at his side? Yes, it's showbiz personality, Bruce Forsyth.

We all known Bruce for his game shows, corny jokes, nifty dancing, popular ballads, but there is one talent that he is not so well known for playing jazz on the piano. Bruce will be coming to the Wycombe Swan to perform alongside members of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra for an evening of jazz and comedy.

Bruce says: "I was doing a show with the Youth Orchestra. During the break in rehearsals I was fooling around and played a number on the piano with them. The musicians, all under the age of 25 and really first class, gave me a round of applause. I don't think they realised I played the piano, as most people don't. I enjoyed it so much and the orchestra was so enthusiastic that I wanted to perform with them again, so we are doing this show."

At 75, and having been in showbiz for 60 years, Bruce is very excited about the show.

"When I was a young man of 18 I loved jazz, it was a shock when rock'n'roll came in and took over. I thought it would last about three months but it is still going on today. But, with Robbie Williams' recent album [Swing When You're Winning], there is a lot more interest in the big band sound.

"This is what I have been wanting to do for the last 40 years," says the entertainer who was born into a Salvation Army family in Edmonton, North London and started in showbiz doing summer shows and pantomimes at the age of 14.

"I have been an angry young man, an angry middle-aged man and an angry old man, as the kind of music I have loved has always been put on the back burner. If there is a resurgence of popularity in jazz, nobody will be more pleased than me."

This is not the first time Bruce has displayed his piano playing skills in public. In the 1980s he tinkled the ivories with the likes of the late, great Sammy Davis Junior in the television special Sammy and Bruce.

"Sammy Davis Junior was the greatest entertainer in the world. We did singing, dancing and impressions together. I played the piano for him and likewise he accompanied me. He was the perfect partner for me and I enjoyed it immensely. Shortly after that he wasn't too well, which was a shame as I would have liked to have done more work with him."

Bruce's passion for the piano has always played a big part in his life, even influencing his choice of job during World War Two.

"I was conscripted into the RAF at the age of 19. I would have liked to have become a pilot but you had to conscript for eight to ten years, so I became a teleprinter operator, sending signals all over the world which I did for two and a half years. I decided it would be a good job as it would keep my fingers nimble for playing the piano.

"At the time, I didn't know what showbusiness was going to deal me, so I thought it was good to have another profession if it didn't work out."

Once out of the army Bruce never did have to call on his teleprinting skills. After being spotted on TV with comedian Dickie Henderson, Bruce finally got his big break to compere Sunday Night at the London Palladium in 1958. This was followed by a plethora of television work, including The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right, and Bruce's Price is Right. In 1998 he was awarded an OBE.

So who loves Bruce?

"I have been very fortunate. My shows have been watched by children, teenagers and adults as they have always attracted a family audience so it's people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. A young man of 22 has come up to me and asks for my autograph or says he likes my work. That's wonderful for a man who is."

During his 60 years in show business, Bruce has seen a lot of changes.

"Television is completely different now. When I was doing those shows from the Palladium and for 20 years afterwards, artists did specials and worked together but not any more. It is all reality TV shows now.

"Situation comedies have always been the backbone of British humour but none are being made now which is a great shame. If we got back shows like Only Fools and Horses, One Foot in the Grave and Dad's Army they would be really popular and still be being repeated 20 years after they were made. You wouldn't get a repeat of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in ten years time."

Working in television can make you the inevitable target of impressionists and Bruce certainly has his fair share of classic 'Brucie' mimics.

"It is a shock when you first hear someone taking you off," says Bruce.

"You think 'Do I really talk like that?' But I do impressions and exaggerate people's characteristics too, and in a way it is flattering that you have something about you that people notice. I have a good laugh when someone does a good impression of me. Russ Abbott and Rory Bremner do me well."

With his heavy work load, does Bruce get time to relax?

"I am a much more relaxed person than people may imagine. I spend four months of the year in Puerto Rico where my wife, Wilnelia, comes from. I play golf three days a week, read lots of books, eat really good food and am terribly lazy.

"The character I am on stage is not the real me. I couldn't live with him.

"I have never been one of those performers who think life isn't worth living if they are not on the stage. It is not the be all and end all of my life. It is good to be like that, so when the time comes to pack it in, it is much easier to bow out if you have been semi-retired for a long time."

So will he ever stop working?

"The day I give up will be when I am getting ready to go on stage and I suddenly think what the devil am I doing this for?"

How would he like to be remembered?

"As an all-rounder, as that is what I am. If people don't think I am funny, they may think I am a good dancer or a good piano player."

Bruce Forsyth and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra is at the Wycombe Swan on Sunday, June 8 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £16.50, £14.50. Call the box office on 01494 512000.

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