One Old Green Bus

Post details: The Gods are Conspiring to keep my Doctor Who Monday posts off topic... but after seeing this, I had to comment...

11/17/08

12:00:01 am, by

, 514 words

Categories: General Shtuff

The Gods are Conspiring to keep my Doctor Who Monday posts off topic... but after seeing this, I had to comment...

Many people assume I was a fan... I have to admit, I was not... The show was re-run in Canada often... and I was a fan of British comedy... so I always tried, but it wasn't for me.

After starting this blog, many people said, Oh! You must be a big fan! and I'd admit I wasn't... but thanks to our library system, I was able to get some tapes and gave it another try...

I admit, as an adult, I appreciated it a lot more... but it still wasn't a "Wahoo!" thing for me...

None-the-less, I am saddened to hear of Reg Varney passing at the age of 92 years old... the man best known as bus driver Stan Butler on the British television program, On The Buses...

From The BBC...

Comedy actor Reg Varney, best known for playing driver Stan Butler in ITV sitcom On The Buses, has died aged 92.

He died following a short illness in a nursing home in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, where he had recently been admitted with a chest infection.

His daughter Jeanne Marley, 59, said her father had died "peacefully" on Sunday afternoon.

On The Buses was one of the most successful British comedies of the 1970s, with over 60 TV episodes.

Varney's partnership with co-star Bob Grant, who played randy conductor Jack Harper, saw them become household names for a generation of viewers.

The series, which ran for seven years from 1969 and spawned three feature films, followed the two characters as they dodged work and did their best to wind up inspector Cyril "Blakey" Blake, played by Stephen Lewis.

Mrs Marley said he had only recently been admitted to the nursing home after he had begun suffering from a chest infection.

She said: "He's always been very young for his age. When he was in On The Buses he was playing a 35-year-old, but he was actually 50."

Varney was born in east London as one of five children, and attended school in West Ham.

He worked at the Regent's Park Hotel after leaving school, but went on to play the piano and sing in working men's clubs.

Varney entertained the forces during World War II, where he served in the Royal Electrical Engineers, and later appeared in seaside shows and played pantomime dames.

He first came to the public eye in BBC sitcom The Rag Trade, in 1961, and starred alongside Pat Coombs and June Whitfield in another comedy, Beggar My Neighbour, in 1966.

In 1967, Varney opened the UK's first automatic cash dispenser in Enfield, north London.

The success of On The Buses saw him land his own, self-titled TV series, as well as roles in films Go For A Take and The Best Pair Of Legs In The Business.

Later in his career Varney spent time in Australia and New Zealand, sometimes working as a pianist. A remake of On The Buses was mooted in 1990, but failed to be commissioned.

Varney had lived in Devon for the past 20 years, and had lived alone since his wife Lilian died in 2002.

He is survived by his daughter, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Permalink 2 comments

Comments:

Comment from: DrillerAA [Visitor]

· http://www.jr-brainfreeze.blogspot.com

When it comes to bus drivers, I can only claim knowledge of one, Jackie Gleason as Ralph Cramden. Even then, I probably liked Art Carney as Ed Norton better than Gleason.

Permalink 11/17/08 @ 22:35

Comment from: admin [Member]

· http://www.doubledeckerbuses.org/

Hey DrillerAA... Other than Ufologists, most people preferred Art Carney best!

Permalink 11/18/08 @ 06:59

Allow me to start with we do not own nor are we selling a bus. Just had to get that out...

This blog was started in April of 2006... during a very bad time for me and my family when money was very tight and life was very hard.

We maintained a happier outlook on life by fantasizing... talking about what we would do when times were better... and as Sue and myself are Anglophiles, England factored greatly into our "plans".

During these bad times, while looking at news items which, at the time included items about London removing their venerable old Routemasters, I came across one photo of an old green bus... and somehow, my whole family adopted it. It became very much "our bus". (Details about "our bus" are available by clicking here.)

Like most of you, I'd heard about the fellow who'd made a million dollars selling tiny ads online... and the fellow who did trades and turned a paper clip into a house... so I thought, since we couldn't make our bus actually into "our bus" (well beyond our means,) I'd try an "online" appeal... to make the focused item of our hopes into a tangible thing in our lives...

More specifically, in a burst of adult/juvenile optimism, I had hoped to show the youngest member of the family, who at the time was still very youthful and impressionable, that dreams really could become reality if you hope and, more importantly, try.

Well, I'm pretty sure you figured it out... we had limited succes in this venture... and the youngest has now reached an age where she is more traditionally "teenaged" cynical than much else about the world, which isn't a dreadful thing... but there's a "good news" portion to this... our personal situation with money is better, life has improved, and some people really liked my rambling here... so, I decided to keep things going... Yes, I will "give up" on asking for help on a bus... and have to give up on even trying as hard to get the bus through online means... and yes, be far more realistic... but I don't mind this "turn" of things as I actually enjoy venting, trying my hand at humour, and generally keeping on online presence outside my usual things.

Thanks to those who were/are "Busly Dream" enthusiasts... I suppose that our buses for now will be single-deck with the letters "TTC" emblazoned on them... but this blog will live as does our dream! (It's just a little quieter on that latter bit...)

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