Bob was a comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Latterly, he was most
famous as a British game show host, but it was his skill as a writer of comedy that
kicked off his career. He wrote, often uncredited, for countless British comedians
and even Bob Hope. Monkhouse became well known for his famous joke books –
scribbled notebooks he filled from cover to cover with notes, quips and jokes on
every subject. He was doubtless one of Britain’s cleverest comedians but it was as
the host of game-shows like The Golden Shot, Celebrity Squares, Family Fortunes
and Opportunity Knocks that he is best remembered. Monkhouse was revered,
acknowledged and appreciated by his fellow comedians, but by the 1980s his style
of comedy fell out of favour with the general public - his slickness no longer felt
genuine and he was accused of insincerity. Though infrequent, his appearances on
British television continued into older age and he died on prostate cancer in 2003.