Willie Rushton

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William George Rushton, commonly known as Willie Rushton (18 August, 1937 in Chelsea, London – 11 December, 1996) was an English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer.

Rushton was a co-founder of Private Eye with his Shrewsbury School peers Christopher Booker, Paul Foot and Richard Ingrams, originally acting as the magazine's layout artist. He served as one of its cartoonists until his death. Rushton found fame as a performer in That Was The Week That Was and other television programmes with David Frost. Later television appearances included being a 'god' on Up Pompeii, and reading stories for Jackanory - his treatment of the stories from Winnie the Pooh was particularly noteworthy.

Towards the end of his life he appeared as a guest on countless TV shows of varying quality, including Through the Keyhole. He provided all the voices in the claymation-style animated series The Trap Door, and was also the voiceover on a number of TV adverts and at least one public information film.

For 22 years, he was a panelist in the long-running BBC Radio 4 radio panel comedy game show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. He joined the show as a regular team member from the third series, and continued right up to his untimely death in 1996. No permanent replacement has been found for Rushton, instead his seat has been filled by a series of guests.

Rushton also illustrated Auberon Waugh's "Way Of The World" column in The Daily Telegraph from 1990 until his death.

Whilst working for Private Eye, in 1963 (under the slogan "Death to the Tories") he fought the Kinross and West Perthshire by-election against Sir Alec Douglas-Home (known in the Eye as Baillie Vass), who was seeking to be elected in order to become Prime Minister. On the eve of poll he retired from the election and endorsed the Liberal candidate, who seemed the most credible challenger; this was too late to take his name from the ballot paper and Rushton received 45 votes.

He illustrated many books and, after the Spycatcher controversy, wrote the send-up Spy Thatcher: An Insult to British Intelligence. He also wrote and illustrated SuperPig, a spoof of Shirley Conran's Superwoman.

He was a popular choice for narrating audio books, especially those for children. In particular he recorded eighteen of the books by Rev. W. Awdry for The Railway Stories series; he also recorded adaptations of Asterix books and Alice in Wonderland.

Rushton died from complications from a heart operation on 11 December 1996.

Memorials

He is honoured by a blue plaque at Mornington Crescent tube station, a reference to the game Mornington Crescent on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.

BBC7 showcased his contribution to I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue – in the week of the tenth anniversary of his death – by rebroadcasting five episodes of the show, one on each weekday night (11 – 15 December 2006). The broadcasts chosen included the last shows he recorded for the programme.

Bibliography

• Spy Thatcher: An Insult to British Intelligence
• W. G. Grace's Last Case
• SuperPig
• Pigsticking: a joy for life
• Humphrey – The Nine Lives of the Number Ten Cat (Pavilion 1995)

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