'A unique and irreplaceable talent'

Writer, broadcaster and satirist Victor Lewis-Smith has died at the age of 65.

The Borkowski PR agency said he died in Bruges, in Belgium, on Saturday following a short illness.

Publicist Mark Borkowski said: ‘I am in deep shock, having to issue the news about the death of Victor Lewis Smith. Struggling to come to terms with the loss of a unique and irreplaceable talent.’

He started his career making comedy programmes for BBC Radio, featuring a series of controversial prank calls – even getting through to Princess Diana by pretending to be Professor Stephen Hawking.

He and he went on to make TV comedy shows including 1993’s Inside Victor Lewis-Smith for BBC Two and 1998’s TV Offal for Channel 4.

Latterly made The Undiscovered… series of documentaries  for Sky Arts through his company Associated-Rediffusion. featuring the archives of  Peter Cook. Peter Sellers, Kenneth Williams and Tony Hancock.

He was also a prolific columnist, starting at Time Out magazine, but best known for his long stint as the TV critic of the London Evening Standard. Since 1993, he has been compiler of the Funny Old World column of bizarre news items in Private Eye.

Published: 12 Dec 2022