But the present should go on – and tonight, like he did final evening, and as he’ll do once more tomorrow, Elliott will fastidiously make himself up after which step out on stage on the New Victoria Theatre in Woking in entrance of a sold-out crowd. This winter, he’s enjoying the pirate Starkey in Peter Pan, in extravagant costume, sharing prime billing alongside Strictly Come Dancing choose Anton Du Beke.
However once we meet, not removed from his Yorkshire house in Rotherham, he’s reasonably extra dressed down in plum trousers and a spherical neck cashmere sweater, although nonetheless sporting a Benidorm tan alongside his trademark tufty hair. Now aged 76, Elliott sips tea with stunning class at Ye Olde Bell Resort and Spa, a wise, wood-panelled venue, bedecked with Christmas holly, tinsel and faux snow. “I really like working with Anton and the remainder of the forged,” he says, “and the viewers actually lifts me up, however I miss Barry beside me. He was my perfect good friend and theatrical accomplice for greater than 60 years. Now I’m by myself.”
As a pair, the Chuckle Brothers had at all times been one thing of a British festive staple, having carried out in 51 pantomimes collectively, from the 1967/1968 season after they starred in Babes within the Wooden in Malvern, to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves within the 2017/2018 season on the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton.
“Barry was Wishy to my Washy,” says Elliott, “and never simply on stage. He was with me after I was born and I used to be with him till simply earlier than he died, peacefully in his own residence with the assistance and help of nurses from Marie Curie.”
Elliott, 76, who has lengthy been an envoy for Marie Curie, which is being supported by the Telegraph’s Christmas Charity Enchantment this 12 months, remembers the times main as much as Barry’s demise brought on by an sickness which his brother, at all times taciturn, selected to maintain secret from even his household and closest buddies. He pulls himself upright in his chair and takes a deep breath.
‘“Rotherham hospice sorted him however he didn’t go in,” he says. “They introduced him a particular mattress and all the things he wanted to be snug at house and the hospice nurses got here to take care of him on daily basis. He didn’t see docs except he needed to however he was proud of the Marie Curie group and their compassionate model of care.”
The evening earlier than Barry died, Paul and his ‘lads’ – which is what he calls his 4 grown-up sons aged from 46 to 31 – came over for the final time at his house in Ravensfield.
“He was actually struggling however he was aware and speaking with us. I do not forget that Rotherham United, our soccer group that we had adopted since childhood, received the sport they performed that day 3-0. He was actually satisfied, particularly since they’d additionally made it again into the Championship League.” The brothers had been each made honorary life presidents of Rotherham United FC in 2007 and had been devoted followers – in actual fact, Paul as soon as performed for Rotherham FC boys till a shin damage minimize quick his hopes of changing into an expert footballer.
“The following day at 7.15am, I acquired a name from Barry’s spouse, Anne, to inform me he had gone. It was too quickly for him to go, and I want he’d informed me earlier; we had been so shut, so we might have had extra time to say goodbye, however I believe he went out on a excessive.”
The brothers got here from a household of entertainers who had been well-known within the theatres and dealing males’s golf equipment within the north of England. Elliott explains that they inherited a love of comedy and a ferocious work ethic from their father, James Patton Elliott, referred to as Gene Patton. Gene carried out on stage and stay radio, and as soon as labored alongside an 18-year-old Peter Sellers within the No 10 Gang, performing in theatres across the nation. “He at all times informed us to present it 100 per cent, even when the home was half empty,” says Elliott, “Everybody had paid the identical and deserved all you can give.” His mom Amy was a high-kicking dancer in Rodney Hudson Dancing Ladies, a precursor to the famend cabaret troupe, the Bluebell Ladies.
Elliott was solely 14 when Barry urged they begin performing collectively within the again backyard of their council semi to the native children, charging a ha’penny every.
Initially referred to as the Harman brothers, they later took the title Chuckle as a result of it appeared extra “catchy”, a clever transfer in hindsight, taking into account the endurance of the Chuckle model.