Victor Lewis-Smith

Bod

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63943475

Sad news. 

I'm not familiar with his more recent work, but his Radio One show in the late eighties/early nineties was brilliant.  Myself and several friends still regularly quote it to this day.

stonevibe

Yeah, he did some great stuff in that late '80s and early '90s period. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3pHvH8sPT4

Bod

That hasn't aged well.

Grunfeld

Sorry to hear this news. Very unexpected.

I got into his pieces for BBC R4's Loose Ends -- that's a long time ago, maybe I got that wrong, but definitely VLS and he was funny.  Private Eye run a column with his name on it too. 

stonevibe

Bod said:

That hasn't aged well.

Yeah, it certainly hasn't...

I prefer this one myself


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bX05d3PwhI

mudslide73

I remember watching his TV stuff in the early 90s. Some very dark subjects were addressed.

The "Babylon and ting" sketch was immortalised on the opening of The Orb's magnificent "Towers of Dub". 

RIP Victor.

Grunfeld

I loved this anecdote about VLS which appeared in Private Eye.

“I remember the night when, as a student, Victor climbed the scaffolding around York Minster and got to the top," organist emeritus John Scott Whiteley recalled. "He began chanting the Arabic call to prayer, and was spotted by the subchanter, Father John McMullan who immediately called the police. When apprehended, Victor said “It's a fair cop guv – society is to blame", and when told that "Anything you say will be taken down…” replied “Trousers”. When this was read out in court next day, the magistrate couldn't stop laughing. Victor was fined £20, but what incensed him was that “all my left-wing friends told me they were beaten up by the police when they were in custody, but the constable just brought me coffee and a blanket. It's a disgrace. What is British policing coming to?”"

Bellycaster

I think I recall the Tagline of his Daily Mirror page being "He has Halitosis of the Personality".

Classic and Hilarious.