So farewell then Dave Allen, one of the finest comedians to grace our screens. I grew up watching him with my Dad, one of the few remaining memories I have of sharing moments like that. My Mum, being a good Roman Catholic thought that Dave Allen was a blasphemer, which in essence was true. However, I preferred his ungodly way of exposing the hypocrisy and immense pomposity of the Catholic faith, and indeed all faiths. He was a prime cause in my own questioning of the unchallenged dogma of Catholicism, both globally and in my own house via my Mum's teachings - a dogma that forced me to go to Church every Sunday until the age of 14 when all my mates were off playing football. Football made more sense to me than Catholicism and even at 14 it was obvious to me that this religion hadn't moved in 2000 years, was never likely to, and was just an excuse to exercise power by fear over people and force them into someone elses view of how to live a good and meaningful life. By exposing this crap, Dave Allen, in my view did exactly that. For what I gained he lived a good and worthwhile life and comedy is a sadder place today without him.

I loved the way he told stories as well as jokes, his laconic manner and how he coloured ironic and daft facets of the daily drudgery of life and its hypocrisies and paradoxes. He was last seen on TV in the early 90's, where his sense of fun was still obvious, but his style had been superceded by the current crop of young (now middle aged) bucks. But he still had appeal, and could still spin a yarn. His trademark glass of whisky was still in evidence. And that is why I chose the above picture of him to display as my tribute to a man who will never know his influence upon me and countless others as we struggled to grow up in the sometimes dark, sometimes colourful, sometimes grim society of the 60's and 70's.

Dave Allen 1937-2005 R.I.P.

Later, GrocerJack