Comedian Bernard Manning dies

Comedian Bernard Manning has died in hospital at the age of 76.Manning, who shot to fame and subsequent notoriety on the 1971 Granada TV series, The Comedians, died in North Manchester General Hospital.He was taken to hospital with a kidney problem two weekends ago and had been receiving dialysis.He had to cancel a show at his famous Embassy Club for the first time in six decades as an entertainer.Last month he attended his own 'wake' - a gathering of 600 friends and fans at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester - to celebrate his life for a Channel 4 show called This Was Your Life.He heard tributes from colleagues on the The Comedians but told the audience: "I'm going to be with you for a long time yet!"Manning was born in 1930 in Ancoats, one of Manchester's poorest suburbs, the second of three brothers and two sisters."We had absolutely nothing," he once recalled. "One cold water tap in the house, no bath, outside toilet".Manning left school at 14 to work in a tobacco factory, and then in his father's greengrocers, before becoming a singer with the Oscar Rabin band.He then took the stand-up routine he had developed at his club on to television and became a household name.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | June 18, 2007

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