VETERAN comedian, writer and broadcaster Barry Cryer, who was a regular at Ilkley’s King’s Hall, has died aged 86.

Cryer was born in Leeds and started his career at the City Varieties venue as part of the Good Old Days show, after learning his comedy craft while a student at Leeds University.

He went on to work with and write for some of the biggest names in comedy, The Two Ronnies, Morecambe and Wise, Jasper Carrott, Tommy Cooper, Sir Bruce Forsyth, George Burns, Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Spike Milligan, Frankie Howerd, and Bob Hope.

He also starred in comedy series and panel shows on TV and radio, including You’ll Have Had Your Tea, the Frost Report, and the long-running Sorry, I Haven’t A Clue.

Cryer never forgot his West Yorkshire roots, and made regular trips to Ilkley to perform at the King’s Hall, and as part of the Ilkley Literature Festival.

In 2018, Cryer appeared at the festival with Rosalie Batten, who was the personal secretary of Bradford-born writer JB Priestley. Cryer had known Priestley very well up until his death in 1984 and provided entertaining anecdotes about the great man.

In April 2011 Cryer brought his show Butterfly Brain to the King’s Hall, an alphabetical odyssey of oddities from Aardvark to Zulu — just a year after he’d appeared at the then newly-refurbished venue with his show Still Alive, taking his audience “on a trip down memory lane, pausing only for tea and macaroons at the Stannah Stairlift Cafe”.

He appeared at the literary festival in 2016, too, as part of an ensemble event including Margaret Drabble and Kenneth Cranham.

Cryer said in 1998: "I haven't had a career, just a series of incidents. I've been dogged by good luck all my life."

He began writing in the theatre for Irish performer Danny La Rue after a move to London.

On an evening at a nightclub performance, David Frost arrived and snatched the services of the talented writer.

Cryer said: "You can't cater for that. It's serendipity. It just happened, and I've been in the right place at the right time quite a few times in my life."

He leaves behind his wife Theresa, four children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Recently, Cryer had begun a podcast with his son Bob, called Now, Where Were We?.