Lionel Blair has died

[Josh]

https://twitter.com/MirrorTV/status/1456352518754164737
Terrible news. I'm too young to remember him on Give Us A Clue and the like but he was very good in Celebrity Big Brother in 2014.

[Cassia Tuna]

By heck, you were quick off the mark Josh!

Press Association:

https://twitter.com/PA/status/1456357621800263686

BBC News:

Entertainer, presenter and dancer Lionel Blair has died aged 92, his agent says
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59171576

[Neil Jones]

Give Us A Clue meets Never Mind The Buzzcocks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNjE4zTUCNs

[James2001]

One thing I remember about him is Sky One had a special show of Simpsons Halloween specials one year, and Phill Jupitus (I think) linked them, and throughout he kept saying how the Blair Witch Project would have been even scarier if it was the Lionel Blair Project, and at the end the real Lionel Blair turned up, not sure if Phill was actually expecting it or not.

[Humphrey Hacker]

For me his finest performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu-vD2lPri8

[BBCMeridian]

Here's a good memory of Lionel having fun on The Big Breakfast with Johnny and Denise, He will be missed by many.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFqPHv7nh1A

[Keith]

For me his finest performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu-vD2lPri8

I remember him from that series, and his gotcha was featured in that year's Best Of episode (which I think I've still got on video somewhere). He also featured regularly as a guest in other people's gotchas that year.

In more recent years I've mainly only heard him 'name checked' in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

[Neil Jones]

Lionel Blair and Sammy Davis Jr appearing on the Royal Variety Performance in 1961.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgwwdgepuSg

And of course Blair was the second host for Name That Tune in the ITV Years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD4bKj2EBz0

[London Lite]

For me his finest performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu-vD2lPri8

I don't remember seeing that Gotcha the first time round, but that is a wonderful one. Lionel being the consummate pro throughout.

[RDJ]

The Lionel Blair stare was the most synonymous of Noel Edmonds’s Gotchas. But after his performance on this, Noel continued to use Lionel in future Gotchas. In ‘Time of your Life’, Lionel was welcomed on to the stage as the close personal friend to all of the special guests they had - even when they have likely never met him before.

https://youtu.be/7c593Ig1wg0?t=2006

He was more than happy to take the p**s out of himself and was a very good sport. He was also very talented performing with Sammy Davis Jr in the 1961 Royal Variety Performance.

He was a regular on TV which he was also dancing right up until the last few years. He’ll be missed. RIP.

[Steven O]

Very sad news. 92 is a good age, though. That's both hosts of the Thames era of Name That Tune, and both of the original team captains of Give Us A Clue, now all gone within several months of each other.

[harshy]

Very sad news, very happy memories seeing him as the team captain on Give Us a clue, a well lived life.

[Humphrey Hacker]

He was one of those performers that was an 'ever-present'. Just like Una Stubbs Lionel was on TV from the 1950's onwards. A highly talented individual but not a big-head as far as I know. Referring back to the Gotcha I remember reading afterwards that viewers were pleased to hear no swearing from Blair during the prank.

[Hatton Cross]

In more recent years I've mainly only heard him 'name checked' in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

Oh, go on then..
"Who can't forget the look on Una Stubbs face, as Lionel Blair attempted to pull off 12 Angry Men in under 2 minutes"

My Lionel Blair story. I'd attended one of the last Motor Shows at the NEC, and whilst roaming the halls, noticed that one of the larger motor manufacturing companies, on their grandeous display that took up a quater of Hall 3, had various celebrities down doing a short question and answer sessions (and I suspect, a private one for the trade bods behind the backdrop afterwards)
One of those that day was Lionel Blair.

Thought nothing more of it, however a couple of hours later back at Birmingham International rail station, and in the small WH Smug outlet on the concourse, I was busy waiting to pay for whatever I was buying, when I spotted Mr Blair, scowling and a face like thunder, grabbing a copy of the Telegraph, and barely saying a word to the casher as he paid for it, before heading towards the barriers - and presumably his train back home.
I thought it best not to go after him and ask for an autograph. I guess the Q&A didn't go very well for him.

Shame, because he always seemed like a good man to meet, chock full of showbiz stories picked up from a great career.
Sleep well, Lionel.

[wonkey_monkey]

A little tribute to Lionel at the end of The Last Leg with a clip of him tap dancing on the show.