Victor Lewis-Smith, a satirist who created the Funny Old World column for Private Eye for almost 30 years, passed away after a brief illness. He was 65.
Lewis-Smith died at the weekend in Bruges, according to his publicist and agent Mark Borkowski, who tweeted: “I am in deep shock… A unique and valuable talent has been lost, and people are having trouble accepting it.
Lewis-Smith was a popular hoax caller and a star of several TV comedy sketches shows, including Inside Victor Lewis-Smith on BBC2 in the 1990s.
He impersonated Stephen Hawking, an astronomer, and used the same computerised voice technique as the professor to simulate Diana, Princess of Wales. After being held in a safe for twenty years, their complete chat, which covered topics like Charles and the Clinton family, was made public in 2015.
How did Victor Lewis-Smith die?
Lewis-Smith went unexpectedly on December 12th, a Saturday, in Bruges, Belgium, following a brief illness.
The Borkowski PR firm released the information.
Victor Lewis-Smith cause of death
The cause of Victor Lewis-death Smith has not yet been made public. No information is provided regarding Victor Lewis-cause Smith’s death.
Who was Victor Lewis-Smith?
Besides producing movies, television shows, and radio programmes, Victor Lewis-Smith was a British satirist, newspaper writer, and reviewer of television and restaurants.
Own Firm
He operated a film, television, and radio production company Associated-Rediffusion Productions Limited and acquired the rights to the name and trademark of the original corporation, Associated-Rediffusion, in 1990.
As Executive Producer
On January 1, 2021, the Sky Documentaries Channel debuted “Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie,” a documentary hosted by David Letterman.
On February 9, 2020, ITV aired “The ITV Food & Drink Awards,” in which Stephen Fry served as host. Lewis-Smith produced several documentaries, the first of which, The Undiscovered Peter Cook, debuted on BBC Four in November 2016.
With a focus on Peter Sellers, Kenneth Williams, and Tony Hancock, Lewis-Smith created three other films for Sky Arts in December 2018 that The Undiscovered Peter Cook influenced.
Several divisive movies that Keith Allen aired on Channel 4 had him serve as executive producer.
This included biographies of Lauren Harries, a “child genius,” TV chef Keith Floyd (who died two hours before the episode aired), TV chef Nick Griffin, Michael Carroll, and the former leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin.
21st Century Bach
The executive producer of the more than 60 television programmes that make up 21st Century Bach – The Complete Organ Works is Lewis-Smith.
The show transferred to Sky Arts after debuting in June 2003 on BBC Two.
In Confidence, a series of one-on-one interviews with notable figures in the arts was executive produced by Lewis-Smith in 2010.
The guests included Peter Maxwell Davies, Lily Allen, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Richard Dawkins, Cleo Laine, Christopher Hitchens, Peter Hitchens, Kathy Burke, Stephen Fry, Andre Previn, Jackie Mason, and Danny Baker, according to The Daily Telegraph, who also gave this Laurie Taylor-hosted Sky Arts programme a favourable television review. Seventy-two episodes from four different programmes were broadcast.
Radio and Recording works
On May 30, 1988, a John Walters-produced programme featuring him as Steve Nage debuted on BBC Radio 1. It made fun of the Simon Bates-like mid-Atlantic delivery of the time’s Radio 1 DJs.
Two seasons of a comedy show produced by Associated-Rediffusion for BBC Radio 1 resulted in the Best Comedy Radio Program award at the 1990 British Comedy Awards.
His Prank Calls
The joke calls made by Lewis-Smith generated some debate. Lewis-frauds Smith’s were “repugnant,” according to Paul Donovan’s April 15, 1990 article in The Sunday Times.
Some of the songs had “touches of greatness,” according to Lucy Mangan of The Guardian. He selects his targets intelligently, satirising the arrogant and the powerful in the best satirical traditions, according to Sally Feldman, who published an article in The Times Higher Education on Lewis-fake Smith’s phone calls.
He utilises practical jokes to expose the media’s arrogance, laziness, and credulity because they are his favourite target.
A call to London Weekend Television is audible at the beginning of Towers of Dub by the Orb.
As Writer
In the 1980s, Lewis-Smith took up Julie Burchill’s position as a weekly columnist for Time Out.
He also wrote weekly pieces for The Mail on Sunday, Sunday Correspondent, and Esquire magazine at that time (where he frequently filled in for Burchill).
As a restaurant reviewer for Harpers & Queen magazine from 1995 to 1998, as well as The Guardian, he significantly contributed to the growth of the now well-established modern genre of hilarious food writing. Additionally, he has contributed to The Independent as a culinary critic.
In 1992, he began a long relationship with the London Evening Standard, contributing daily television reviews alongside other writers, periodic restaurant reviews, and travel articles. In June 2007, he stopped writing his popular everyday television piece.
Later, in 1993, he succeeded Christopher Logue as editor of Private Eye’s “Funny Old World” column of unusual news events. In 2011, since he was residing in Cumbria, he chose not to visit the magazine’s London office. He provided the Daily Mirror with one page every week until 2003. From the fall of 2004 to April of 2005, he was the in-house food reviewer for The Guardian’s Saturday magazine edition.
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