I feel duty-bound to fill in the gaps of last Sunday’s ITV tribute to the late comedian Bobby Ball, who has died of Covid, aged 76.

Although there were hints of heaven’s involvement with Bobby’s life in the programme, narrated by his close friend and comedy partner Tommy Cannon, it may well have been missed by the less observant. The film included at least a couple of shots of a wall-hanging emblazoned with the Scripture, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever” (Isa 40:8). Very appropriate, I thought. For both Bobby, and later Tommy, committed their lives to Christ at the peak of their sensational career together. And when Tommy eulogised about Bobby, his eyes were lifted upward, as if to heaven, where he knew his friend was safe.

National treasures

Cannon and Ball had audiences in stitches with their hilarious antics which were always good family viewing. After all, the Bible prescribes laughter for the soul, as in: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength” (Prov 17:22).

The duo were rightly regarded as national treasures and it was a privilege to have known and befriended Tommy after he moved to the Vale of York, where I was sports editor for many years. I remember doing a filmed interview with Bobby’s straight man for our newspaper’s website, during which he described how he had become a Christian. He had followed the path already taken by Bobby, making a decision for Christ after being invited to a special service in a South Wales church.

Searching for truth

Bobby had been searching for deeper meaning following a number of personal problems. Starring in pantomime in Bradford, he had spoken to the theatre chaplain, Max Wrigley, about his life and his worries. He told Max that he felt as though he had everything, yet had nothing. He felt empty inside. As much as he had never seemed enough.

Max spoke to him, talked his worries through and passed on some reading material. Bobby read a copy of Journey Into Life; he prayed and decided that this was the path for him. He realised that what had been shared with him and what he read made sense, and he decided to give his life over to Jesus. People around Bobby at the time thought that this was a passing fad, but Bobby proved them wrong and stuck fast to his faith. For the rest of his life it was something very important to him.

Not going out!

Returning to Bobby’s comedy side-kick, Tommy even joined my team when I captained the Selby Times in a charity cricket match against a local village side, raising funds in part for Christians Against Poverty. He proved a very useful bowler, keeping runs to the minimum. However, he was mercilessly ribbed by team-mates for his scheduled appearance on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, though resisting calls to declare what they were paying him. It wasn’t much, I understand, but it did serve to revive their careers.

He’s definitely not going out; he’s having a ball in heaven, and is with his Lord forever!

More recently, Bobby appeared with Lee Mack in the comedy sitcom Not Going Out, which again is appropriate. He’s definitely not going out; he’s having a ball in heaven, and is with his Lord forever!