Countless tributes have been made to Jim Bowen following the news of the 'Bullseye' host's death.
Jim Bowen
The presenter and stand-up comic's wife Phyllis confirmed that he had passed away on Wednesday (14.03.18) at the age of 80 and now a host of his television peers and his fans have taken to social media to remember him.
Fellow comedian Jim Davidson simply posted on Twitter: "RIP Jim Bowen. Great guy."
Whilst former heavyweight champion of the world Frank Bruno tweeted: "Jim Bowen RIP great comic we worked together many times had a lot of laughs together. Jim & Ken Dodd sad time for the entertainment industry [sic]"
Five-time world darts champion Eric Bristow MBE tweeted: "RIP Jim Bowen, I done every year of Bullseye and 10 xmas shows and had 15 days with him on the QE2 i played Darts in the afternoon and he played with his band at night, we had some late nights ha ha, Great memories #RIPJimBowen [sic]"
Laura Wood - Bullseye Brand and Social Media Manager - logged on to the Bullseye official Facebook page to share her last memories of Jim.
She wrote: "To all Bullseye Fans, Andrew and I are deeply saddened to have to announce that our friend and Bullseye presenter Jim Bowen has passed away. His wife confirmed the news to BBC Radio Lancashire earlier today. We understand that Jim's family will need time and space and it goes without saying that when we do speak to Jim's wife we will pass on any messages that are left on this page.
Jim was such a key member of our Bullseye family. I spoke to him on the phone a few months back and to me he was always kind, funny, caring and most of all always asked about you the fans and he always passed on his love to you all. It is an incredibly sad day at Bullseye HQ. There are no more words, but we have so many memories. Lx [sic]"
Former deputy headmaster Jim - famous for his catchphrase "super, smashing, great" - began his career as a stand-up comedian in clubs in the 1960s, but became a household name when he hosted darts-based quiz show 'Bullseye' in 1981. The show ran for 15 years until 1995.
'Bullseye' featured three pairs of contestants - with one team member answering questions and the other playing darts - going up against one another win big prizes such as speedboats, caravans, luxury holidays and cars, to smaller gifts such as darts or tankards. Everyone competing got to take home a 'Bendy Bully', a rubber model of the show's popular mascot, Bully the bull.
Episodes of the show are regularly aired on cable and satellite channel Challenge TV and the broadcaster has announced it will remember Jim with a tribute night of shows on Wednesday evening and a 'Bullseye' marathon on Saturday (17.03.18).
Posts on the official Challenge TV Twitter account read: "RIP to a TV great and the ultimate game show legend, Jim Bowen. Our thoughts are with Jim's family. He will be sorely missed ... Following the terribly sad news of Jim Bowen's passing we'll be showing the @BullseyeTVshow documentary, 'You can't beat a bit of bully' at 9pm tonight, followed by 3 hours of Bully. And from 6am on Saturday we'll show 24 hours of Bully b2b, in tribute to the great Jim Bowen. [sic]"
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