Bob Bevan
Bob "The Cat" Bevan is still to be heard at many major sporting functions. He has appeared four times at the Footballer of the Year Dinner – a record - twice at the PFA Player of the Year Awards and at 74 of the 92 Premier/Nationwide clubs. He stars in the “Great Goalkeepers Show” with Gordon Banks and Pat Jennings and has also made an LP on football humour, which has twice been featured on British Airways comedy channel.
Nor are his appearances confined to football. Cricket, rugby and golf audiences have all had the benefit of his sporting “expertise.”
He was flown to Sydney to speak at a benefit dinner for England cricket captain, Nasser Hussain and to Hong Kong for a lunch at the Rugby Sevens in 2004 and the Soccer Sevens In 2005.
He has been asked to sit on the Committee for the 2006 Benefit of Kent Captain, David Fulton. He has appeared at cricket dinners in Florida, Los Angeles, Kenya, Menorca, Dubai and Hong Kong and countless rugby and cricket benefits.
He is also much in demand for golf days, “although my golf is often funnier than the act” he says..
Thursday May 8, 1980, would change the life of Bob “the Cat” Bevan MBE. He was the first non-professional entertainer to speak to the notoriously-tough audience at the Footballer of the Year Dinner. He brought the house down to such an extent that people who were there still talk about it. Later that very evening he was booked to appear with Billy Connolly and Jimmy Tarbuck and his career took off.
Hundreds of dinners and many awards later he is still at the top of the tree culminating in his MBE awarded by the Her Majesty the Queen in the 2004 Birthday Honours.
Although he started at speaking at sporting dinners - his nickname refers to his hopelessness as a goalkeeper at the very lowest level of the game - he is now in huge demand on the corporate circuit at home and abroad.
He has made countless appearances on TV and radio. He is now a regular guest on Channel 4’s “Countdown” He was the late Richard Whiteley’s penultimate guest, a distinction he says he would rather not have had. He has appeared on stage at London’s Cambridge Theatre on BBC 1’s “Jim Davidson Presents” on a bill that included Ronan Keating, Status Quo and Jethro and made five BBC “Aunties Bloomers” shows with Terry Wogan.
His best-selling book, “Nearly Famous” published by Virgin Books, has gone into paperback after two reprints in hardback. He has also just written the foreword for a Green Umbrella publication “F is for Football”
On radio he took over BBC Radio 5’s Six-O-Six Show from Danny Baker and is a regular guest on BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme, “Test Match Special” and Talksport. He appeared on Radio 4’s “Trivia Test Match” with Brian Johnston, Sir Tim Rice and Willie Rushton.
He took part in a Radio 4 series on oratory, had his own show on TVS and was the subject of a documentary feature on Meridian.
Sky Sports have also used him extensively ranging from “Monday Night Live” to a “Footballer’s Football Show” Christmas Special with Jim Bowen, Bernard Manning and Jimmy Tarbuck. “I even managed to get a word in,“ he said.
In 2001 he appeared in front of an audience of 5,000 – “my biggest yet!” – at a Tributes Band Concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
There aren’t many people in the business that he hasn’t worked with. He recently appeared in “Ronnie and Friends” at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon on the same bill as Jasper Carrot, Bruce Forsyth, Jimmy Tarbuck and Ronnie himself.
Others on the list include:-
Muhammed Ali - The Bee Gees - Elkie Brooks - Phil Collins – Ken Dodd- David Essex - George Harrison - Bob Hoskins - Frankie Howerd - Barrie Humphries - Elton John – Arthur Lowe – Eric Morecambe - Elaine Paige
Rod Stewart even asked him to appear at his Dad’s 80th birthday party!
He has appeared with most members of the Royal Family and is a particular favourite of the Duke of Edinburgh. “I like his voice” he told one member of audience, after Bob had delivered a poem teasing the Duke for never recognising him.
He is also much in demand as a scriptwriter. William Hague used him when he was Leader of the Opposition and was highly acclaimed for his material. Bob and his writing partner, Brian Robinson, have also written for many leading industrialists and politicians as well as the late Lord Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury. When he died Lady Runcie wrote to Bob “saying you are a legend in our house with “The Johnson Brothers” and “Lenin in Poland” jokes.”
