Jim Bowen

James Brown Whittaker (born Peter Williams; 20 August 1937 – 14 March 2018), known professionally as Jim Bowen, was an English stand-up comedian, actor and television personality. He was the long-time host of the ITV game show Bullseye, which he presented from its beginning in 1981 through to the end of its original run in 1995.

In early adulthood, Bowen was a teacher and took part in local dramatic groups. He first appeared on television in The Comedians (1971) and he eventually devoted himself to comedy full-time, appearing in other television shows in the 1970s. After the popular Bullseye, he subsequently worked for various radio stations and toured with stand-up shows. Towards the end of his life he was affected by a number of strokes.

Bowen was born in Heswall, Wirral, Cheshire, to an unmarried mother and was adopted at nine months from an orphanage on the Wirral, by a working-class couple, Joe Whittaker, a World War I veteran, and his wife, Annie Whittaker, who were both from Clayton-le-Moors, Lancashire. He grew up in Clayton-le-Moors, just outside Accrington, where Joe was a bricklayer for Accrington's Nori brick factory and Annie worked as a weaver at Atlas Street Mill. He was educated at Accrington Grammar School, but failed all but one of his O-levels and subsequently worked as a dustman in Burnley. He later changed his name to James Whittaker.

During his National Service, Bowen served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps from 1955 to 1957 as an ammunition inspector with the rank of Corporal. After making a serious error during the Suez Crisis, when he sent the wrong batch of ammunition to Barry Docks, he was sent on a Physical Training course in Aldershot to become an instructor, and later became a school Physical Education teacher specialising in gymnastics. He studied at Chester Diocesan Training College, eventually becoming a deputy headmaster at St. Paul's primary school in Caton, near Lancaster.

While teaching, Bowen became involved with the local dramatic society, which kindled his interest in show business. In the 1960s, he worked part-time as a stand-up comedian on the northern club circuit, balancing his comedy career with his day job as a teacher. After having become disillusioned with his teaching career, he was inspired to take up comedy full-time, after seeing Ken Dodd perform a well-received show in front of 3,500 in Blackpool. He took his stage name from his wife's maiden name, Owen, adding the initial of his mother's, Brown. The advent of Granada TV’s The Comedians in 1971 gave him the opportunity to appear on national television, which ultimately helped persuade him to become a full-time entertainer.

Television opportunities followed, and he made appearances in Last of the Summer Wine as a library attendant, and on Granada's The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club. He also starred alongside Ray Burdis, John Blundell, Pauline Quirke and the pop group Flintlock in two series of Thames Television's children's sketch show You Must Be Joking in 1975 and 1976.

Bowen also appeared in TV dramas and comedies. In 1981 he played "Dad" in the Victoria Wood television play Happy Since I Met You. He played a crooked accountant in ITV's 1982 mini-series Muck and Brass, and later guest-starred in BBC1's Jonathan Creek and Channel 4's Phoenix Nights, playing the hotel owner Frank "Hoss" Cartwright. He subsequently appeared in Peter Kay's 2005 Comic Relief video for "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo"?

His last television appearance was in an interview about the game show Bullseye, recorded a few weeks before his death, for the Matthew Kelly clips and countdown show Top of the Box 1985, repeated on Channel 5 as Greatest TV Moments of the 80s in 2023.