This blog follows my previous entry “Ken Campbell Dies Suddenly”
This morning Ken Campbell personally welcomed us to his own funeral.
Over the sound system we heard ”Do you realise, the word FUNERAL…” it was Ken’s usual very nasal and now ethereal voice, “is actually an anagram for REAL FUN!” Pause for laughter. “Why are you lot down there looking so miserable? I was a clown. You should be throwing a flan or something.”
Nina Conti
Chris Langham
Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent then added his memories during the service. He talked about how he got his first job with Ken back in the seventies. There was an occasion when they were touring the show and stayed in a hotel with far too many people and far too few lifts. There was always a huge crowd waiting in the lobby for the lift to come. Ken, Jim and the rest of the theatre company were travelling down in the lift one morning. Suddenly Ken said “Down on the floor everyone. Put your hands and legs in the air.” Everyone did as they were told. Well, you did when Ken spoke! So there they all were, on the floor, with their arms and legs in the air. As the doors opened on the ground floor in front of a packed lobby Ken said “My, that came down at one hell of a lick!”
Ken’s coffin was taken to the woods on a dog-drawn carriage. He was laid to rest in beautiful woodland under the leafy trees of Epping Forrest.
People gathered in groups telling each other their ‘Ken stories’. As I mingled I’d hear various impressions of that nasal voice as the Ken quotes kept pouring out. They were invariably followed with a knowing laughter from the listener.
I have learned today that Ken Campbell touched and influenced the lives of so many people. Everyone who has worked with Campbell seems to have a little bit of Ken still inside them.