Bearing up well after all these years...

HE'S kept generations entertained and is about to celebrate his 50th birthday with a huge showbiz bash.

Yet despite a lifetime on stage and screen, this much-loved star has never uttered a single word.

That's because he is bright yellow, has two black ears and is better known as Sooty, the mischievous bear who performs magic tricks.

The yellow creation is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the star of the longest running children's television show. The Sooty Show was screened in 1952 and has been transmitted every year ever since.

Matthew Corbett has been his right-hand man for the past 23 years.

Generations

He says: "I think Sooty really is an institution. I have toured with him for the last 17 years and you have grandparents turning up with their own children and their children, so he is now entertaining three generations."

Matthew continued to appear with Sooty & Co, but two years ago he sold the business to the merchant bank Guinness Mahon for pounds 1.4 million.

He made the decision partly because he was diagnosed as having chronic lymphatic leukaemia and this year he handed over the reins to two new presenters, Richard Cadell and Liana Bridges.

Copyright 1998 Newspaper Publishing PLC
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.