Ted Rogers

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For other uses, see: Edward Rogers (disambiguation).

Ted Rogers (20 July 1935 – 2 May 2001) was a fast talking English comedian and light entertainer (who originally started his career as a red coat entertainer). He was born in Kennington, south London and went to school in Lambeth. His idol as a youngster was Danny Kaye and Rogers won a holiday camp talent contest impersonating Kaye as a youngester, but he would later put all showbusiness offers on hold whilst he did his National Service in the RAF.

A familiar presence on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in the 1970s, he is best remembered as the presenter of 3-2-1, a variety-cum-gameshow, which remained a staple of ITV's Saturday night schedule from 1978 until 1988 although the first series was aired on a Friday. The first ever edition of the programme was shown on 15 September 1978. It was such a success that it was moved to Saturdays. Rogers also appeared on the comedy panel game Joker's Wild. He earned £130,000 a year in the early 1980s from 3-2-1 alone, and combined this with a career as a well-paid after dinner speaker and regular cabaret appearances. Undoubtedly these years were the peak of Rogers career, financially and professionally.

3-2-1 was surprisingly axed in 1989 when it was still attracting audiences of 12 million and was still in the Top Twenty ratings. Rogers told the Sunday Mirror in April 1996 that "The Oxbridge lot got control of TV and they didn't want it. It was too downmarket for them. We were still getting 12 million viewers when they took it off after 10 years. These days if a show gets nine million everyone does a lap of honour".

Rogers also provoked ire in the music world with the obvious sub-text of his comedy act and persona deemed politically incorrect and epitomised the banality of American imported ideas regarding the game-show genre. One acidic song sung by the Manchester based cult-indie group, The Fall, "Joker Hysterical Face" with the barbed lyric, "Ted Rogers' brains burn in hell".

A staunch supporter of the Conservative (Thatcher) government of the 1980s, his downfall was spectacular. In the early 1990s he fell on hard times and was declared bankrupt in early 1992 having (apparently) invested his fortune in a failed business venture. His home at Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire, was repossessed and Rogers production company collapsed with debts of £80,000. He moved to Haslemere, Surrey into a more modest house.

In 1997 Rogers toured as part of a play called Danny and Me about his hero. Then towards the end of the 1990s the Satellite/Cable station Challenge began re-running episodes of 3-2-1. In 2000, Rogers was seen during the sponsor credits for the ITV quiz Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? - sitting in a dressing room with Dusty Bin and bemoaning the new show's success and shortly before his death, on 2 May 2001 after open-heart surgery, Rogers made a comeback to the TV screens in a string of humorous commercials for the world's leading fast food chain, McDonald's. Fittingly, his final TV appearance saw him playing the host of a downmarket quiz show in the BBC children's sitcom ChuckleVision. Had he lived he would have worked with his old friend Jackie Mason on a Vaudeville-type act in America which was due to start in October 2001.

Rogers was married twice, to his childhood sweetheart Marge, to whom he had two daughters, and then to Marion, with whom he had a daughter Canna and a son Danny.