David Nobbs facts for kids

David Gordon Nobbs (born March 13, 1935 – died August 8, 2015) was a famous English comedy writer. He is best known for creating the 1970s TV show The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. This show was based on his own funny books.

Life and Career

A pub in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, dressed up like "Sunshine Desserts" (a fictional company from his show) after Nobbs passed away.

David Nobbs was born in Orpington, a town in Kent, England. He went to Marlborough College and then St John's College, Cambridge for his education.

After college, he worked as a reporter for a newspaper called the Sheffield Star. In the early 1960s, he started writing comedy for a TV show called That Was The Week That Was.

Over the years, David Nobbs wrote for many popular British comedians. These included Kenneth Williams, Frankie Howerd, Les Dawson, and the comedy duo The Two Ronnies.

His most famous creation was the TV sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. This show ran from 1976 to 1979. It told the story of a man who imagined escaping his boring daily life. The main character, Reginald Perrin, was played by Leonard Rossiter.

Nobbs also wrote another comedy-drama series called A Bit of a Do in 1989. He wrote a series of novels about a character named Henry Pratt, with the fourth book, Pratt à Manger, coming out in 2006. His novel It Had to be You was published in 2011.

What David Nobbs Believed In

David Nobbs was a strong supporter of humanism and secularism. Humanism is a way of looking at life that focuses on human values and reason. It believes people can be good and ethical without needing a god or religion. Secularism means keeping government and public life separate from religious beliefs.

Nobbs was a long-time supporter of the British Humanist Association. He became an atheist (someone who does not believe in God) when he was 18. Throughout his writing career, he used his stories to explore humanist ideas. He wrote about what it means to be human and how people relate to each other.

He felt that his novels Obstacles to Young Love and It Had to Be You showed his humanist ideas. He said these books were "humanist books as well as humorous ones." He believed that good qualities like kindness and honesty are found in everyone, whether they are religious or not. He was proud to call himself a humanist.

David Nobbs often spoke out for humanist causes. In 2010, he signed a letter with other public figures. This letter was against a visit by Pope Benedict XVI to the UK. In 2014, he challenged the idea that Britain was only a "Christian country." He also wrote the introduction for a book about humanist funerals. He felt that understanding a humanist death also helps understand a humanist life.

David Nobbs' Books

Here are some of the novels David Nobbs wrote:

• The Itinerant Lodger (1965)
• Ostrich Country (1968)
• A Piece of the Sky is Missing (1969)
• The Death of Reginald Perrin (1975) – later called The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
• The Return of Reginald Perrin (1977)
• The Better World of Reginald Perrin (1978)
• Second From Last in the Sack Race (1983)
• A Bit of a Do (1986)
• Pratt of the Argus (1988)
• Fair Do's (1990)
• The Cucumber Man (1994)
• The Legacy of Reginald Perrin (1996)
• Going Gently (2000)
• Pratt à Manger (2006)
• Cupid's Dart (2008)
• Obstacles to Young Love (2010)
• It Had to be You (2011)
• The Fall and Rise of Gordon Coppinger (2012)
• The Second Life of Sally Mottram (2014)

TV Shows He Wrote For

David Nobbs contributed to or created these television shows:

• The Two Ronnies (as a writer)
• Shine a Light
• The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
• The Sun Trap
• The Hello Goodbye Man
• A Bit of a Do
• Fairly Secret Army
• Dogfood Dan and the Carmarthen Cowboy
• The Life and Times of Henry Pratt
• Rich Tea and Sympathy
• The Legacy of Reginald Perrin
• Love on a Branch Line
• Stalag Luft
• Reggie Perrin

Radio Shows He Wrote For

David Nobbs also wrote many shows for BBC Radio 4:

• He read parts of his autobiography, "I Didn't Get Where I Am Today," in 2003.
• He adapted the novel What a Carve Up! for radio in 2005.
• The Maltby Collection, a comedy set in a museum, ran for three series from 2007 to 2009.
• He wrote several 45-minute plays for the Afternoon Drama slot. These included "Three Large Beers" (2007), "Silent Nights" (2008), "We Happened To Be Passing" (2010), and "The Surprising Effect of Miss Scarlett Rosebud" (2014).
• "With Nobbs On" was a three-part series in 2012. In it, Nobbs shared funny stories about his career with a live audience.

Other Writings

• I Didn't Get Where I Am Today (This was his autobiography, published in 2001.)

His Family and Passing

David Nobbs was married twice. His first wife was Mary Blatchford, whom he married in 1968. They later divorced. He then married Susan Sutcliffe in 1998.

David Nobbs passed away on August 8, 2015, at the age of 80. He was survived by his second wife and her four children from a previous marriage.

See also

In Spanish: David Nobbs para niños