Michael Bentine

Bentine was born in Watford, England[?], of Anglo-Peruvian parentage. In World War II he served as an RAF Intelligence officer, and took part in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He had acted before the war, and afterwards he decided to become a comedian, specialising in off-the-wall humour, often involving cartoons and other types of animation. For example, a prominent feature of his series, It's a Square World, was the imaginary flea-circus[?]. He was also a television presenter and writer.

He appeared in the Goon Show film Down Among the Zed Men[?], and at the time seemed perhaps the most comfortable of the cast in working in a visual medium.

In later life, his interests included parapsychology. This partly arose as a result of the premature death of his son.

Appeared in:

• The Goon Show (1950-52)
• Round the Bend in Thirty Minutes (1959)
• It's a Square World[?] (1960-64)
• The Golden Silents (1965)
• Michael Bentine's Potty Time[?] (1973-80)
• ...and many other programmes

External resources:

• http://www.rbadsign.demon.co.uk/michaelbentine