- The ex-Goon awoke from a coma when King Charles III visited him in hospital.
- He was the godfather of Peter Sellers's son Michael and claimed that the boy had been named after him. When, following Peter Sellers's death, Michael Sellers put his name to a defamatory book about his father (actually ghosted), Bentine said that, had he known at the christening that he was going to write it, "I'd have drowned the little bugger in the font!".
- He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1995 Queen's New Year Honours List for his services to entertainment.
- Three of his five children died before he did. His two eldest daughters, Elaine & Marylla ('Fusty') died from cancer (breast cancer and lymphoma) and Stuart ('Gussie') died in a plane crash in southern England. Only Richard ('Peski') and Serena ('Suki') survived him. The circumstances surrounding Stuart's death - a private plane not filing a flight plan which caused enormous delay and difficulties in locating the downed aircraft - prompted him to successfully press for new regulations in registering flight plans for small private aircraft.
- The RAF Red Arrows display team volunteered to make a fly past at his funeral to honour him, as their unofficial mascot.
- He was offered the opportunity of playing the fourth Doctor in the BBC series Doctor Who (1963) and was enthusiastic about taking over from Jon Pertwee, but his insistence that he be involved in the scripting was not acceptable to the series' producer, Barry Letts. The role was given to Tom Baker.
- Bought the traditional train set for his second grandson, as his daughter-in-law refused to let him give his first grandchild a machine gun.
- The staff at BBC Television Centre became so used to him staging scenes of mayhem involving explosions and gun battles for It's a Square World (1960) that when a real-life bank robbery occurred at Television Centre, everyone waved the masked robbers through, thinking it was filming for the programme.
- Graduated from Eton.
- Was a self-taught expert on the paranormal and for the last years of his life was president of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena. He also lectured on the subject.
- Children include: Elaine with his first wife, and Stuart "Gus" Bentine, Fusty Bentine, Serena "Suki" Bentine and Richard Bentine with his second.
- In 1971 he received the Peruvian Order of Merit for his work during the 1971 earthquake.
- Founder of the Goons radio show with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe
- He was a crack pistol shot, and helped to start the idea of a counter-terrorist wing within 22 SAS Regiment. In doing so, he became the first non-SAS person ever to fire a gun inside the close-quarters battle training house at Hereford.
- Was both an avid yachtsman and aircraft pilot.
- Was part of the British Army unit that liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945.
- Served with Bomber Command during World War II.
- Both he and fellow Goon, Harry Secombe, died from prostate cancer.
- Son of a Peruvian immigrant.
- A memorial service was held for him at St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden on 19th May 1997.
- Said that first marriage didn't last due to long wartime separations,.
- First marriage didn't last due to wartime separation.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content