Man about the home
When I was a child my family rarely if ever watched ITV so sitcoms such as Man About The House starring Richard O’Sullivan largely passed me by.
Nevertheless, O’Sullivan - who died on Friday, aged 82 - was a big star in the Seventies and Eighties so I knew who he was and he always seemed extremely likeable, on and off screen.
Thereafter, following a period during which he described himself as a “hard-drinking depressive”, his acting career came to an abrupt and premature end.
In 2003, aged just 59, he suffered a stroke and became a resident of Brinsworth House, a residential and nursing retirement home for theatre and entertainment professionals who face ‘financial hardship, ill health or old age’.
Owned and managed by the Royal Variety Charity (whose annual fundraiser is the Royal Variety Performance), Brinsworth House is a Victorian mansion set in over three acres of land in Twickenham, south west London, and it genuinely sounds rather idyllic. Built in 1850, it’s been a retirement home since 1911 and facilities currently include 32 bedrooms, six living rooms, a conservatory, library, television rooms, in-house bar and stage, plus a hair salon and a staff of 64.
Remarkably O’Sullivan lived there for 23 years - almost a quarter of a century - and by all accounts he was very happy. Other residents during that time included DJ Alan Freeman (who died in 2006), singer Kathy Kirby (2011), and impressionist Mike Yarwood (2023), each one a huge name at one time or another.
In fact, as retirement homes go, Brinsworth sounds almost perfect. But arguably the most heart-warming aspect of O’Sullivan’s story was his long-standing friendship with George Layton and Robin Askwith, two fellow actors (also well-known to my generation) who kept in touch and continued to visit their old friend.
Retirement homes aren’t for everyone, of course, and I remember being told, during a brief visit to Stockholm, that the Swedish model is to keep elderly people in their own homes, with support, for as long as possible because the alternative - going into a home with the resultant loss of independence - can accelerate a person’s mental and physical decline.
Unfortunately, for every Brinsworth House (which likens itself to a five star boutique hotel), you hear of retirement/nursing homes that provide significantly poorer accommodation and care, despite fees that can exceed £1,500 per week, so it’s a bit of a lottery, and even the ‘better’ establishments can leave something to be desired in terms of facilities and mental stimulation.
I guess it’s horses for courses and what works for one person might not work for another, but with an increasing number of people living well into their Eighties and Nineties - albeit not necessarily in the best of health - it’s a societal issue we have to address because, sooner or later, directly or indirectly, it could affect each and every one of us.
How Richard O’Sullivan blazed a trail for funny, frisky, cheeky chappies (Guardian)
