TED ROGERSFormer Butlins Redcoat Ted Rogers,who died on 2 May, 2001, was best known for presenting the hit TV game show 3-2-1.Mr Rogers' wise cracks and a quick finger-flicking gesture to count down the numbers as he said the name of the Saturday night quiz contributed to its huge success - drawing audiences of up to 16.5 million during its run from 1978 to 1987.Edward Rogers was born in London on 20 July, 1935, the elder of two sons of a civil servant. He attended St Mary’s School in Sancroft Street, Kennington, where Charlie Chaplin had gone 40 years earlier.Young Ted’s showbiz debut, at 14, was imitating Danny Kaye in a Butlin’s talent contest. He won first prize — the chance to appear in a 30-week tour of Britain at £17 a week.He turned down this goldenopportunity to “play football with my mates," as he later recalled. But he was destined to become an entertainer.For his National Service, he joined the RAF and became a mess orderly at RAF Halton, Buckinghamshire. He used his abundant spare time practising a stand-up comic act to entertain comrades.After the RAF, Mr Rogers joined a London theatre ticket agency. “That’s where I learned my quick-fire delivery,” he said. “I had to give ticket numbers and prices so quickly that fast-talking became a habit.”In the early 1960s he joined Butlin’s as a Redcoat and worked across Britain as a stand-up comedian. In 1968 he appeared at the Royal Variety Performance, and shortly afterwards toured America successfully. His return to Britain in the early 1970s launched his television career. He appeared in The Golden Shot and Saturday Variety, hosted Saturday Night at the London Palladium, and also had his own show, And So To Ted.When ITV asked Mr Rogers to present 3-2-1 hesnapped up the chance.The show's trademark was the booby prize of a dustbin which was symbolised by a red-nosed model Dusty Bin that trundled around the set.Aside from the world of entertainment, Mr Rogerswas a staunch Tory and was often called upon to entertain guests at Downing Street and to act as Margaret Thatcher’s warm-up man at Conservative Party rallies.In later years he did several television advertisements and pantomimes, assisted by Dusty Bin. Despite his quickfire screen persona, however, Mr Rogers was a serious man who drank rarely and did not enjoy late nights. He was married twice and had four children.
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