Yeah a good man, I met him when he hosted a pub quiz at my uni, got him to sign an autograph, wanted it to read "To all at Club Zuffle*, From Richard Whiteley" (As we'd done the same to Bob Holness the year before, he mis-heard and wrote "To all at Club Supple" still it had pride of place on our wall of fame for a while.
*Definition from Roger's Profanisaurus for you non Brits
Zuffle v. To Wipe one's cock on the curtain after having sex, usually in a posh bird's house.
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I'll let someone else give the biog on him for the yanks, but to give you a close idea of who were on about(and only example I know) it would be like if alec trebeck, only with slightly louder dress sense, and a lot more drunkeness on screen, past away.
God bless you Whiteley You shall be missed.