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but i couldnt find the thread, pat roach passed away at the weekend. Can remember myslef bennie and others discussing.

RI.P. Bomber Roach. :(

yes, RIP Bomber

an absolute legend. the only man who could refer to himself in the 3rd person and not sound a tw*t (take note Lennox). Remember his catchphrase when going for a "massage" in Germany: "Bomber's away!"

RIP Pat Roach

Wasn't filming going on for the the latest instalment of Auf Pet? Was Bomber not in it?

"Bomber knows what bomber likes."

"Bomber's went and got pissed, bombers skint"

Gawd bless ya bomber and all who sail in ya.

No doubt off to argue with Cockernee Wayne now in that great building site in the sky.
RIP

I have to admit, I thought he'd died last year. Could have sworn I read he'd died in a national newspaper. But the memory plays tricks as one gets older and maybe I read he was suffering from cancer.
Sad loss. Saw him in real life in the Bull Ring in the late 80's. He was absolutely fornicating massive.

Yes a sad lose indeed, a gentle giant by all accounts. A friend once met him in a scrap yard about 15 years ago he said "He was a scruffy bugger but built like a brick out house and was very friendly".

He knew Gary Strech apparently, I assume through the acting business.

R.I.P. big man and thanks.

Pat Roach
(Filed: 19/07/2004)


Pat Roach, who died on Saturday aged 67, made his name as a champion heavyweight wrestler and then became even better known as an actor, notably in the television comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.



The series follows the fortunes of a gang of bricklayers, who were first encountered in 1983-84 on a building site in Dusseldorf. Roach played Brian "Bomber" Busbridge, rather older than the other brickies, and inclined to keep himself to himself, but always able, through a combination of common sense and sheer physical presence, to command respect.

In his prime the red-bearded Roach was six foot four inches tall with a 51-inch chest, and weighed nearly 20 stone.

The second series, broadcast in 1986, moved the action to the Costa Del Sol. The programme, made by Central Television, commanded 15 million viewers. In 2002, after a gap of 16 years, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was resurrected by the BBC. This time the gang were involved in a scam to rebuild the Tees Transporter Bridge in Arizona, a wheeze which immediately attracted an audience of 12 million, twice that of the competition offered by ITV, a new version of The Forsyte Saga.

By that stage Roach was already suffering from cancer, but he bravely played his part. This year he has been seen in a fourth series, set in Cuba, though shot in the Dominican Republic owing to the disapproval of Castro's regime.

Pat Roach was born on May 19 1937 in Birmingham, where his father was a scrap merchant, while his mother's family worked on the canal. At the early age of 22 Pat won a black belt at judo, and also found that he could earn much-needed shillings boxing and wrestling at fairgrounds.

This proved to be the beginning of a career in the ring that did not finally end until 2003, when he appeared as one of the Legends of Wrestling at the Colston Hall, Bristol.

As a young man Roach went to India, where he fought the Bollywood muscleman Dara Singh in front of an audience of 100,000. Later he was an annual attraction of the wrestling tournament at Hanover, where he twice emerged as champion. He also held both the British and the European heavyweight titles. His "Brumagen Bump" proved especially popular with the fans.

Roach's career as an actor began when Stanley Kubrick employed him as a Cuban bouncer in A Clockwork Orange (1971). In 1976 Roach was auditioned for the part of Darth Vader in Star Wars.

That came to nothing. He had two roles, however, in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - as a Sherpa, and as a German mechanic who is minced up by a propeller. He was also in the sequels, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), swapping many a bare-fisted blow with Harrison Ford, who, he noted admiringly, "never, ever, complained."

He also got to attack James Bond (Sean Connery) in Never Say Never Again (1983). His other film credits included Clash of the Titans (1981); Conan the Destroyer (1984); Red Sonja (1985); Willow (1988); The Return of the Musketeers (1989); The Big Man (1990); and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (1991). In The Last Place on Earth (1994), about Scott's expedition to the South Pole, he played Edgar "Taff" Evans.

In 2002 he published If - The Pat Roach Story, written with Shirley Thompson; Arnold Schwarzenegger provided a foreword. Pat Roach's Birmingham, again with Shirley Thompson, appeared earlier this year.

Pat Roach married Doreen Harris in 1957; they had a son.

Goz was always a Bomber fan. RIP mate!

I've never met him, although I live a stones throw (well maybe two throws) from his scrap yard, but I've known a few people that did know him; he was a lovely bloke by all accounts.
RIP

There's something very incongruous about Pat Roach playing a cuban bouncer in a clockwork orange.....

bollocks wrote:Can believe Wayne (Gary Holt) would have been in his early fifties today It says that he did a brief stint in the band The Damned

I acually worked with Gary Holts younger brother for a while when I was a fitter, He looked just like Gary, nice bloke and a top Sparky.

Not very interesting I know but true.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:"Bomber knows what bomber likes."

"Bomber's went and got pissed, bombers skint"

Gawd bless ya bomber and all who sail in ya.

Bombers a big lad, needs a big bed"

Myself, and others put forward a few messages on the original thread where this was discussed;

http://www.boxrec.com/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... ht=#170168

Though I've already said it, I'd like to say again RIP Bomber. Sad news, indeed. :(