Bbc star dies aged 85 as ian hislop pays tribute

HE WAS THE PRESENTER OF A WHOLE SCENE GOING ON AND WROTE SCRIPTS FOR THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS 08:35, 22 May 2025 The BBC presenter Barry Fantoni has died at the age of 85 following a heart

attack, it has been confirmed. Fantoni was best known for his cartoonist work for the Private Eye magazine, as well as being a diary cartoonist for The Times and creating caricatures for

Radio Times. He also presented A Whole Scene Going On, along with writing scripts for That Was The Week That Was. READ MORE: CHRIS BROWN BREAKS SILENCE WITH SIX-WORD STATEMENT AFTER LEAVING

PRISON Fantoni passed away on Tuesday, 20th May, at his home in Turin, Italy, with the news being confirmed by Private Eye magazine. Have I Got News For You star and Private Eye editor Ian

Hislop shared an emotional tribute to the late star, calling him "multi-talented" and "brilliant". Hislop wrote: “Barry was a brilliant multi-talented writer, artist and

musician. "He was an integral part of Private Eye’s comic writing team from the early days in the sixties and I hugely enjoyed collaborating with him when I joined the magazine later

on. "He created formats and characters and jokes that are still running and he was for a long time the voice of the great poet and obituarist E J Thribb. "So farewell then Barry.”

Fantoni first rose to prominence during the 1960s, when he helped shape the British pop culture scene. His artistic temperament began at the age of 14, when he was attending Camberwell

School of Arts and Crafts on a Wedgewood Scholarship. His writing skills and wit secured him a position on the writing team of the influential satirical programme That Was The Week That Was,

hosted by David Frost. Then, in 1996, he moved in front of the camera, hosting the BBC’s youth-focused music and fashion programme A Whole Scene Going. Article continues below He first

joined the Private Eye in 1963, though he retired back in 2010, telling The Independent at the time: “It was just time to leave. I’d done it. The establishment isn’t even worth puncturing

any more.”