HE was the unlikely star who found fame at 60 and helped make Strictly Come Dancing the massive hit it is today.
The worlds of dance and showbiz are mourning the loss of Len Goodman, whose death from bone cancer was announced today, the day before his 79th birthday.
A spokesperson for the star confirmed the former Strictly judge “died peacefully over the weekend surrounded by his family,” in a Tunbridge Wells Hospice.
She added that Len was a “much loved husband, father and grandfather who will be sorely missed by family, friends and all who knew him."
Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood led the tributes to his former co-star, tweeting: “I’ve just woken up to the sad news that my gorgeous colleague and dear friend Len Goodman has passed away.
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“My heart and love go out to his lovely Sue and family. Len Goody Goodman is what I always called him and “It’s a ten from Len & seveeeeern”will live with me forever. RIP Len.”
Buckingham Palace also said today that Queen Consort Camilla, who once danced with Len and is a known fan of Strictly, 'was saddened to hear the news', the Mail Online reported.
Strictly host Claudia Winkleman wrote: "I’m so sad about Len. He was one of a kind, a brilliant and kind man. Full of twinkle, warmth and wit. Sending all love to his family and friends. X"
Dancer Katya Jones added: “Unbelievably sad news! RIP Len Goodman. You will be treasured in our hearts forever. Our favourite."
She added: "What a privilege it was to be in your presence."
It’s a sentiment I share as someone who got to spend time with Len over the years, as the author of the official Strictly annual.
At least once a year we’d meet for a coffee or two at Bluewater shopping centre - where he would often take his ‘old mum’ before she passed away in 2015 - or at his beloved golf course in the Kent countryside.
Always the perfect gent, Len never once let me pay for a coffee or a drink in all the time I knew him.
He always arrived early and whatever the weather, he’d find a table outside, so he could enjoy his habitual cigar, and it was always a pleasure to be in his company. With Len, what you saw was what you got.
He was witty, charming and curmudgeonly, in equal measures. He had a killer smile, a mischievous twinkle in his eye and a candid way of speaking his mind that made him a firm favourite with viewers of the show from the day it began in 2004.
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Fans loved him for his earthy charm and off-the-cuff phrases including “Pickle my walnuts” and “Shut up, close the door and call me Mary.”
He had no time for showbiz divas, shirkers or complainers and dodged star-studded parties, which he hated with a passion.
He often said he was glad fame came late in the day, because it kept him grounded and, after every show, by the time the Strictly stars headed to the bar, Len was in his car on the way home to wife Sue.
Len treated everyone the same and was never starstruck - even in the presence of royalty.
After dancing with Strictly fan Queen Camilla, in 2019, at a charity event, he said simply: "It was my favourite kind of dance. Holding a lovely lady and having a nice little shuffle around."
Barrow boy to ballroom
Born in April 1944 in Bromley, Kent, Len moved to South East London when he was six.
Growing up, he helped his family push their vegetable barrow and was told by his headmaster that he was “never going to amount to anything.
"You're a failure in class. You'll be a failure in life," he was told.
In "echoes of Billy Elliot" - as noted by his memoir - he signed up as an apprentice welder in the docks of Woolwich but turned to dancing after an injury put an end to his hopes of becoming a footballer.
It was while taking dance classes that he met first wife Cherry Kingston, the daughter of dance teacher and world champion Joy Tolhurst, and the couple began competing in ballroom contests.
His first major competition was at the Royal Albert Hall, where his appearance was greeted by uproarious shouts from 53 docker pals who had arrived by coach and had a few too many on the way.
Their awards included winning Dual of the Giants, British Rising Stars, and The British Exhibition Championships four times.
They also won the World Exhibition Championships in the early 1970s before he retired.
When Joy’s husband died, she asked the 22-year-old Len to step in and help her teach – paving the way for his own career as a renowned dance tutor.
In 1973, the couple opened a dance school in Dartford but the marriage began to fail when Len decided to give up competing and Cherry left him for a multi-millionaire Frenchman.
Saved by Travolta
Len moved on to a relationship with Lesley, a former wife of the manager of Black Sabbath, with whom he shares son James, 42.
But with business failing, Len was barely making ends meet - until his skin was saved by the film Saturday Night Fever.
Len lured a generation of Travolta fans with posters that read: "You've heard the music, now learn the dances. "
The move led to queues halfway down Dartford High Street to get into his studio and, when Grease came out, he said, "the seam of gold turned into a whole goldmine".
For people who grew up in and around Dartford, like me, Len Goodman was a household name long before he found fame on Strictly.
Like hundreds of other local children, I attended the Len Goodman Dance Academy. More frequently, as a teenager, I spent many a happy night at the under-18 disco in his studio above the Rumpy Bar in the town centre.
Audition on 60th birthday
It was this school which saw Len drafted in as a last minute replacement on the judging panel of a brand new show, Strictly Come Dancing, when it launched in 2004.
Craig Revel Horwood, Arlene Phillips and Bruno Tonioli had been signed up but a fourth judge, from the world of ballroom dance, had dropped out. The BBC were desperate to find an expert voice and asked the professional dancers to help.
Erin Boag, the former New Zealand champion, asked: "Have you tried Len Goodman? He's just a dance teacher from Dartford, but he's a bit of a character."
Len loved to tell the story of how he was interviewed for the job on his 60th birthday - when most people are starting to wind down their careers.
He still had a mortgage and his dance school was making a small profit but the job on Strictly, he said, “changed my life”.
He later recalled coming home to partner Sue, who he wed in 2012, and saying: “They want to pay me £1,000 an episode and they will pick me up in a car, and take me home again.”
The late stardom also informed the title of his autobiography, Better Late Than Never: from Barrow Boy to Ballroom.
Len stamped his authority on the show with his knowledge of ballroom and strict adherence to the rules, which saw him frequently marking down routines for illegal lifts.
But it was his down-to-earth sense of humour, unique turn of phrase and brutal honesty that saw Strictly viewers take him to their hearts.
In the first show, he uttered one of his grandad's favourite phrases, "all sausage, and no sizzle".
Other memorable phrases included: "It's a lovely rise and fall, up and down like a bride's nightie” and "You're just like a trifle - fruity at the top but a little bit spongy down below.”
He was a beloved presence on the set of the show too, often holding court outside the back door of the studio as he puffed away on his cigar.
Despite his self-confessed “grumpy” persona, he was kind and considerate to everyone from superstars to runners.
Although they had frequent on-air spats, Len was close to Craig and took him under his wing, roping in wife Sue to teach him the finer points of ballroom dancing when he was keen to learn more.
Family man
As well as Strictly, Len took on a judging role in the US version, Dancing With The Stars, in 2005, alongside Bruno.
In the weeks the two series overlapped, he would take two trans-Atlantic flights a week, a regime that he admitted left him exhausted.
The gruelling schedule was part of the reason he finally quit Strictly - reportedly by now earning £250,000 per series - at the end of the 2016 season.
In an emotional goodbye speech, he said: "I will miss everything about the show I promise you.
"I will miss turning up and the anticipation and what's going to occur. I’ll miss the three best judges on any types of these shows.
"This whole thing is like a big machine with cogs. Every cog has to work to make it happen. I’m going to miss it all."
A devoted family man, Len had been hoping to spend more time with Sue, James, and his beloved grandchildren, Alice, seven, and Dan, three.
Speaking in May last year, Len said: "When you get to a certain age, you realise the most important thing is family. My son James and his wife Sophie are lovely, and I've got two wonderful grandchildren, Alice, seven, and Dan, three . They're terrific.”
Len - who beat prostate cancer in 2009 - hung up his ten paddle for the last time in November, telling Dancing With The Stars viewers: “It has been a huge pleasure to be a part of such a wonderful show but I've decided I want to spend more time with my grandchildren and family back in Britain,” he said.
It’s a tragedy that time was cut short.
