Eddie Large: Buffoon-playing half of the TV comedy duo Little and Large

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Eddie Large, who has died of coronavirus aged 78, was one half of Little and Large, who established themselves in the shadow of the great Morecambe and Wise, taking over the mantle of British television’s most popular comedy double act after Eric Morecambe’s death in 1984. Large played the buffoon, putting great energy into a performance in which he would dart around the stage doing impressions of Rod Stewart crooning, “If you want my body and you think I’m sexy,” and Kate Bush swooping and soaring to the words of “Wuthering Heights”. “I was proud of my fitness,” said the man who had kept himself in trim as a teenager, “but, once I knew that I could never play professional soccer, I began to put on weight.” open image in gallery Horsing around: Little and Large in 1984 A new ambition surfaced when in 1960 McGinnis walked into The Stonemason’s pub in Timperley, Cheshire, and saw Cyril Mead, who was dressed as a Teddy boy in crepe-soled shoes and drainpipe trousers, playing guitar and singing contemporary pop hits. We were seriously considering packing it in completely, then fate took a hand.” Winning Opportunity Knocks led Little and Large to become resident comedians in the children’s show Crackerjack in 1972 and appear regularly in Who Do You Do?