BBC presenter Barry Fantoni dies at home aged 85 as Ian Hislop pays tribute to ‘brilliant writer, artist and musician’

BBC PRESENTER Barry Fantoni has died at home, as Ian Hislop has paid tribute to the “brilliant writer, artist and musician”;;.

Barry, who was also a revered cartoonist and script writer, died aged 85 on May 20 at his home in Turin, , it has been confirmed.

In an emotional tribute, Private Eye editor Ian Hislop said: “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 of the great poet and obituarist E J Thribb. So farewell then Barry.”;;

British crime noir writer Barry Fantoni has died