He was the man who made headlines in the UK when he died from heart failure after laughing non-stop at The Goodies.
Alex Mitchell’s wife Nessie, who witnessed his death, even sent Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie a letter thanking them for making her husband’s final minutes so happy.
Now, 37 years on from the infamous “Ecky-Thump” episode of the TV comedy, doctors think they know what caused the mysterious death. The clue came when Mr Mitchell’s granddaughter Lisa Corke, 23, recently suffered a near-fatal cardiac arrest while relaxing at her home.
Doctors subsequently diagnosed her with Long QT syndrome, a rare form of heart disease which causes irregular heartbeats. As the condition is hereditary, they believe Scots-born Mr Mitchell, a bricklayer who lived in Norfolk, must have also suffered from it and triggered a collapse with his laughing fit.
Mrs Corke, from the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, said: “My granddad died from one of the most famous strange deaths.
“I think at the time they probably thought he suffered a heart attack caused by the laughter, but doctors realised he died from cardiac arrest caused by Long QT syndrome after examining me.”
She now has a cardioverter-defibrillator in her chest, which detects arrhythmia and corrects it with a jolt of electricity, and will have to take medication for the rest of her life.
The Goodies ran from 1970 to 1982. The 1975 Ecky-Thump episode - actually called Kung Fu Kapers - featured Brooke-Taylor as a kilted Scotsman who uses his bagpipes to defend himself against Oddie, a master of the ancient Lancastrian martial art of Ecky-Thump, which involves hitting people with black puddings.
Mr Mitchell’s widow, who is now 86, said at the time: “Alex was a Scot and it tickled him to see a Scotsman fighting with his bagpipes. The programme was nearly over when he collapsed.” - Daily Mail