Bernard Manning to deliver his own obituary

The famous, if extremely controversial, comic Bernard Manning has died aged 76 after being treated in hospital for a kidney condition.

As reported by BBC News, the comedian, perhaps better known for the fury which his material provoked than the material itself, died in Manchester General Hospital at 3:10pm on Monday.

Geoff Williams, a friend of Bernard Manning for 40 years, said Manning "was the kindest and most generous man I ever had the pleasure of meeting. He did have political views, he was quite outspoken, I suppose it was this that got him into so much trouble. I never believed he was racist. I believed he was a genuine guy who just wanted to make people laugh. He told jokes about everybody."

It has emerged today that Bernard Manning will return from the grave to deliver his own obituary in a Channel 4 documentary next month. Apparently the stand-up had been recording footage over the past year for the one-hour documentary and took part in a 'living wake' for the show five weeks ago at which he told the 600 strong crowd "I'm going to be with you for a long time yet".

A Channel 4 spokeswoman said a transmission date for the documentary hadn't been fixed yet but they hoped to show it next month.

Manning also wrote his own obituary for the Daily Mail. You can read it here.