Strictly is back on our screens and viewers are thrilled and can’t wait to spend the next few months watching the celebrity contestants take to the dancefloor.
Len Goodman was one of the original judges on the BBC show until his departure in 2016. The dance sadly superstar passed away in April this year aged 78 after battling cancer, devastating fans and leaving a huge hole in the Strictly family.
Speaking on This Morning after Len died, his fellow panellist Craig Revel Horwood told of his heartache, saying the dancer was a “brilliant brilliant man who brought ballroom back to the world”.
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As Craig, Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse and head judge Shirley Ballas get ready to offer their verdict on the latest couples, Daily Star has taken a look inside Len’s life.
Foot injury sparked love of dance
(Image: ANL/REX/Shutterstock)
Len didn’t grow up in a dance family – his granddad sold fruit and veg for a living and when he was little he used to help out by checking the produce was fresh. But at 19 a foot injury while playing his beloved football changed the course of his life.
Opening up in his autobiography, Better Late Than Never: From Barrow Boy To Ballroom, Len said his doctor recommended dancing to help heal his foot. “I had a face like a slapped arse and it didn’t help either my image or my confidence that on my left foot I had a winkle-picker and on my right foot I had one of my dad’s carpet slippers,” he said of his first lesson. But it sparked a love of dancing that would last a lifetime.
Len quickly stood out in his dance lessons and although he had been training to be a welder, the ballroom world beckoned. He turned pro and soon started winning trophies for his dazzling skill on the dancefloor.
In his late 20s, he won the British Championships at Blackpool, where so many special episodes of Strictly have taken place.
Strictly legend
(Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)
When Strictly was dreamed up by TV bosses, Len was teaching dancing in Kent and in 2004, he was installed on the judging panel of the BBC show, which of course went on to become a TV juggernaut.
Len soon became a favourite thanks to his chirpy personality, exuberance and catchphrases like “Seven!” And the following year he bagged a judging role on Dancing With The Stars (DWTS), America’s version of Strictly.
He stayed on Strictly until 2016, when he stepped down and Shirley Ballas took over as head judge. “It is an honour being part of the wonderful Strictly Come Dancing family and I’m looking forward to my last series very much and to whatever comes next,” he said at the time. His DWTS stint carried on a little longer, with Len appearing on the show until 2022.
Many fans saw the dance maestro as the heart of both programmes, but it seems his television fame was a bit of a surprise to the star himself. Asked to describe himself once, he apparently said he was just “a dance teacher from Dartford who got lucky”.
Love life
(Image: Mark Large/ANL/REX/Shutterstock)
Len tied the knot with his dance partner Cherry Kingston in 1972 but they split after 15 years. He later had a long romance with a lady called Lesley, and they share son James.
In 2012 he walked down the aisle again, this time with a dance teacher named Sue Barrett who he had been with for many years.
After leaving Strictly, Len apparently bought a village pub in Kent and also told how he wanted to spend more time with family and playing golf.
He also spent a lot of time across the pond in Los Angeles, thanks to his ongoing work on DWTS.
Ill health and predicting death
(Image: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)
Len was diagnosed with prostate cancer when he was in his 60s and in 2020 he had a patch of melanoma removed from his face. But when he died in April this year, reportedly of bone cancer, it came as a surprise to many fans who had not known he was unwell.
It was later revealed that Len had appeared to predict his own passing. In an interview with the Mail, he said: “My dad had the right idea. He loved gardening and he had a stroke while he was out in the garden. He was 79 so if I go the way of my dad, that’ll be next year.” The star died just a few days before what would have been his 79th birthday.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
