Richard Preddy

Richard will be remembered by everyone he met as a kind, generous, funny caring man with a gentle soul and a wicked sense of the ridiculous.

Once you had met Richard, he would be impossible to forget.

Richard was born in Farnborough Kent,  September 1966. John and Barbara Preddy’s first child, and then they gave him an annoying sister, Sarah who came along 4 years later. Richard spent his very early years worrying his Mother by being polite, extremely well behaved and quietly staring into space. Some of you may know him as Ian, the name he was given at birth, but later he decided that Ian was a name for an oaf, so he changed it to Richard. Which he considered to be the name of someone clever and important.

He attended Biggin Hill Infant and Junior School, and then completed his secondary education at Hayes School, making many friends, and creating lasting memories with his in-class antics and drama performances.

At Kent University he studied Drama and Theology before dropping Theology on the grounds that “nobody knows anything about God, especially not God”. It was Kent where he met his first writing partner Gary Howe and first caught his first glimpse of Julia.

After spending two weeks with Gary in the University recording studio writing and recording a one minute comedy sketch about a man stealing a Mars bar they both determined there and then to make a career of it. A mere 11 years later they decided to do something about it and sent material to Harry Enfield who said ‘Yeah alright’ to a few pages. The rest is history (not all of it, just that bit)

During the aforementioned history bit he spent 14 happy years with his then partner Laura Gibbons and they became affectionately known as ‘The Twickenham Two’ to the local police force.

After making his name as the first half of sketch writing duo Richard Preddy & Gary Howe - despite being alphabetically disadvantaged - Richard was always on the list for producers seeking fresh writing talent.

Victoria Pile recruited the pair for Smack The Pony in 1998 … and not being female, they inevitably became key contributors to the female sketch show, which went on to win two International Emmy awards. Victoria had discovered that Richard's sense of surreal /absurd comic observations matched her own comic sensibilities, which meant he would become an integral and indispensable member of her writing team for years to come.

Having by now added ‘stylish biro twiddling’ to his ’staring into space’ mode, Richard played a key part in the success of C4’s BAFTA-winning Green Wing from 2002 to 2007. In spite of that being a full time commitment (ahem), Richard - like all good freelancers - had many other irons in the fire and was much in demand for a whole range of new shows, both on TV and radio (Shooting Stars, Man Stroke Woman, Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry & Paul!, Trollied, Angry Birds Toons, and anything Griff Rhys Jones was in). Although the main thing members of the public would drop their jaws at was him being co-creator of Ant and Dec’s seminal masterwork 'Wonkey Donkey'.

Richard and Gary were then attracted by the world renowned talent and goatee beard of Gavin Claxton where they formed their own company 'Fireside Favourites' and created a number of deranged animations while trying their best to live by Gavin's company motto 'Is it a joke or a mistake?

Richard then arrived in Elham as the enigmatic townie. (it’s in Kent if you can’t be bothered to Google it) With their swanky London ways and habit of going out after 9pm in the evening (when everyone else was about to go to bed), no one thought they would ever fit in. But fit in they did, and they turned out to be the kindest, funniest people you could hope to meet.

Richard continued to work and write in London whilst living in Elham. There were walks, barbecues, festivals and parties where he never danced, preferring to gaze benevolently like a dear old slightly disapproving uncle. Julia insisted that the Native American translation of his name was 'Dances with Difficulty'.

He became an accidental business man, when on a whim in the pub one evening with friends, the Bee Friendly Seed company was formed. The bees themselves remained occasionally aggressive.

Then to the amazement of his Elham friends he and Julia announced they were off to pursue their rural dreams and they bought the 10-acre, Pastoral Farm at Wootton (yes that is how you spell it).

On moving full-time to rural Kent Richard threw himself into country life. He adapted readily to the change in lifestyle and he was now to be found wearing tight fitting wellies and a stylishly holey jumper and feeding sheep, whether they wanted it or not.

In Wootton, Richard worked mainly from home, spending less time writing to concentrate on his highly successful businesses.  He endeared himself to the countryfolk of Elham and Wootton and made many good friends around the area who will all miss him terribly.

As will his huge circle of loving friends everywhere.

He was unique, unforgettable and he loved, more than anything, to make people laugh. Just as well he was so incredibly good at it.

In Richards words ‘I really wish you hadn’t died; I think it was a bad plan all around.’

Thank you Gary, Victoria and team, Sarah and Pip for your help and input on writing this tribute to a wonderful man and comic genius, we all hope we did you proud Richard.

Richard’s writing portfolio - https://lindaseifert.com/portfolio/richard-preddy/

Richard’s Just Giving  memorial charity page - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gary-howe4