The British comedian and former Manchester drama student Rik Mayall has died at the age of 56.
Mayall, who married Scottish make-up artist Barbara Robbin in 1985, died this morning, his manager has confirmed. He leaves behind three children.
He went to the Victoria University of Manchester in 1976 to study drama, where he befriended his future comedy partner Ade Edmondson.
He has appeared in numerous sitcoms including The Young Ones, Blackadder, The New Statesman and Bottom.
He has also starred in on the big screen in comedy films Drop Dead Fred and Guest House Paradiso.
Mayall was left in a coma after a 1998 quad biking accident, but he later recovered and returned to work.
People have already taken to social media to pay tribute to the iconic comedian.
RIP Rick Mayall, top comedian, many good memories from ‘The Young Ones’ days….
— CHRIS ROUND (@Cjround72Chris) June 9, 2014
RIP Rick Mayall absolute legend #RIPRickMayall pic.twitter.com/YfvvhIgmZE
— Nick (@ColossusNick) June 9, 2014
Rik Mayall writes back to an autograph hunter in June 2008. (Contains swearing and that.) pic.twitter.com/sNKPyX83ID
— Rick Burin (@rickburin) June 9, 2014
The comedian opened his own Twitter account back in 2010 – to stop anybody else from doing it. Here is his sole tweet:
Opening my very own Twitter to stop another bastard from doing it. So fuck off & don’t expect to hear from me any time soon. Love Rik x
— Rik Mayall (@rikmayall) April 13, 2010
Image courtesy of Channel 4 via YouTube with thanks
