Bobby Ball, comedian who turned to Christ, dies of COVID

Oct 30, 2020 by

Anglican Mainstream report:

Bobby Ball, half of the comedy duo Cannon and Ball has died of COVID aged 76. He gave as his testimony in 1998 that by 1986 he was drinking up to a bottle-and-a-half of whisky a day and had a string of affairs, even becoming involved in sex orgies.

The Bradford Telegraph and Argus reports that all that changed when he was playing in pantomime at the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, and met the theatre’s chaplain, Max Wigley, (vicar of Great Horton, Bradford, now retired) who set him on a different path following a chance conversation.

The Times obituary reports that Ball confided his problems to Mr Wigley, who gave him a sympathetic ear and told him: “God loves you, you know, no matter what.”

He returned several weeks later to visit Mr Wigley at his home in Bradford where they said a prayer together.

“Three lines into the prayer I felt this warmth go through my body,” he said. “I felt God come into me and I started to cry like a baby and I knew God was real.”

The Times obituary also reports that through his new Christian faith, Ball was able to put his life, and relationship with Cannon, back together…… [His second wife]  Yvonne, whose health had collapsed while trying to cope with his frequent absences and wild behaviour, also found God. A mellower Ball described them as “two peas in a pod — I’m totally dependent on her”.

Ball said in 1998 that the episode in 1986 changed his life and seven years later he was delighted when his comedy partner Tommy also turned to God. after attending a church service of dedication for Ball’s grandson.

The two men devised their own gospel show and spent four months of the year taking it to churches and other venues, supported by books, videos and CDs.

 

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