Hill's Angel

A DOUBLE bedroom, lounge, bathroom, dining room and even private fishing can all

be yours if you book into Allbrook's newly opened bed and breakfast.

And if you're a fan of Benny Hill, a stay at the Endeavour could be right up your street - because the B&B is run by the late comedian's chauffeur, David Goodall.

David, who was Benny's chauffeur until his death in 1992, certainly has plenty of funny tales to tell about his favourite passenger.

He had just retired as a finance officer for Hampshire County Council and splashed out on a new Volvo 740 to launch his own chauffeur business when he was introduced to Benny.

It was 1990, and a TV company called Saffron Films was making a programme about Benny's early life in Southampton and Eastleigh.

Saffron wanted David's Allbrook-based company, Direct Chauffeur Services, to ferry the star of the show around Hampshire for a day.

So David met Benny and the film crew at the former Crest Hotel in Eastleigh - now the Holiday Inn - and took them to Benny's parents' old house in Southampton's Bannister Park, the old Eastleigh dairy site where he used to work as a milkman, and Southampton Common.

David, 62, said: "At the end of the day I gave him my card and just said if you liked the service and if I can help, please call me. Ten days later Benny rang."

For the next two years there was never a dull working day for David.

He would take Benny between his two homes - his parents' old house in Southampton and an apartment in Teddington, London - as well as to recording studios, and anywhere the eccentric comedian fancied going next.

"You never knew what you were doing or where you were going with Benny. He'd ask you to pick him up and take him to London but you'd never get there - he'd think of something else to do," said David.

"I was driving him to London one day up the M3 and he said, 'David, I've changed my mind. Take me to the airport'. When we got to Heathrow I asked, which terminal?

"Benny just said, 'I don't know, drop me at a terminal,' so I dropped him at terminal two and asked him how long he was going to be. He said he didn't know and told me to go home and he would call me when he got back. He had nothing with him - just his usual carrier bag with videos and notes - and six days later I got a call from him to pick him up from London. He loved France and he'd just decided to get on a plane and go to France!"

Driving one of the country's greatest comedians around could be hazardous too.

David said: "When I picked Benny up with his producer, David Kirkland, it was dangerous driving - they would have you in stitches. You had to try and block your mind off from what they were talking about because they were laughing and joking and taking the mickey out of me."

David recalled the last time he saw Benny: "He was going to a memorial service for a friend in Fleet Street and I was meant to wait outside the church and take him back to Teddington but he changed his mind. He said 'You go and if I need you I'll call you.'

"I never saw Benny again. He had a heart attack later that day and then he was in and out of hospital for about six weeks."

In the end Benny died of a heart attack alone in his Teddington flat and was not discovered for two days.

David said: "Benny didn't look after himself - he was overweight and everybody knew that. He wasn't a great socialiser and didn't make friends very easily.

"But he died a very happy man doing what he always did - a meal from Marks & Spencer which he popped in the microwave, a bottle of plonk and just sat in front of the telly."

When Benny died it left a great void in David's life, but he managed to build up his chauffeur business and today employs a team of drivers with a fleet of ten cars.

Now he wants to gradually hand over the company to his business partner and has turned his home in Allbrook Hill into a B&B to keep

himself active.

David is happy to talk to his guests about Benny Hill, and those who step over the threshold into the Endeavour Guest House - which has just been awarded the English Tourist Board's top four-star rating - will be following in the footsteps of the comedian himself.

David said: "Benny wasn't an animal lover but he came back here to see my dog Crofter. He would have a cup of tea and a biscuit and sometimes wander down the garden."