Editing Ronnie Barker (section)

==Death==
Barker opted not to have heart valve replacement surgery, and his health rapidly declined after the recording of ''The Two Ronnies Christmas Sketchbook''.<ref>{{harvnb|Corbett|Nobbs|2007|pp=285–287}}</ref> He died of heart failure at the Katherine House [[Hospice care|hospice]] in [[Adderbury]], [[Oxfordshire]], on 3 October 2005, aged 76, with his wife by his side.<ref name=bbcdeath>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4307216.stm|title=Comedy legend Ronnie Barker dies|work=BBC News|date=4 October 2005|access-date=2 March 2010}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Corbett|Nobbs|2007|p=290}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1528214/Ronnie-Barker-left-fugitive-son-92000.html|title=Ronnie Barker left fugitive son £92,000|author=David Sapsted|access-date=13 April 2010|date=7 September 2006|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London}}</ref> News of his death made top billing on television news bulletins.<ref>{{harvnb|Corbett|Nobbs|2007|p=291}}</ref>

Barker's body was cremated at a private [[Secular humanism|humanist]] funeral at [[Banbury]] Crematorium, which was attended only by family and close friends.<ref name=funeral/><ref name=funeral2>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4338658.stm|title=Family funeral for Ronnie Barker|work=BBC News|access-date=13 April 2010|date=13 October 2005}}</ref> A public memorial service for Barker was held on 3 March 2006 at [[Westminster Abbey]], with some 2,000 people in attendance. Ronnie Corbett, [[Richard Briers]], [[Josephine Tewson]], [[Michael Grade]], and [[Peter Kay]] all read at the service, while others in attendance included [[David Jason]], [[Stephen Fry]], [[Michael Palin]], [[Leslie Phillips]], [[Lenny Henry]], [[Dawn French]], [[June Whitfield]] and [[David Frost]]. A recording of Barker's [[rhyming slang]] sermon from ''[[The Two Ronnies]]'' was played,<ref name=mem>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4771368.stm|title=Ronnie gave us all a good night|date=3 March 2006|author=Chris Leggett|access-date=13 April 2010|work=BBC News}}</ref> and while the cross was in procession in the aisle of the abbey, it was accompanied by four candles instead of the usual two, in reference to the [[Four Candles]] sketch.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article737147.ece|title=Four candles and a short eulogy recall humour of a comic legend|newspaper=The Times|date=4 March 2006}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Barker was the third comedy professional to be given a memorial at Westminster Abbey, after [[Joyce Grenfell]] and [[Les Dawson]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4769132.stm|title=Abbey memorial for Ronnie Barker|date=3 March 2006|access-date=13 April 2010|work=BBC News}}</ref>

===Legacy===

[[File:Four Candles sign.jpg|thumb|The sign of the [[Four Candles]], a [[Wetherspoons]] pub in Oxford named after Barker's comedy sketch.]]

Following his death, the Writer of the Year Award at the [[National Comedy Awards|British Comedy Awards]] was renamed in his honour.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2005/12/01/541/ronnies_awards_honour|title=Ronnie's awards honour|work=Chortle|date=12 January 2005|access-date=13 April 2010}}</ref> In 2005, he was voted as the 16th greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders, in a poll to find ''The Comedians' Comedian''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2004/12/01/26/the_comedians_comedian|title=The comedians' comedian|date=1 December 2004|work=Chortle|access-date=16 February 2011}}</ref>

The BBC described him as "one of the leading figures of British television comedy", and "much loved and admired".<ref name=bbcobit/> ''The Independent'' called him "a master of television sitcom".<ref name=indobit/> ''The Guardian'' said he was "much loved ... both as an actor and a writer he was recognised as a master of pyrotechnic puns, surreal behaviour in public and private places, and crackling cross-chat". It concluded that "it says much about the decline of the British television industry that Ronnie Barker, one of its most creative comic talents, should have turned his back on it long before he died at the age of 76."<ref name=guardobit/> In a eulogy for Barker, the Reverend Robert Wright stated that he was "undoubtedly one of the very greatest television comedy actors" and that "as a performer he made comedy look effortlessly funny".<ref name=mem/>

In 2006, Barker's stage play ''Mum'' was adapted and directed by Neil Cargill for [[BBC Radio 4]], and broadcast as an ''[[Drama (BBC Radio 4)|Afternoon Play]]'', starring [[Maxine Peake]] and [[Sam Kelly]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3655600/Todays-TV-and-radio-choices.html |title=Today's TV & radio choices |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=27 September 2006 |author=Reynolds, Gillian |access-date=16 February 2011}}</ref>

A bronze statue of Barker, sculpted by [[Martin Jennings]] and showing him in character as Norman Stanley Fletcher, was unveiled at the entrance of the [[Aylesbury Waterside Theatre]] in September 2010 by his widow Joy, David Jason and Ronnie Corbett.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/threecounties/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9026000/9026186.stm |title=Ronnie Barker statue unveiled in Aylesbury |work=BBC News |date=30 September 2010 |access-date=30 September 2010}}</ref>

In 2015, the Ronnie Barker Comedy Lecture (also referred to as The Ronnie Barker Talk) was commissioned by the BBC at the instigation of the head of comedy commissioning, Shane Allen.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11450716/BBC-to-host-Ronnie-Barker-comedy-lectures.html |title=BBC to host Ronnie Barker comedy lectures |website=The Telegraph|date=4 March 2015 |access-date=28 August 2017}}</ref> The first lecture was given in August 2017 by [[Ben Elton]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/ronnie-barker-lecture |title=Ben Elton to give inaugural BBC comedy lecture The Ronnie Barker Talk |website=BBC Media Centre |date=21 April 2017 |access-date=28 August 2017}}</ref> Elton's lecture focused on the future of the British [[sitcom]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/aug/25/snobbery-is-killing-the-great-british-sitcom-says-ben-elton |title=Snobbery is killing the great British sitcom, says Ben Elton |author=Tara Conlan |website=The Guardian |date=25 August 2017 |access-date=28 August 2017}}</ref>