Editing Lionel Bart (section)

== Later life ==
Bart continued writing songs and themes for films, but his only real success in his later years was "Happy Endings", a song he wrote for a 1989 [[Abbey (bank)|Abbey National]] advertising campaign, which featured Bart playing the piano and singing to children.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7qV9EEpgao| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526060135/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7qV9EEpgao&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=2019-05-26 | url-status=dead|title=YouTube|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}</ref>

He received a special [[Ivor Novello]] Award for life achievement in 1986. In 1987, encouraged by long-time friend [[Barry Humphries]], he travelled to Australia to attend the opening of a new production of ''Blitz!'', which was then revived in London's West End in 1990 by the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the London blitz. In April 1991, he appeared on ''[[This Is Your Life (UK TV series)|This Is Your Life]]''.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}} [[Cameron Mackintosh]], who owned half the rights to ''Oliver!'', revived the musical at the [[London Palladium]] in 1994 in a version featuring rewrites by Bart. Mackintosh gave Bart a share of the production royalties. At the peak of his career, Bart was romantically linked in the media with singers [[Judy Garland]] and [[Alma Cogan]],<ref name="queens-theatre.co.uk"/> though he was [[homosexuality|homosexual]]. His sexual preferences were known to friends and colleagues, but he did not announce them publicly until a few years before his death.<ref name="independent.co.uk"/>

Bart died at the [[Hammersmith Hospital]] in West London on 3 April 1999,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.skidmore.edu/~gthompso/britrock/60brchro/60brch00-34.html|title=1960s Britrock: 1900-1934|website=Skidmore.edu}}</ref> of liver cancer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.musicroom.com/product-detail/product1027859/variant1027859/the-lionel-bart-story-fings-aint-wot-they-used-t-be/|title=The Lionel Bart Story: Fings Ain't Wot They Used T' Be - Books - Books About Music|website=Musicroom.com|access-date=19 December 2017|archive-date=22 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222051146/https://www.musicroom.com/product-detail/product1027859/variant1027859/the-lionel-bart-story-fings-aint-wot-they-used-t-be/|url-status=dead}}</ref> A memorial bench is dedicated to him in [[Kew Gardens]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://londonist.com/2014/11/londons-famous-bench-dedications |title=London's Famous Bench Dedications |date=21 October 2016 |website=Londonist.com |access-date=12 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306002313/https://londonist.com/2014/11/londons-famous-bench-dedications |archive-date=6 March 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

A workshop of a musical based on Bart's life and using his songs, ''It's a Fine Life'', was staged in 2006 at the [[Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch|Queen's Theatre]], Hornchurch.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.queens-theatre.co.uk/itsafinelife.htm |title=It's a Fine Life 2006 |access-date=2006-08-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20060901130321/http://www.queens-theatre.co.uk/itsafinelife.htm |archive-date= 1 September 2006 |df=dmy }}</ref> A later version titled ''More!'' was presented in concert at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 2015 featuring [[Neil McDermott]] as Bart, [[Jessica Hynes]] as Joan Littlewood and Sonny Jay as Charlene, with an appearance by 1960s pop-star [[Grazina Frame]], who was an original cast member in Bart's ''Blitz!''.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}