Comedian Bob Mortimer has paid tribute to ‘brilliant, funny giant of a bloke’ Chris Rea as he recalled his legendary ‘egg in a bath’ story to the delight of fans.
The singer, whose track Driving Home For Christmas has made a reappearance on the UK Singles Chart every year since 2007, passed away on Monday at the age of 74 following a short illness.
Bob, 66, who is also from Middlesbrough, had known Chris for years and the singer made his last TV appearance on Mortimer and Whitehouse Gone Fishing in 2020.
Elsewhere the pair recorded the song Let’s Dance with him for Middlesbrough Football Club’s FA Cup final in 1997 – and Bob claimed Chris put an egg into a bath for him after they finished recording the song at his studio during one of his appearances on BBC panel show Would I Lie To You?
In an X, formerly Twitter, post on Monday, Bob paid tribute to Chris and posted a photo of the singer in the bath holding an egg as he recalled the story – much to the delight of fans.
Bob said: ‘So so sad. A lovely brilliant funny giant of a bloke. Oh Man….RIP Chris .. Boro legend forever. Love to family and friends.’
Comedian Bob Mortimer has paid tribute to ‘brilliant, funny giant of a bloke’ Chris Rea as he recalled his legendary ‘egg in a bath’ story to the delight of fans (Seen together in 2020)
In an X, formerly Twitter, post on Monday, Bob paid tribute to Chris and posted a photo of the singer in the bath holding an egg as he recalled the story – much to the delight of fans
Fans commented on his tribute saying: ‘Nooo! This story was absolutely hilarious. You did him proud retelling it. RIP!’;
‘Bless you Bob The Chris Rea ‘Eggs in the bath’ story on WILTY will go down as one of the best. RIP Chris,’;
‘How wonderful. What a good sport,’; ‘Ah Bob, after Chris’s family you were next in my thoughts. I know you were so close. I know he’d still want us to laugh at that story and photo and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Thinking about you,’;
‘Wonderful tribute – a piece of comedy that will live forever,’; ‘Great tribute. Such a laugh that story. Im sure Chris is up there laughing now.’
Chris’s last TV appearance was on the BBC’s Mortimer and Whitehouse Gone Fishing in 2020, where he revealed that childhood sweetheart Joan was a huge support when he was diagnosed with cancer.
The hour-long special saw comedian Bob share how his health battles had strengthened the bond between him and his family.
Chris was quick to agree. He said: ‘It was exactly the same for me. I was in hospital and the pancreatic cancer nurse comes in and tells me “It’s not grade three cancer phone your wife!”
‘So I phone my wife and she pulled the car over and burst into tears.’
Bob, 66, who is also from Middlesbrough, had known Chris for years and the singer made his last TV appearance on Mortimer and Whitehouse Gone Fishing in 2020 (Pictured)
Bob claimed Chris put an egg into a bath for him after they finished recording the song at his studio during one of his appearances on BBCpanel show Would I Lie To You? (Pictured)
Fans commented on his tribute saying: ‘Nooo! This story was absolutely hilarious. You did him proud retelling it. RIP!’
He added that he then left her all the royalties to his famous hit Driving Home for Christmas.
‘I gave her all the money, all the rights to all the songs, and now she won’t give them back,’ Chris joked.
Chris said he ‘wasn’t afraid of dying’ as he stayed defiant in the face of a number of serious health battles that littered his star-studded career.
Just hours before his death he shared a touching social media post, featuring a car on a snowy motorway and a road sign reading: ‘Driving home for Christmas with a thousand memories’.
In the message, posted on Sunday, Chris added the caption: ‘Top to toe in tailbacks If it’s a white Christmas, let’s hope the journey’s a smooth one.’
Chris suffered a number of major health scares throughout his life, including a pancreatic cancer diagnosis at the age of just 33.
He had part of his pancreas removed along with his gall bladder and part of his liver, but went on to make a recovery and lived with diabetes as well as kidney problems.
He also suffered a stroke in 2016 but went on to release two more albums Road Songs For Lovers in 2017 and One Fine Day in 2019.
Chris said he ‘wasn’t afraid of dying’ as he stayed defiant in the face of a number of serious health battles that littered his star-studded career (Seen in 1996)
Meanwhile in 2017, he was rushed to hospital after he appeared to collapse onstage during a performance in Oxford.
However, instead of allowing his health battles to halt his career, Chris said he harnessed them to return to his musical roots – the blues.
‘It did look like the end but what got me through was the thought of leaving a record that my two teenage daughters could say: ‘That’s what Papa did – not the pop stuff, but the blues music. That’s what he was about,” he said in one interview.
Chris previously revealed the extent of the operations he had undergone since 1994, describing the period as a living nightmare.
He said: ‘I’ve had nine major operations in ten years. A lot of it is to do with something called retroperitoneal fibrosis, where the internal tissues attack each other. No one knew it existed 20 years ago, and it’s completely unpredictable. It’s affected the colon, the pancreas, the gall bladder, the liver – and then I get a stroke.’
Chris’s death was announced by his devastated family on Monday. A statement from his wife Joan and their daughters, Josie and Julia, read: ‘It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris. He passed away peacefully in hospital earlier today following a short illness, surrounded by his family.’
