Goodbye Mr Leeds

Yet, as tributes poured in to “Mr Leeds”, the man who will be forever associated with the Jim’ll Fix It television programme that helped turn children’s dreams into reality, it was his many charitable endeavours that came to the fore – whether it be his shifts as a hospital porter in Leeds or the countless marathons that he ran and which helped raise £20m for the world-famous spinal injuries unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

A Yorkshire eccentric whose flamboyant public demeanour contrasted with his private reclusiveness, it was this charitable work – and perseverance – that helped to transform the treatment of spinal injuries in this country.

Not many people can make such a claim. People have been able to recover from paralysis because of his deeds. Behind the glitz and the glamour was a man with a heart of gold, and whose like will never be seen again.