Stars set to attend Manning's funeral

Comedians and stars from the 70s and 80s are expected to attend today's funeral of controversial comic Bernard Manning.

Fellow comedian Frank Carson will give the eulogy at the service, while former Catchphrase presenter Roy Walker and ex-Manchester City footballers Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee are also expected to be among around 300 mourners at the Blackley Crematorium in Manchester.

Manning died on June 18th, aged 76, after suffering kidney failure.

His son, Bernard junior, said after his death: "My father was a true gentleman, a people's man and a working-class hero. Whatever people said about him, he couldn't care less. He was just happy to be himself and spend his life helping people."

Manning's comedy had won him a large number of fans, but he was never fully accepted by the TV and showbiz world due to his jokes about race, gays and women.

However, he continued entertaining audiences around the country as well as devoting himself to charity work in his home town of Manchester, for the Francis House Hospice in Didbury and for Cancer Research.

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