STRICTLY Come Dancing legend Len Goodman left a £4million fortune to his wife and son following his death last year at the age of 78.
Len was head judge on the hit BBC talent show for 12 years as well as thrilling viewers for 17 years on the US version of the programme, Dancing with the Stars.
His will, released yesterday, reveals he left an estate valued at £4.1million, which included his home in Ightham, Kent, his business company and his personal possessions.
Len, who died after prostate cancer spread to his bones, also left special provision in his will for a donation of £1,000 to the Demelza Hospice Care for Children, in Sittingbourne.
His son James was left with Len’s jewellery while his wife Susan was given their home in Kent, with all the furniture.
Len’s company – Pleasurable Pastimes Limited – is set to be split 50/50 between his wife and son, who were already co-directors with him.
The will, which was drawn up in 2020, said that his estate should be divided equally between his wife and son, and that Len wished to be cremated.
Following his death last year tributes poured in including from Queen Camila, who he danced with at an event in 2019, who said she was “saddened to hear the news”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described him as “a great entertainer, a popular face on TV screens up and down the country”.
He was renowned for his witty quips on the show which included telling Jeremy Vine one of his dances, “was like watching a stork who’d been struck by lightning“.
And he described Susanna Reid’s samba as being “all bounce, bums and bongos”.
Goodman grew up in East London and began dancing at 19, after a doctor told him it would be good exercise for his injured foot.
His family were costermongers – people who sold fruit and vegetables from carts and wheelbarrows by the side of the road.
He said he recalled being bathed in a cauldron of water that was being heated up by his grandmother for the preparation of beetroot for the family business.
In his autobiography Better Late Than Never: From Barrow Boy to Ballroom, he wrote: “She’d give me a good scrubbing down while I stood in the cauldron. — I must have looked a bit like a cannibal’s lunch.
“After all my filth had been washed off, the water was heated some more and then in would go the beetroot for cooking.
“By then the water would have a kind of scum floating on the top of it.
Customers always commented on how good Granddad’s beetroot tasted.” Describing his break getting the job on Strictly he said thought he had messed up the audition after being contacted by producer Izzie Pick.
He wrote: “I felt sure it hadn’t gone well, but two days later Izzie called again. She wanted me on Strictly Come Dancing! I nearly bashed my head on the ceiling.
“Here I was, about to enter my 60s, starting out on a whole new adventure and my first job on TV. Not bad for the grandson of an East End barrow boy — and someone who’d never wanted to be a ballroom dancer in the first place.”
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
