Climbing the Hill to Health
The legendary Vince Hill talks to Graham Smith

When he walked into the hospital consulting room and heard the diagnosis that he had tested positive for prostate cancer it was most certainly not music to the ears of entertainer Vince Hill.

For the man who had been one of our top entertainers for many years it was the beginning of one of the darkest periods of his life. Two women were to help him through the trauma, his devoted wife Annie, to whom he has now been married for 50 years, and Doris…..the duck.

“I recall the test results,” said Vince, “and the terrible words ‘prostate cancer’ echoed in my ears exacerbated by the fact that my dear friend Bob Monkhouse had recently succumbed to it.

“The doctor said he believed they had caught it in time but it required radical surgery and an immediate procedure to remove the prostate gland.

“I’d imagined him in his green smock and wellies, wielding an axe rather than a scalpel and had tried to make terror look brave.”

The reality for Vince was routine micro surgery and he was back on stage two weeks later.

Vince has had a phenomenal career and his name will be forever synonymous with the songs Edelweiss and Roses of Picardy. Today, in his seventies, he is proud that he can still sing all his songs in the same key and is semi-retired living on the celebrity mile of the Thames in Henley. Among his neighbours, and indeed a great friend, is Rolf Harris. Rolf has good reason to be grateful to Vince for when he took along a new number for him to listen to many years ago Vince said: “Record it immediately.”

The song was Two Little Boys, the rest is history.

Vince’s battle with prostate cancer is part of his autobiography “Another Hill To Climb”, and since that battle he has been inspirational to others.

Ever humble, Vince did not hesitate to reassure a man with similar problems who contacted me to see if the star would discuss the surgery and prognosis. Happily that man was given the all clear too.

Vince’s wife, Annie, has been a tower of strength to him during illness but there is another woman in Vince’s life. Doris. Doris is one of the many ducks at the bottom of Vince’s garden and he freely admits that he often sought solace by talking to Doris.

“She’s a dippy duck, scruffier than all the rest, but she seemed to listen when I talked to her,” said Vince.
No one really knows what causes prostate cancer. It is highly unusual in men under 50 and the usual age for diagnosis is 70. Vince was 70.

“All manner of things go through your head,” said Vince, “I thought that maybe it was time for the fat lady to sing. However, once I had recovered from the relatively minor surgery I soon recovered. I can’t stress how important it is for any man who is worried to get it checked out.”

Keeping a sense of humour is not easy when you have a potentially life threatening condition. Doris came in handy again.

“One day I walked down the garden and found the ducks in a dreadful state. They were positioned in various states of disarray in a kind of unequal semi-circle on top of dozens of rotting windfall apples,” recalls Vince. “One of them was even walking backwards. There was an odd, pungent, piquant type scent in the air that was not entirely objectionable and also vaguely familiar.

“Suddenly the penny dropped. The fallen apples were fermenting, the smell was alcohol. Doris and her mates were as drunk as skunks!”

Fate was to strike another cruel blow for Vince 12 months later. He had gone along with Annie for her routine blood test and had one himself.

The consultant said: “I am pleased to tell you that you have a clean bill of health following your prostate operation. As for this latest test I’m afraid I have to tell you that you have a condition called Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia.”

The rest of his words were drowned out by the orchestra in Vince’s brain.

“I’d obviously done my last show. The fat lady was about to sing for sure,” said Vince.

Find out how Vince climbed the next hill in his battle for health exclusively here on Third Age, followed by more stories from his book which he has agreed to serialise with us.

Read about his brush with Princess Margaret and why Terry Wogan would never play his records.

Chapter One – Remembrance.
Chapter Two – Vince’s Longest Night.

More of Vince at www.vincehill.co.uk.