Robert Charles William Luff, CBE (7 July 1914 – 18 February 2009) was a British theatrical agent and producer. He was most notable for producing the stage version of ''

The Black and White Minstrel Show ''The Black and White Minstrel Show'' is a British light entertainment show on BBC prime-time television that ran from 1958 to 1978. The weekly variety show presented traditional American minstrel and country songs, as well as show tunes and m ...

'', and being the former agent of

Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British Jamaicans, British-Jamaican comedian, actor and writer. He gained success as a Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ' ...

, the Tiller Girls and Beryl Reid. He successfully owned theatres and hotels in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

and

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

Personal life

The son of an engineer, Luff was born in Bedford, and educated at Bedford Modern School. Whilst there he learned to play the drums and later formed his own dance band, briefly known as Robert Luff and the Piccadilly Players until he received a writ from a lawyer representing the more famous Piccadilly Players. As a fan of big band music, he eventually branched out into booking bands in and around his home town. In 1995, he was awarded a CBE for his services to charities such as the

St John Ambulance St John Ambulance is an affiliated movement of charitable organisations in mostly Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries which provide first aid education and consumables and emergency medical services. St John organisations are primari ...

. Luff also invested large sums of his own money in the Royal Brompton Hospital, for research into

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive manner that impairs the normal clearance of Sputum, mucus from the lungs, which facilitates the colonization and infection of the lungs by bacteria, notably ''Staphy ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luff, Robert 1914 births 2009 deaths People from Bedford People educated at Bedford Modern School Commanders of the Order of the British Empire