REPORTER Bill Dale, who was a friend of Sir Norman Wisdom and worked with him on his book Lucky Little Devil, shares his memories of the great comic who died yesterday at the age of 95.

NORMAN loved people and people loved Norman and in the Isle of Man he found the peace to be his own man and have privacy when he wanted it - and also to simply go out and meet the local people and have fun with everyone.

His image as a star of stage, screen and cinema was of a slapstick crash-bang-wallop downtrodden man who endlessly managed to get himself in - and out - of the most terrible situations.

Away from the limelight I was very fortunate to get to know him personally as a friend and we spent many hours driving around the Isle of Man, stopping for ice cream in Peel or a cup of tea in a cafe.

And many people on the Isle of Man will have very fond memories of similar situations.

Norman was a man who liked to meet people, who liked to entertain and loved to see people smile. A really lovely man loved by everyone and the Isle of Man will miss him terribly.

I first met Norman not long after he moved to the Island in 1987 but it wasn't until the early to mid 90s that I got to know him better - chiefly because of Norman's little known enthusiasm for architecture and construction projects.

I had bought a 300 year old abandoned cottage at Niarbyl and, when Norman found out, he was one of the first to visit and he was a regular visitor from then on, arriving for a cup of tea and a biscuit and sometimes a short snooze in the conservatory!

Norman also offered me lots of very useful advice on the renovation project and I'm sure he would have made a wonderful property designer - as he proved when he created "Ballalaugh" in Andreas.

It was there that Norman and I spent many hours watching sport on the TV - he was a big sports fan - and where we put together what I always refer to as "Norman’s Book" (real title: Lucky Little Devil) which was published by the Post Office in 2003.

It was a real pleasure to work with him on the book and it gave me a further insight into his personality and how generous he was with his time.

He was simply fantastic with people. He wanted them to smile - and they did. He was lovely with children and adults alike and the warmth of affection from the Manx public for Norman was simply wonderful.

I took thousands of photographs of Norman and he was a gentleman and wonderfully enthusiastic throughout and it was an honour to be even in the slightest way associated with such a famous and accomplished worldwide star.

Norman's life started in the most difficult of circumstances and he talked about it a great deal - and he never once ever took for granted all the success and honours he achieved, none moreso than when he was knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

A very proud moment for the man who was once a street urchin begging for food on the streets of London.

It was long overdue, but so richly deserved - not least for the fantastic voluntary work he did for so many charities both in the UK and especially the Isle of Man, raising countless hundreds of thousands of pounds.

His efforts even involved a four-day coach trip to Chernobyl in the mid 90s when he was well into his 80s, to open a children's hospice in his name - it was a very proud moment for him.

But it was his love of the Isle of Man which I found the most endearing. He loved the place and even gave his time to act as an ambassador for the Island, most notably the BT Global Challenge yacht race in 2000-2001 and a few years later on a trade mission to the Middle East and Hong Kong.

There are countless more wonderful things that Norman Wisdom did during his amazing life - too numerous to mention in a short tribute - but everything was done with a smile and with one purpose in mind - to make everyone else smile.

Norman, you did it better than anyone else has ever done.

He summed up his affection for the Isle of Man in one sentence which is also a tribute to the Manx people, for which we should always be grateful and also so fortunate that he chose our Island in which to spend the happiest days of his life.

He said: "I love the Isle of Man and I love the people here - I'd be a fool to live anywhere else."