Jimmy Tarbuck pays tribute to Ronnie Corbett

Comedian Jimmy Tarbuck has paid an emotional tribute to close friend Ronnie Corbett on Good Morning Britain.

Speaking to Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard about Ronnie, who died yesterday, Jimmy said: “Well when you miss a friend like him you know he's irreplaceable. He was a great comedian, he was a very good actor, but more importantly he was a very nice man. He was a very correct guy, he did everything by the book. I always had a laugh with him and sometimes it was on the golf course and I shouldn't have been laughing at him and he would lose his temper and that would make me laugh more. He was a terrific little man.” 

Jimmy added: “He was so dapper, beautifully dressed guy. He was instantly recogniseable, you couldn't walk down the street with him because everyone would see him and everybody loved him. Taxis, doormen, royalty, everyone thought the world of him and you can understand why." 

On whether he knew that Ronnie was suffering with motor neurone disease, Jimmy said: “Yes I did know he wasn't very well and I knew exactly, sorry I'm getting a bit choked, what he had and he didn't want to see me - he said 'look I don't want to see you like this' but he'd speak to me on the phone and when you did anything with him or for him you always got a letter from him that's how correct he was. But yes I did know unfortunately that he wasn't very well." 

Speaking about whether he was responsible for Ronnie’s trademark glasses, Jimmy said: “He went to do a stand up for a short season in Great Yarmouth and he said, ‘would you come and have a look’... and he came on without the glasses and I said ‘oh you've got to use them because it's part of your makeup’ and of course they were because he used them in everything and if I'm responsible for that, I'm very proud.”

Good Morning Britain, ITV, weekdays 6am - 8.30am