Neighbours creator Reg Grundy dies aged 92

Reg Grundy and his wife Joy Chambers in 2005

Australian media mogul Reg Grundy, who developed a string of TV hits including Neighbours, Sons And Daughters and Prisoner: Cell Block H, has died aged 92.

“Reg Grundy has passed away in the arms of his beloved wife Joy, on their Bermuda estate,” radio personality and personal friend Alan Jones said on his morning programme.

“So ends a remarkable chapter of a great Australian,” he added.

No details about the cause of death were given.

Grundy founded one of Australia’s first entertainment groups – the Reg Grundy Organisation – and was widely regarded as the king of the game show, as well as producing a host of successful soap operas.

After serving in the army during World War Two, he worked as a boxing and general sports commentator on radio before devising and hosting the Wheel Of Fortune, which he moved to television in 1959.

A year later he founded his entertainment group and began producing game shows for the Australian and overseas markets, including Sale Of The Century and Blankety Blank.

At his peak, Grundy became so entrenched in Australian folklore that it was common in the ’80s and ’90s for Australians to refer to their underwear as “Reggies” or “Grundies”, rhyming slang for “undies”.

Grundy, who was awarded an OBE in the 1983 Queen’s New Year’s Honours List and made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2008, sold his company in 1995 to Pearson Television, which is now known as FremantleMedia.

He lived for years in Bermuda and is survived by wife Joy and daughter Kim. SkyNews

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