Richard Osman requests bus honour

Richard Osman has made it known he would like his name on the front of Brighton and Hove bus.

The quiz show host and murder mystery author, whose family come from Brighton, made the request during a round in which celebrity contestants were asked to name people honoured on the front of buses.

In the episode of Pointless Celebrities, which first aired on Saturday, he said: “The Brighton and Hove Bus Company names many of its buses after famous local people, people with connections to the area.

“We’re going to show you six people, we’ll give you their initials as well. So who are these famous people with a Brighton connection?

“And if the Brighton and Hove Bus Company are watching, I would like a bus named after me.”

Alexander Armstrong said: “Oh I was going to say, please tell me they’ve got a Richard Osman, surely?”

Richard replied: “Oh, no. It would have to be a double decker. I would love that.”

In reply, the bus company this afternoon tweeted: “Dear Richard Osman … you’re officially invited to come and see us in Brighton, and we might be tempted to name a bus after you.”

Dear @richardosman, we just caught this on @BBCOne re-run. Sorry we missed you before!

You’re officially invited to come and see us in Brighton, and we might be tempted to name a bus after you ⁠😉

Love from Brighton & Hove Buses x pic.twitter.com/24a3wz0Pc4

— B&H Buses (@BrightonHoveBus) March 13, 2023

To watch the episode, and see how many famous Brighton bus names you can identify, click here.

Richard may have some time to wait as most buses are named after people after they have died.

However, exceptions have occasionally been made. For instance, local journalist Adam Trimingham’s name was on the front of a bus for a year.

The TV presenter’s Brighton roots were explored in an episode of genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are, which aired on the BBC last May.

In the show, he discovered his five-time great-grandmother Elizabeth, her son Gabriel and his wife Mary were “at the heart” of solving a murder in Brighton after forming an amateur detective group.

The family lived in Russell Street which was later demolished to make way for Churchill Square. Gabriel was a fisherman, and would have caught herring, which would have been cured and smoked to make red herring.

The 52-year-old said it was “bizarre” and an “incredible, unusual coincidence” that his family history imitates the plot of his best-selling debut novel The Thursday Murder Club, which was published in September 2020.

The book, whose global film rights were later bought by Steven Spielberg’s production company, follows a group of pensioners at a retirement village who investigate unsolved crimes.

During the show, he also revealed the fictional village is based on the retirement complex outside Brighton his mother now lives in.

Talking about the possibility of his family members featuring as detectives in a future book, Osman said: “Essentially my great-great- great-great-grandfather and his mum and his wife solved a crime, and at a time before the police had formed, that was the interesting thing, the police had still not been formed for another 10 or 15 years.

“So to me, the community solving crimes in that environment where there are no police, I thought would be a fascinating drama.

“I mustn’t forget it’s real life. But it would be nice to mark those people and their story somehow.

“It’s interesting because Gabriel is the one that’s focused on. I think history was written down the male line in those days.

“But he investigated this thing with his wife and his mother, and his mother, when you look at the transcripts, sounds like the prime mover, sounds like the one who knew what was going on.

“It sounds like she was the first one who knew they found a body, but of course Gabriel is the one that was called to give evidence at court.

“I think there’s something to be said for some working class social history and crime at the same time, and it feels like a good forum for it.”