A NORTH-EAST man who runs one of the most popular Norman Wisdom websites on the internet is to continue his work following the comedian’s recent death.

Mark Kipling, of Barnard Castle, set up normanwisdom.

co.uk four years ago and, in doing so, became a friend of Sir Norman and his family.

The 37-year-old said last night the website would now serve as a tribute and celebration of Sir Norman’s work after the 95-year-old died on Monday evening having suffered several strokes in recent months.

Mr Kipling became a family friend after he was asked to visit Sir Norman to set the record straight when rumours that he was being ill-treated by his carers circulated in the media.

The father-of-three and professional web designer remains in touch with the family and is expected to attend the funeral.

Mr Kipling said: “When I met him, it was a life-changing thing for me. I had followed him in his movies and in the news.

“I spent the day with Norman and his son, Nick, in Peel, on the Isle of Man, and went out for ice cream, but when I went in to pay for it and they saw that it was for Norman, they wouldn’t take my money.

“He didn’t fully understand about the internet, but when I explained it was a tool for all his fans you could tell how much he loved his fans, even though he had dementia.”

Sir Norman, who was born in Marylebone, London, appeared in 32 television sitcoms, 19 films and found Royal approval as well as international acclaim.

He became a lifelong fan of Newcastle United after befriending Geordie squaddie, Pat Dickinson, during the Second World War and made regular visits to St James’ Park thorough a career that spanned seven decades.

Mr Kipling said Sir Norman spoke of his Army friend when they met.

He said his website had been unable to cope with the volume of traffic once news of Sir Norman’s death broke, illustrating how popular he was.

He said: “The website went down for a while. We had 17,000 people on and it was just going slower and slower until it stopped completely.

“It was just people putting up their photos and memories of Norman and that’s what I hope they’ll continue to do.”