Speight, Johnny (1920–1998)

English comic screenwriter. His most celebrated creation was the television sitcom Till Death Do Us Part (1964–74), featuring the loud-mouthed, working-class bigot Alf Garnett. The controversial series earned him Screenwriters' Guild Awards in 1966, 1967 and 1968, and Garnett reappeared in Speight's sequel In Sickness and In Health (1985–86). Other television work includes Spooner's Patch (1979–82) and The Nineteenth Hole (1989).

Among his publications are It Stands to Reason (1973), The Thoughts of Chairman Alf (1973), and his autobiography, For Richer, For Poorer (1991).

Speight was born in London, and initially worked as a milkman, insurance salesman, and member of a jazz band. After World War II he began writing for such comic stars as Frankie Howerd, Arthur Haynes, and Morecambe and Wise, and made his first mark on television with the play The Compartment (1962).