Image source, Fred Prouser/Reuters

Let's hear more about Len Goodman's journey to ballroom dancing fame, from the BBC's entertainment correspondent Colin Paterson.

"He started out as a welder. It was only when he was 19 and got a foot injury, that a doctor recommended that, as part of his rehabilitation, it would be good if he took up dancing.

Within a decade he was the British ballroom dancing champion.

So what a recommendation from a doctor that was”.

Downing Street has joined the huge numbers paying tribute to Len Goodman, saying Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is "of course" saddened by the news.

Former Strictly judge Darcey Bussell has expressed sadness and written her own tribute to a "wonderful gentleman".

Writing on Twitter, external, the former ballet dancer says said her "heart goes out" to Goodman's family and explains he gave her "such support" over the four years they worked together.

In his very first show as a Strictly judge, Len Goodman trotted out one of his grandad's favourite phrases, "all sausage, and no sizzle".

And the audience would quickly come to love his pithy observations. "It's a lovely rise and fall, up and down like a bride's nightie," he told one nervous contestant.

"You're just like a trifle - fruity at the top but a little bit spongy down below," he informed another.

At heart, he was a teacher and was quick to offer practical advice. But one of the show's first brave celebrities, Jason Wood, discovered Goodman also had a sharp tongue. "Wood by name, wood by nature," he apparently said.

Image source, PA Media

We've heard from Buckingham Palace that the Queen Consort has been made aware of Len Goodman's death.

In a brief statement, a spokesperson said: "Her Majesty was saddened to hear the news."

Former Strictly judge Alesha Dixon has called Len Goodman "a true gentleman and one of a kind".

In an Instagram Story post, she wrote: "So sad to hear that the wonderful Len has passed away.

Back in 2011 Goodman was Kirsty Young's castaway in BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

You can listen to that episode, where he discusses his early life and Strictly career, here.

Image source, Raise the Roof Productions

BBC Breakfast’s weather presenter Carol Kirkwood appeared on Strictly in 2015, finishing in 10th place. Speaking to Radio 5 Live, she says Len was a “kind soul and a real gentleman in every sense”.

“Len was like having an uncle there who was just going to be kind to you,” she adds.

“He was a safe pair of hands, he wasn’t going to humiliate you in any way, shape or form – just a proper, lovely, kind, gentle gentleman.”

The pair made an episode of the BBC programme Holiday of My Lifetime together in 2019.

Carol says even when the cameras were off, Len “made you feel so relaxed… his banter was very funny and his stories were legendary as well”.

Image source, Getty Images

Len Goodman wasn't just a household name in the UK, he took his talents and cockney charm across the pond too.

As a judge on the US version of strictly Dancing With the Stars, he was an instant success as well - hosting the long-running competition for 17 years.

One of his more iconic and characteristically caustic lines while judging came when he told country music star Billy Ray-Cyrus his efforts looked "more like a hoedown than a cha cha cha".

Goodman only recently retired as a judge on the show, announcing he was stepping away after 31 series to spend more time with his family during last year's semi-finals, external.

Explaining how he took the States by storm, broadcaster Esther Rantzen once said it was because Goodman was "quintessentially British".

Image source, BBC/Guy Levy

Strictly host Claudia Winkleman has been sharing her memories of Len Goodman on BBC Radio 5 Live.

She recalls one memory of when Len was on the American version of Strictly, Dancing With The Stars.

Claudia says he was speaking about the difficulties of the regular transatlantic travel because he would queue up for a rental car each time and had to stop off at the shops for a particular brand of his favourite cereal.

"Nobody likes a diva," she says, "but I said, 'Len, in the nicest possible way, do you understand if you want, somebody will pick you up and you can tell somebody the name of that cereal and they can get if for you?'"

"He said, Claudia, I do not want to be a bother... that's who Len was, the most humble, never ask for anything."

On a personal note, Claudia says Len got to know her whole family as she would take her children to the studio when they were younger.

She says her now 20-year-old son has phoned her today to talk about him, "we were so lucky to know him," she adds.

As we've been hearing, Len Goodman was well known both on Strictly and Dancing With the Stars for his ballroom expertise... and his one liners.

Here are just some of them, delivered over the years, as a TV judge.

Bruno Tonioli, who starred alongside Goodman on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing and on the US version, Dancing With the Stars, said he was heartbroken by the death of his friend of 19 years.

In an Instagram post, Tonioli - now a judge on Britain's Got Talent - described Goodman as "the one and only ballroom legend".

Tess Daly, who has co-hosted Strictly Come Dancing since it began in 2004, described Goodman as a "beautiful man, genuine, warm and humble, who left an impression on everyone he met."

BBC presenter Naga Munchetty was on Strictly in 2016.

Speaking at the start of her Radio 5 Live programme, she says she will always appreciate how kind Len was.

"He could pick up on when contestants were really nervous and terrified," she says.

"His comments to me were, 'you can dance, you've just got to believe it,' it's phrases like that, that made such a difference."

Naga and Len met up many times away from the ballroom floor to play golf together.

"All he wanted to talk about was golf, the boring bits, the brilliant bits and he was passionate about the game," she adds.

Lizo Mzimba
Entertainment correspondent

Although he had extra responsibility as head judge, Len Goodman was always full of fun with a twinkle in his eye - the head teacher who managed to be simultaneously popular and respected by all. And he was never afraid to deliver a well chosen, charmingly amusing one liner.

When it first launched, it was never guaranteed that Strictly Come Dancing would be a success.

One of the reasons that it was was the way that Len and the judging panel were able to joke along with the celebrity contestants, while also helping them to progress their skills from week to week.

Without Len, it almost certainly wouldn’t have become the Saturday night smash that it is today.

Susannah Reid is among the former Strictly Come Dancing contestants taking to social media to share their memories of Goodman.

The breakfast TV broadcaster, who was a runner up in the 2013 series with partner Kevin Clifton, said on Twitter, external: "Oh this is such an awful shock and so sad. Len was an absolute legend & the definition of a proper gent.

Another former contestant, the motoring journalist Quentin Wilson, said Goodman was "sweet to me on Strictly series two"., external

And Aled Jones, who was also in the second series, said: "So sad to hear of the death of Len Goodman - loved him to bits! Such a kind, fun and lovely man."

Image source, PA Media

Let's hear more from the BBC's Colin Paterson, he's been looking up some of Goodman's most memorable quotes as the Strictly head judge.

To Jeremy Vine: "It was like watching a stork who'd been struck by lightning."

To Frankie Bridge: "You floated across that floor like butter on a crumpet."

To Kellie Bright on her salsa with Kevin Clifton: "There you were, like two sizzling sausages on a barbecue - your bum was bionic."

Strictly Come Dancing co-host Claudia Winkleman has paid tribute to her former colleague on Twitter, external.

Leonard Gordon Goodman was born in Farnborough, Kent, on 25 April 1944.

He grew up in London's East End in an over-crowded two-up, two-down terrace. At school, he enjoyed football and cricket - but was not academic.

At the age of 14, he went to his first dance class.

He then headed to work on the docks as a welder. But come Saturday night he would slip on his best threads and head for the Embassy ballroom in Welling.

A 40-year career under the glitterball would follow.

When the BBC rang to suggest he audition for Strictly Come Dancing, Goodman was about to turn 60.

In 2004, in his first show, he used out one of his grandad's favourite phrases, "all sausage, and no sizzle", and quickly settled in with an array of witty responses from the judge's chair.

His catchphrases, "seeeeven" and "it's a 10 from Len" soon became favourites in households across the UK.

A role in Dancing With The Stars, the US version of the show, was to follow, earning him fame across the Atlantic.

Read more about his remarkable life here.

The BBC's entertainment correspondent Colin Paterson says it is "sad and shocking news" to hear of Goodman's death at the age of 78.

"What was so beloved about Len Goodman was the gravitas, the wit and the humour that he brought to Strictly Come Dancing."

He played an "absolutely crucial" part in the show's success as head judge.

"What he did in such a brilliant way, was to introduce ballroom dancing into homes all around Britain on a Saturday night, explaining the moves, in a way that allowed people to be included, and also some of those remarks that he said, that could bring out belly laughs."