Gogglebox stars June and Leon Bernicoff were married for nearly 60 years. But when Leon died, just before Christmas 2017, they had not managed to tick everything off their wish list.
Despite discussing a trip, they never got round to visiting Glasgow.
“Leon had friends from there from his National Service,” his widow June said. “He met up with them in London but never made it up to Glasgow.”
These lads made a big impression on Liverpudlian Leon. A lifelong Everton supporter, he had a soft spot for their team, Celtic, and followed their progress.
June said: “He wanted to go up for a match. I said, ‘You will be killed.’ I was amazed he was not killed here, never mind anywhere else.”
Leon, who had strong opinions about everything, enforced a strict Everton-only dress code. June, 81, said: “There was nothing red in the house because that’s Liverpool.
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“I have a red Welsh rugby sweater. It was on for the match and that was it. If I put it on early he would say, ‘Take that off, you don’t need it, they’re not playing till tomorrow.’”
Despite their unfortunate team colour, Leon joined his Welsh wife cheering on her national team.
“He supported Wales for rugby as well. I don’t know why,” she said.
June and Leon were TV naturals. He said outrageous things, she rolled her eyes. He wandered away from his seat, often to the kitchen for a snack. (“He was,” his widow claims, “always starving.”)
He was cheeky and charming and she laughed it off, gave him a row and had another sip of wine.
Leon loved the fame and fuss that came with appearing on national television. June, who had to be persuaded to appear on the new show in the first place, was astonished by the whole thing.
She said: “At first I didn’t want to do it but the producer was confident and Leon was so ebullient. He said to me, ‘We’re going on TV you know.’ I said, ‘OK, it’s only four weeks then everyone will have forgotten about it.’”
June assumed Gogglebox’s initial slot, 9.30pm on a Thursday, would be the kiss of death. “I thought nobody will watch that programme. It’s Friday tomorrow, everyone will be going to bed,” she said.
Turns out June underestimated the nation’s demand for vicarious TV viewing on a school night. “Before I knew it we were going to do another series and another and another. I was quite surprised,” she added.
Fame was not far behind. June said: “First I found it strange and a bit embarrassing, smiling on the street. Eventually I got used to it.
“People used to ask if Leon was as naughty as he was on TV. I told them all that he’s 10 times worse.”
Writing the couple’s life story helped June get through the tough times. Leon had threatened to do it many times but it was another of the things he never quite started. I really enjoyed it.
“I was approached a year ago now, just three months after Leon died. Instead of immersing myself in grief, I found this quite comforting. I went back and started thinking of the good times and the fun times we’d had.
“We were students when we met. We didn’t have a care in the world. I went through our lives together. There were lots of things I’d forgotten, little incidents, trips we took the girls on. Our children didn’t go on holidays, they were yanked on school trips with us.”
One of the most moving parts of the book is the way that Jewish Leon and Welsh Congregationalist June overcame the objections to their marriage.
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“We had to be patient, we had to wait for parents to realise we weren’t doing it to be different. They didn’t think it would last. Leon use to say, ‘One day I’m going to write our love story.’ When there would be something on TV about parents objecting to marriages or relationships he’d say, ‘It’s none of their business.’
He would tell our girls, ‘I don’t care who you bring home. Whatever race, religion, colour, creed they are, everybody’s welcome. I’ll judge them on the person they are.’”
Leon was thoughtful and generous as well as naughty. He never stopped spoiling June. “He always remembered Valentine’s Day,” she said. “On wedding anniversaries he would say, let’s go out.
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“When I was working and the children were small, he would buy a Bounty bar for us to share between us. The girls grew up thinking that was grown-up chocolate.
“They were his treats. I can’t buy them any more. I can’t look at a Bounty now.”
June buys her own sweets now. She usually gets something special in for when she watches Gogglebox. It’s still a weekly ritual. She doesn’t sit on that chair any more – Leon’s is still there, as is the little table, but she now has a comfy sofa.
June said: “I curl up on the couch, usually in my dressing gown, with some chocolate. Not usually a glass of wine because I don’t like drinking on my own. It’s like friends visiting me for an hour or so.”
She keeps in touch with all the other Goggleboxers on social media – appearing on the show has turned her into an efficient tweeter. “They were so kind when Leon died. All of them wrote to me, took time to do that.”
Leon died on December 23. June got round to looking at Twitter on Christmas Day. She had thousands of messages.
She said: “When we all calmed down a little bit and got over the initial shock and upset, we realised the person who would have really enjoyed it wasn’t there to see it. He would have loved every minute of it.”
●Forever Sweethearts: Sixty Years of Love, Life & Laughter in Liverpool is out on April 4.
