The bricklayer from King’s Lynn, Norfolk was said to have guffawed so hard at the BBC sketch show that his heart gave out. Decades on, doctors have established that he really did die laughing.
Cardiologists believe Mr Mitchell suffered from a rare heart rhythm disorder, Long QT syndrome, which can induce cardiac arrest when triggered by exertion or adrenaline. They came to the conclusion after his granddaughter, Lisa Corke, was diagnosed with the syndrome.
Mrs Corke, 23, suffered a cardiac arrest at her home last month and was saved by her husband administering life-saving CPR before the ambulance arrived.
Once admitted to hospital, tests showed that Long QT syndrome was hereditary on her father’s side.
Mrs Corke said: “My granddad died one of the most famous strange deaths. I think at the time they probably thought he suffered a heart attack caused by the laughter but doctors realised he died from a cardiac arrest caused by LQT syndrome after examining me.
“His death has been talked about for years and made all the papers at the time. I never knew him but it’s strange to think we both had this life-threatening condition.”
The curious case of Mr Mitchell made headlines after he settled down to watch The Goodies on March 24, 1975.
The ‘Kung Fu Capers’ episode featured Bill Oddie as a blackbelt in ‘Ecky Thump’ - a little-known Lancastrian martial art which involved pelting opponents with black pudding. Tim Brooke-Taylor played a Scotsman who defended himself with a set of bagpipes.
According to his wife, Mr Mitchell, 50, was in stitches throughout the episode then “gave a tremendous belly laugh, slumped on the sofa and died”. She later sent a letter to the Goodies thanking them for making her husband’s final moments so happy.
Mrs Corke, a mother-of-two from the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, collapsed on May 4 and was clinically dead for 55 minutes. Doctors at the Medway Maritime Hospital fitted her with a defibrillator to ‘re-set’ her heart.
Her father Alex Mitchell, said the family remained thankful to The Goodies for the manner of the elder Mr Mitchell’s demise. “He was always really cheerful and laid back, and he would have been happy to go while laughing.
“It is amazing that after all these years we have finally found out what caused his death.”
Dr Iqbal Malik, consultant cardiologist and director of the Cardiac Catheter Laboratories at London’s Hammersmith Hospital, said watching the Goodies was likely to have been the “trigger” for Mr Mitchell’s death.
“Adrenaline, exertion or anything that creates a strong emotional response can be a trigger,” Dr Malik said. “In some cases the heart re-sets itself after five or six beats, but in this case the patient was not so lucky.
“It seems they were right at the time - this man did die laughing.”
