Recently, Age in Spain was contacted by the family and close friends of Bruce Copp. Because of the Covid19 restrictions they were unable to visit Bruce or contact him and wanted to make sure that he was getting all the help and support that was available. Age in Spain Support Co-ordinator, Kayte Locke, commented "We were able to let Bruce's family know that he was receiving wonderful support from the British Legion and the Soldiers' Charity and it was heartening to see organisations working together to support someone at the end of his life. Sadly, shortly after we were contacted, Bruce fell seriously ill and died in hospital in Palafrugell, Catalunya on 15 January. Those same charities will be making sure he gets military honours at his funeral in recognition of his exceptional service in the second world war."
Bruce's friend and Biographer, Andrew Merriman, has published an obituary in The Guardian, which you can read here. Talking with Age in Spain about his friendship with Bruce, Andrew said "I met Bruce Copp when I was researching my biography of Hattie Jacques - all her family and friends referred to him and said that I couldn’t possibly write a book about Hattie without Bruce’s involvement. They were right. He had been living in Spain for over thirty years and met me at Barcelona airport and a hair raising drive to his cottage in La Floresta - he was 90 at the time - was followed by three days of scrumptious food, kindness beyond belief and delicious tales. We were soon fast friends and in between giving me wonderful material about Hattie, Bruce regaled me with stories of his own extraordinary life. I told him that he ought to write a book, His response was, ‘Don’t be daft, darling, it’s all so boring.’ I returned a couple of years later to work on his book. Boring it wasn't. A man of untold generosity, kindness and warmth.We shall miss him."
If you want to find out more about Bruce Copp's extraordinary life, Andrew's biography is entitled Out of the Firing Line...Into the Foyer