He's alive...or at least he was just a week or two ago. I know because my newspaper lists the names of 'celebrities' whose birthday it is on any given publication date. His name appeared on that very recently.
He was always vocally proud of his working class roots and rough uncompromising northern values, particulary he was not ashamed to have been born out of wedlock and was in favour of capital punishment, so if you were to call him " a fat ******* that wants hanging" you'd be correct.