Video: John Fortune satirises bankers in classic clip John Fortune - who found fame on Bremner, Bird and Fortune - died peacefully at the age of 74 after being ill for "quite a while." Fortune's agent Vivienne Clore said the veteran satire comic died with his wife, Emma, and dog, Grizelle, at his bedside. Fortune, who recently suffered a stroke, met his comedy partner John Bird in the 1960s when they were at Cambridge. The pair became household names for The Long Johns sketches in which the double-act made witty characterisations of bumbling politicians, military figures and businessmen - not least bankers as in this clip from the time of the 2008 subprime crisis. Source: PA, footage courtesy of Vera Productions / Channel 4