Bob Mortimer told the 'egg in a bath' story, about the late 'Driving Home For Christmas' singer back in 2018. The story is now resurfacing as fans remember the iconic singer.
Mortimer shared on the comedy panel show 'Would I Lie To You' that he follows the advice of his friend Rea to crack an egg into his bath. He revealed that he has been taking his advice for 22 years and bathing with a raw egg.
When asked how this came about, Mortimer responded by explaining that he was "making a single for Middlesborough Football Club’s FA Cup appearance called ‘Let’s Dance’ [in 1997], which I did with Chris Rea, and after we completed the recording, he popped me into the bath and there was an egg in it."
"He said, ‘That’s it Bob, I think we’ve got that leg, that’s your bedroom, that’s the bath, I’ll pop an egg in there for you," Mortimer continued.
Although Mortimer revealed that he never recieved an exact answer as to why Rea put an egg in his bath, he said "all I know is that I woke up the next morning and I have never felt so alive."
Mortimer then went into more detail about the strange ritual, he said: "You really don’t want to bust the yolk. The white goes but the yolk’s there and you move like that and you try and get it to come towards you.” He continued: “If you knew Chris, it’s just so Chris.”
Rea's death was announced on Monday 22nd of December by his wife and two children, the statement read: "It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris. He passed away peacefully in hospital earlier today following a short illness, surrounded by his family.”
Mortimer shared a tribute to the legendary musician and friend to X, “So so sad. A lovely brilliant funny giant of a bloke. Oh Man... RIP Chris... Boro legend forever. Love to family and friends," he said.
The pair formed a friendship and recorded a version of Rea’s “Let’s Dance” in 1977. They collaborated again in 2020 when Rea appeared on an episode of Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.
Just days before Rea's death he told the Independent the story behind his hit song 'Driving Home For Christmas', he said “It has that hope and warmth to it, like all the classic Christmas songs, that and the frustration of being stuck in the motorway traffic, that’s what people relate to."
“What’s funny is that I’d been banned from driving just before I wrote it, and we originally thought we’d give it to Van Morrison. It was a Fifties jazz thing, like he used to do. Then the record label put it out as a B-side of mine, and a DJ started playing it. And here we are today,” he continued.
