Geoff Paine ends monkey business rumours

Until recently internet rumours attached to Neighbours actor Geoff Paine were quite ridiculous.

Wikipedia entries had suggested his Neighbours character Clive Gibbons had its derivation from British comedian, Bill Oddie of The Goodies.

According to the entry, Paine had supposedly insisted on the character’s surname being Gibbons, after seeing British comedy trio The Goodies, performing their single The Funky Gibbon in 1976. Paine supposedly even remained a good friend of Oddie’s, meet twice a year to discuss ‘Gibbon related matters.’

“It’s hilarious. I was 21 when I started, Neighbours, I was just another actor auditioning for it,” Paine recently told TV Tonight.

“The idea that I had any sway over the character or any of that sort of stuff is absolutely nuts. I had never left Australia, until I was well into my 20s. So the idea that I had travelled to the UK to meet Bill Oddie is just hilarious beyond belief.

“I don’t know how Wikipedia works. Can Geoff Paine go into his own Wikipedia entry and edit it?

“Can I just have an asterisk saying ‘*This is really funny and completely made up’?”

The entry has since been deleted….