It may be over two years since Hairy Bikers star Dave Myers passed away, but his wife Lili is determined to keep his legacy alive.
The BBC presenter, who died following a battle with cancer on February 28 2024, would have been 69 on the 8th September. To mark his birthday this year, Lili, 59, is putting some of his most precious belongings up for auction – including his biker boots, helmets and jacket, antiques, artwork, moustache comb and memorabilia from his stint on Strictly.
“I thought now would be the time to do this,” she exclusively told Mirror. “My house is still packed with all sorts. I’m keeping a lot of things, but now is the moment that I can start to move on.”
The collection, which totals over 300 pieces and prices ranging from £40 – £2,000, tell the story of Dave’s life – from his two decades in the spotlight, his work as a prosthetics make-up artist and even his school days.
“There’s probably five lives packed into all of this,” Lili, his wife of nearly 13 years, said. “Every object tells a story about his journey and his experience. Half of these objects are related to a period I didn’t know. I only met him when he was starting his career as a TV personality. Many of the objects were in boxes, so were new to me as well. His school reports, pictures he took with different people he worked with… It’s a beautiful story for me to discover.”
Barrow-in-Furness native Dave led a colourful life. He is most known for his long-running TV show The Hairy Bikers – where he and his pal Simon King would bike around different cities, places, countries and learn about the culture and cook good food. The show began in 2004 and became a staple on British television with over 30 series and millions of avid viewers.
Some of the items up for auction tell of his time on the show, including a Christian Lacroix cream linen suit he wore while filming A Cook Abroad.
“He wore that suit in Egypt while filming on a Nile cruise and when he visited a Nubian tribe. The story he told me was, ‘I was wearing this white suit and the nubians were sacrificing a goat near me.’ I can imagine him being on that Nile cruise and feeling like a character in an Agatha Christie movie.”
Before his time in the spotlight, Dave was a make-up artist for 23 years. While sorting through his things, Lill uncovered photographs of him working with actors Patrick Stewart and Sir Roger Moore and a letter written to him by 007 himself.
“It says ‘Dear David, Thank you for taking such good care of my old face, I look forward to repeating the experience. Thank you, Roger Moore.’”
Sifting through his quirky belongings, it’s clear what an eccentric Dave was. A signed photograph from iconic chef Delia Smith provides an interesting tale.
“He was always a fan of Delia,” Lili said. “He dreamt of Delia cooking naked in the kitchen and he told that story to his friends and neighbours. One of his neighbours wrote to Delia and she sent the photo back in a crystal frame for Dave in 2006. He was very proud of it. We met her after this and she was a fantastic person.”
Dave’s style was unique, his shirts were always eclectic. His signature Hairy Biker look – long beard and turned out moustache were his signature look. Lili shows us a moustache comb available to bid on.
“He was very pedantic with his moustache and his beard. He had a very strict routine every morning. He would turn the corners up on his moustache and that was something he picked up when he was on panto as Baron Hardup. He kept it because he loved the effect of it, it became part of his personality. This little comb has seen a lot of action.”
Myers also appeared on Strictly in 2013 and partnered alongside pro dancer Karen Hauer. It was an experience he loved – and some mementos from the show appear in the sale, including his dancing shoes and a bottle of champagne which is gifted to the celebrity contestants.
“The man was not a dancer,” she laughed. “He was a man of glitter and glamour, he loved his bedazzled helmets. Karen used to say to him, ‘You don’t have two left feet, you have several left feet.’ The very first day when they had to rehearse together, she had to teach him to walk straight before teaching him to dance.”
It’s fair to say Dave has left a big hole in Lili’s life, one that has not been easy to fill. But she has used her grief to help others, by providing support to her social media following and creating Dave Day motorbike rides in his memory – the last one in June amassed over 40,000 riders on the road.
“Whenever somebody loses their partner, there’s a big hollow space that’s left,” she said. “It’s difficult to find who you are without them. Of course you have to find how you fill that hollow space. Losing Dave was a moment where I went into the direction to help others who are in the same position. I’m using my experience to guide other people who are going through loss or illness, or struggle to come to terms with something. I found my purpose.”
The auction, in which some of the proceeds will be donated to the NSPCC and Childline, will be an emotional occasion for Lili. Not least because her son is getting married in Romania just days before.
“He’s got a special seat at his table for Dave. And he’s going to wear a pendant in Dave’s memory. I have to fly back to be here for the auction after that.”
Even though he was not the biological father to her two children – Sergiu and Izabelle – he had a very close relationship with them.
“They could not have hoped for a better dad,” she said. “Their biological father – my first husband – is very much part of their lives. He’s still alive, but the person they learned from was Dave. Dave taught them freedom, as he taught me freedom. That’s the best gift they could have. They had a wonderful relationship and miss him terribly.”
Dave was a positive person, right up until the very end. Even though there were moments of despair and sadness as he battled his illness for two years and he and Lili would lay on the floor and cry, he still worked and that “kept him going.”
“He was a fantastic person,” she said. “He could light a room at any point and bring energy into anything and everything. He was just a bundle of energy, all the time he had something going on. Something wacky, crazy going on. I could see, looking at him in the morning, looking into his eyes, ‘He’s up to something today.’”
Items belonging to the late Hairy Biker Dave Myers are going under the hammer at Special Auction Services in Newbury on Tuesday 8 September on what would have been his 69th Birthday.
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