Computicket founder Percival Tucker dies from Covid-19- related complications

At the age of 10, Tucker began his lifelong theatre passion when he offered his parents lounge as a ‘green room’ to a touring company visiting the Benoni Town Hall (in exchange for tickets, of course). In 1943, he became a backstage worker and later stage manager at the East Rand Theatre Club. A BCom accounting graduate from the University of Witwatersrand, Tucker opened a ticketing sales company, Show Service, in 1954.

He founded Computicket in 1971. Now celebrating its 50th year, Computicket was the first electronic theatre booking system in the world that also revolutionised ticketing in South Africa, making entertainment accessible. “I couldn’t sing or dance. The only thing I was good at was selling tickets. All I did was adapt science to ticketing,” commented Percy Tucker in an interview with Christina Kennedy for Business Day in 2011.

“The 16th of August is a significant anniversary in my life. On this day, in 1954, I opened the first professional theatre office in South Africa called Show Service. This caused deep displeasure for my father who could not understand why his graduate son wanted to be a mere ‘ticket seller’. 40 years ago, again on August 16th, I opened the first computerised reservations system in the world, called Computicket. In 1994, on August 16th exactly 40 years later, I retired from being the founder and CEO of Computicket.”

Sad sad news re the passing of Percy Tucker. Percy was a remarkable man and friend. He conceptualised and founded @Computicket The world’s first centralised ticket booking system. He remained actively involved in theatre. A true icon. pic.twitter.com/0Tk0qwBoPM

— Andre Schwartz (@Andre_Schwartz) January 29, 2021

Rest in peace, Percy Tucker. The ‘boykie’ from Benoni. South Africa’s ticketmaster.