Perhaps Britain’s most famous magician and one of the most popular comedians ever amongst both the public and his piers.

Tommy Cooper had that unique talent where he could make someone laugh just by doing nothing.  Despite his tricks always appearing to go wrong, he was in fact an accomplished magician and a member of The Magic Circle.

Quick Bio

Born Thomas Frederick Cooper on 19th March 1921 at 19 Llwyn Onn Street, Trecenydd.  He was delivered by the woman who owned the house in which the family was lodging.

Cooper’s parents were Welsh-born army recruiting sergeant father Thomas H. (Tom) Cooper, and his English-born wife Gertrude (née Gertrude C. Wright) from Crediton, Devon.

The area where Tommy was born was heavily polluted, so when his Father was offered a job elsewhere the family moved to Exeter, Devon.  At the time Tommy was three years old.

The family lived in the back of Haven Banks, where Cooper attended Mount Radford School for Boys.  At weekends he helped his parents run their ice cream van.  At the age of eight an aunt bought Cooper a magic set and he spent hours perfecting the tricks.  Magic ran his family as his brother David had a magic shop in Slough High Street in the 1960′s called D &Z Cooper’s Magic Shop.

On leaving school Tommy became a shipwright in Hythe, Hampshire.  In 1940 he received his call up papers and served as a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards.

He served initially in Montgomery’s Desert Rats in Egypt. Cooper became part of the NAAFI entertainment party and developed an act around his magic tricks interspersed with comedy. One evening in Cairo, during a sketch in which he was supposed to be in a costume which required a pith helmet, having forgotten the prop, Cooper reached out and borrowed the fez from a passing waiter which got huge laughs.  It was from this incident that stemmed two of the attributes that were a hallmark of his later act: the ever-present fez hat and his aptitude for slapstick comedy.

In 1947 he married Gwen Henty.

Career

Demobbed after seven years of military service, Cooper got his first big break in 1947 with Miff Ferrie  at that time trombonist in a band called The Jackdaws, who booked him to appear as the second spot comedian in a show starring sand dance act “Marqueeze and the Dance of the Seven Veils”. Cooper then began a two-year period of arduous performing. It included a tour of Europe and a stint in pantomime, playing one of Cinderella’s ugly sisters. The period culminated in a season long booking at the Windmill Theatre where he doubled up doing cabarets; one week performing in 52 shows. Ferrie would remain Cooper’s sole agent for the next 37 years, until Cooper’s death in 1984.

Cooper rapidly became a top-liner in variety with his turn as the conjurer whose tricks never succeeded, but it was his television work which raised him to national prominence.  After debuting on the BBC talent show New to You in March 1948, he soon started starring in his own shows and was popular with audiences for four decades, most memorably through his work with London Weekend Television from 1968 to 1972 and with Thames Television from 1973 to 1980. Thanks to his many television shows during the mid 70s, he was one of the biggest and most recognizable comedians in the world.

However Cooper’s career was not all plain sailing, he was a heavy drinker and smoker and as a result suffered a decline in health during the late 1970′s, leading to a heart attack in 1977, whilst performing a show in Rome.  Within three months he was back on our screens in  Night Out at the London Casino.

By 1980, his heavy drinking lead to Thames Television declining to give him another starring series,  Cooper’s Half Hour would be his last. He did continue to guest on other television shows, however, and worked with Eric Sykes on two Thames productions in 1982.

It was in front of a live television audience on Live From Her Majesty’s that Tommy Cooper collapsed from a heart attack in 1984.

Performing a sketch where different props appeared to appear from inside his cloak, he collapsed and fell backwards.  Everybody thought it was part of the act until it became clear that he was seriously ill.  Attempts were made to revive him backstage, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at Westminster Hospital.  His death was not officially announced until the following morning.

Clips

Merchandising

Perhaps one of Britain’s most under estimated comics, Les Dawson was one of Britain’s funniest comics, master of the monologue, nobody could tell a Mother In Law joke quite like Les Dawson.  Most importantly Les Dawson was not just a comic, he was the original all rounder: a talented pianist, comic, game show host  and author .

Quick Bio

Born 2nd February 1932, in Collyhurst, Manchester, Les Dawson was the son of a bricklayer.  His schooldays were spent trying to keep the bullies at bay with humour.  It was during an incident at school that his jaw was broken by one boy.  This left Dawson with the fortunately comedic ability to pull his chin over his nose, an ability he would use to great comedic effect over his career.
After leaving school Dawson worked in the drapery department of the local Co-op and became a reporter for the Bury Times in order to persue his aspirations as a writer.  Unfortunately his reporting carer was short lived, he was sacked after two weeks.  Next stop Paris, where he played piano in a brothel.  Although he was an accomplished pianist, he would deliberately play off key as part of a comic routine.  On his return to England he worked as a vacuum cleaner salesman and began to perform on the Manchester club circuit.
He married his first wife Margaret (Meg) on 25 June 1960, they had three children, Julie, Pamela and Stuart.  Margaret died in April 1986 from cancer, leaving Les heartbroken.  It was whilst frequenting a local country club that he met Tracy, she was working behind the bar, having lost her Mother to cancer they provided comfort to each other and before long Les plucked up the courage to ask Tracy for a date.  Having found happiness again Les proposed and despite worries that his showbusiness contemporaries and the public would object, as she was 17 years younger Les married Tracy on 6 May 1989, They had a daughter, Charlotte, who was born on 3 October 1992.
On 10 June 1993, during a check-up at a routine check up at a hospital in Whalley Range, Manchester, Les Dawson suffered a fatal heart attack and died suddenly.  A Memorial Service was held at Westminster Abbey on 24 February 1994 attended by many comedians and other celebrities.

Career

Les Dawson’s first television appearance was on Saturday Bandbox in 1962.  In 1967 he auditioned for the talent show Opportunity Knocks. From there he never looked back. Appearing on many variety shows.
He made his acting debut in the Comedy Playhouse ’State of the Union’ in 1968.  A year later he had his own long-running series Sez Les, full of his trademark northern pessimism.  This was the show that would propel him on to become a household name developing his popular characters; the frustrated Cosmo Smallpiece and, assisted by  Roy Barraclough, gossipy housewives Cissie and Ada.  Throughout the 1970′s and eighties there was his popular Radio2 show Listen With Les.  He was aregular on the panel show Joker’sWild.
In 1974 the Galton and Simpson written comedy Holiday with Strings  spawned the seven-part sitcom Dawson’s Weekly in 1975.  The same year, he starred in the one-hour special, set in a 1920s flea-pit  - Dawson’s  Electric Cinema, and in The Loner, a series of three plays written by Alan Plater.
Switching to the BBC, he produced the successful Les Dawson Show and The Dawson Watch where each week’s sketches and jokes based around a single theme. In 1984 he took over from Terry Wogan, presenting Blankety Blank on which he quickly stamped his persona, forever ridiculing it and its awful prizes.
It was full circle in 1990 when he took over from Bob Monkhouse presenting the revamped Opportunity Knocks for the BBC and he was well-received as the greedy 100 year old grandmother in Roberto Costa’s black comedy Nona in 1991.  In 1992 he became one of the very few people to appear on This Is Your Life for a second time (his first was 21 years earlier). His final screen appearance seems to be much in debate there was a cameo role in the 1993 comedy drama Demob and an appearance was on the LWT series Surprise, Surprise presented by Cilla Black, when he sang a comical rendition of “I Got You Babe” with a woman from the audience who wanted to fulfill a wish to sing with him.
Les Dawson loved Panto and appeared regularly as a Dame in Pantos up and down the country.

Clips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g8SOSC3Lks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMF5piuXKy0

Merchandising
Read Les Dawson’s story in his own words
No Tears for the Clown: An Autobiography

In tribute to the late great Eric Sykes, all next week we are looking at the life and works of some of the legendary names in British comedy.  These are the people regarded by their piers as the best of the best, whose names will live on.  We start today with Eric Sykes.

Eric Sykes was one of the last remaining Great British post-war comedians, a legend in his own right with a career that spanned over 50 years.  Perhaps best remembered for his sitcoms with Hattie Jacques, Sykes was also a prominent TV and Radio comedy script writer.

Quick Bio

Born in Oldham, Lancashire on 4th May 1923; his mother died during his birth.  His parents were Vernon Sykes and Harriet Stacey who had married in Oldham in 1921; he was the second child of his parents’ marriage.  His older brother (by two years) was named Vernon. Sykes’s father, a twin born in Huddersfield, was a labourer in a cotton mill and a former army sergeant. When he was two, his father remarried and he gained a half-brother named John.

Educated at Ward Street Central School in Oldham,  Sykes joined the Royal Air Force during World War II, where he qualifyed as a wireless operator with the rank of Leading Aircraftman.

He married Edith Eleanore Milbrandt on 14 February 1952 and they had three daughters, Catherine, Julie, Susan, and a son, David.

As an adult Eric Sykes became partially deaf.  His trade mark spectacles contained no lenses but were in fact a bone-conducting hearing aid.  Sykes also suffered from Disciform macular degeneration, brought about by age and possibly smoking, this left him partially sighted and consequently he was registered blind.  Sykes was unlucky in the health stakes as in addition to his deafness and partial sight, in 2002 he suffered a stroke and underwent heart bypass surgery.

In 2012 after a short illness on the 4th July Eric Sykes passed away, another of the all time great post war comedians was no longer with us, but he left a legacy of work stretching back 50 years.

Career

Eric Sykes’s entertainment career began during World War II, whilst serving in a Special Liaison Unit, here he met and worked with then Flight Lieutenant Bill Fraser.

When the war ended Sykes decided to try his luck in London, arriving in the middle of the coldest winter in living memory (1946-47). He rented lodgings, expecting to find work quickly, but by the end of the first week he was cold, hungry and penniless. The turning point in his life and career came on the Friday night of his first week in London: he had a chance meeting in the street with Bill Fraser, who was by now featuring in a comedy at the Playhouse Theatre. Fraser took the impoverished Sykes to the theatre, offered him food and drink, and then asked if Sykes would like to write for him. Sykes began providing scripts for both Fraser and Frankie Howerd and soon found himself in demand as a comedy writer. Forming a partnership with Sid Colin, he worked on the BBC radio ventriloquism show Educating Archie, which began in 1950, and also Variety Bandbox. His work on Educating Archie led to him meeting Hattie Jacques for the first time.

During the 1950′s he began to make the transition from radio to television where he wrote a number of series episodes and one-off shows for the BBC. These included:  The Howerd Crowd (1952), Frankie Howerd’s Korean Party, Nuts in May and The Frankie Howerd Show, as well as The Big Man (1954) starring Fred Emney and Edwin Styles.

It was around this time that Sykes stepped in front of the camera, making his first screen appearance at this time in the army film comedy Orders Are Orders (1954), which also featured Sid James, Tony Hancock, Peter Sellers, Bill Fraser and Donald Pleasence.

Around 1953 Eric Sykes was part of a writing team consisting of himself, Spike Milligan, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, they called themselves Associated London Scripts (ALS).  This partnership lasted for over ten years before it ended in 1967.

Various film, TV and writing projects followed, but it was in the 1960′s that he began to produce some of his best known work, The Plank (1967), which was adapted from an episode of his TV series Sykes And A, became a forty five minute all star film on the big screen, in the 1970′s with a revised cast it would be re-made for TV. Nine series of Sykes And A were made between 1960 and 1965.  In 1969 he starred with Spike Milligan in the controversial sitcom Curry And Chips.  There had been a host of other projects in between.  It was in the 1970′s, 1972 to be exact that the BBC resurrected Sykes And A, as simply “Sykes” the format was the same and in fact forty three of the scripts were re-workings 0f the 1960′s scripts.

Between the 1980′s up until his death Sykes continued working at a marathon pace in everything from another TV adaptation this time entitled Rhubarb, Rhubarb for ITV in 1980.  There was It’s Your Move and Mr H Is Late (all of which we’ve covered).  The list just goes on in recent years he made guest appearances in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire and Last Of The Summer Wine.

All in all Eric Sykes packed more into a fifty year career than most people manage in a lifetime.  His humour will continue to entertain generations for many years to come.

Clips

Merchandising

A national institution, Jimmy Tarbuck is one of Britain’s best loved comedians and one the few all time greats still with us.

Famous for hosting many a variety show such as Live from Her Majesty’s, Jimmy Tarbuck, like Ken Dodd is still performing today having come up through the ranks with the Beatles and the 1960′s Mersey trend.

Quick Bio

Born in Liverpool 6th February 1940, the son of a Bookmaker, he went to school with John Lennon and left aged 15.

After leaving school his first job was as a garage mechanic, but he was sacked from this and many subsequent jobs for fooling around.  Aged 18, he joined a touring rock n roll show which set him firmly on the showbusiness ladder of success.

He is married to wife Pauline and has an equally famous daughter LizaTarbuck.

Career

After tasting show business as part of a band Jimmy would find himself working at Butlins as a Redcoat.  It was here aged just 22 that the late Val Parnell spotted him.

Making his TV debut on Comedy Bandbox, He would make several guest appearances on Sunday Night at the London Palladium for Val Parnell before becoming the resident compere in September 1965.  He was soon headlining the top variety shows throughout the country as well as making his London cabaret debut at The Talk of the Town.  In addition to this there was TV shows The Jimmy Tarbuck Show and It’s Tarbuck both for ATV, and Tarbuck’s Luck for the BBC.

Continuing to work into the 70′s he became a regular fixture on TV when in 1975 he hosted the hugely popular Winner Takes All for ITV.  This ran until 1986, not resting on his laurels he hosted another game show Tarbys Frame Game, these were both for Yorkshire Television.

During the 1980′s stil a popular face on television Tarbuck signed a five year deal with London Weekend Television.  This saw him present Live from The Palladium, Live From The Piccadilly and Live From Her Majesty’s.  These were followed by a chat show Tarby and Friends and Tarby After Ten.

Moving away from regular TV in the 90′s (he’d been almost a permanent fixture on TV screens for over twenty years by now) Jimmy Tarbuck returned to his live shows.  There was also pantomime appearances and summer seasons, alongside many TV appearances, the most famous of which was the ratings hit An Audience With Jimmy Tarbuck.  Made by London Weekend Television it’s success lead to another late night talk show Tarby After Ten, that aired in 1998.  In between he hosted a game show for the BBC entitled Full Swing based on his favourite pass time of Golf.

Today Jimmy Tarbuck still tours, does a great deal of charity work and after dinner speaking.

Clips

Merchandising

However he’s still going strong, playing to sell out crowds in a variety of venues.

Quick Bio

Stan Boardman was born in Liverpool on 7th December 1940.  When he was  a young child, during World War 2, Stan and his family were evacuated to Wrexham.  On returning to their Merseyside home, thinking they had escaped the worst of the bombing, tragedy struck when Stan;’s older brother Tommy was killed in a bombing raid.

Moving onto 1967 Stan married Vivienne Brennan, they are still married and have two children Paul and Andrea who are twins and three grandchildren.

Career

Stan used to run a haulage firm, prior to which he had been a keen footballer.  As a teenager, became an apprentice at Liverpool FC, and signed for Tranmere Rovers FC.

His first brush with stand up came whilst he and his family were on holiday at a Butlin’s holiday camp.  They persuaded him to enter the weekly talent competition; just for fun.  Reluctantly agreeing ,Stan got up, entertaining a full house with a barrage of jokes.  He won first prize.

Little did he know that that talent contest was  one heat, in a much larger national competition.  Stan,  gained in confidence with every appearance, progressing through each stage to secure a place in the Grand Final at the London Palladium. It was here that his distinctive style of comedy and his original material helped him walk off with the £1,000 first prize, a summer season engagement and the title ‘Star Act Of The Year’.

Next step Television and an appearance on Opportunity Knocks topping the poll with the studio audience.  He was invited back to appear on the program’s Gala Show and for the Opportunity Knocks Variety Awards Shows.  Stan was now a television must have and so it was no surprise when he was asked to take over as host of Southern Television’s popular children’s series Runaround.  Stan followed Leslie Crowther and fellow comedian Mike Reid.

Stan featured in the later series of The Comedians alongside Roy Walker and Mick Miller.  Just as Charlie Williams and Ken Goodwin had become two of the stand out names from the first series Stan Boardman became one of the stand out names in the later series.  After making his debut he was invited back for a second series.

Since the success of The Comedians Stan has appeared made many television appearances, the most notable of which was Des O’ Connor Tonight when his “Fockers” jike saw him disappear from our TV screens for a while.  He’s played to packed theatres and other venues all round the world since that first appearance on The Comedians and in 2011 returned to Blackpool with other surviving members of The Comedians for a 40th Anniversary Show hosted by the man who started it all Johnnie Hamp.

It’s ironic that as we mourn the loss of two great comics, Stan was the final turn on the show and in his closing remarks he quips that we should come back next week as another one of them might have died, there might some different ones on.

Stan’s son Paul recorded the 40th Anniversary Show for DVD

Clips

Stan’s Official Website: www.stanboardmantv.co.uk/

Merchandising

“It’s a cracker, it’s the way I tell ‘em”  They certainly were and it certainly was.   Frank Carson was one of the country’s most popular stand up comedians, famed for his quick fire gags and immortal catchphrases.  Having found fame on the top rated ITV show The Comedians, Frank Carson continued to make the nation laugh out loud right up until his death in February 2012.

Quick Bio

Born Hugh Francis Carson on 6th November 1926,  in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  Frank’s family were of Italian descent, with his grandmother hailing from Sicily.   Growing up in the “Little Italy” area of Belfast, an area which no longer exists, he attended  St Patrick’s Primary School and was once a choirboy at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic church on Donegall Street.

On leaving school Frank worked as an electrician, and later plasterer. He  spent three years with the Parachute Regiment in the Middle East in the 1950′s.

Much like Les Dawson, who lived in Lytham St Anns, Frank Carson lived in Layton, Blackpool with his wife Ruth, daughter, Majella, and two sons Tony and Aidan.

A keen football supporter Frank  was a regular at Blackpool F.C. football matches.  He was also a director of Staffordshire football club Chasetown F.C.

An established performer Frank Carson hit the big time with his appearances on Granada TV’s The Comedians.  He would continue to work right up until his death in February 2012.

A tireless charity fund raiser in 1986 he raised £130,000 for the Royal Victoria Hospital Children’s Cancer Ward.  In 1987  his dedication to charity was recognised by the Roman Catholic Church when he was awarded a Papal knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory (KSG) by Pope John Paul II.  In 2009 he took part in the TV show Cash in the Celebrity Attic raising over £900 for a local hospice.

In 1976 Frank Carson had heart surgery which many thought would bring about his retirement, fortunately it did not.  A routine hernia operation left Carson, who had a heart pacemaker (from his 1976 heart surgery), seriously ill.  However he underwent a knee replacement operation in July 2009.   Subsequent x-rays, 14 days after being discharged from hospital, showed that he had a previously undetected cracked rib, which may have been the cause of the hernia.

In August 2011, Carson had an operation to remove a malignant tumour from his stomach.  He continued to work and had planned to tour again in 2012.  Sadly on 22nd February 2012 at his Blackpool home surrounded by his family and friends Frank passed away.

Career

Frank Carson became a popular performer on Irish television, before moving to England to work as a stand-up club comedian.   He enjoyed success on the long running television music-hall revival show, The Good Old Days, before going on to win the peak-viewing national favourite talent show Opportunity Knocks, presented by Hughie Green, three times.

However it was in 1971 when legendary Television Producer Johnnie Hamp invited Frank to join other comics from the stand up circuit on Granada Television’s The Comedians shown on ITV.  The show was a ratings smash, propelling it’s stars , including Frank to prominence.  Frank would go on with others including Bernard Manning, Ken Goodwin, Roy Walker and Charlie Williams to become one of the show’s most popular comics.

The success of The Comedians lead to appearances on The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club.  Frank would be a regular fixture on our TV screens for a number of years whilst continuing as a stage performer.  His other TV work included 1970′s kids show Tiswas, starring as Paddy O’Brien, described as “an Irish Republican landlord and coalman”, in The Melting Pot, a sitcom written by Spike Milligan and Neil Shand, which was cancelled by the BBC after just one episode had been broadcast.  His later work included appearances on Noel’s House Party, a 2004 planned appearance on the reality show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! was shelved by ITV executives due to prohibitive insurance costs given Carson’s age.  There were two film appearances in the 1990′s and in 1998, he was the opening act for Mary Black’s musical concert at the English Village in Dubai.

In more recent years Frank appeared in 2009 Summer Season at Blackpool’s North Pier’s midweek season run of The Comedians with Mick Miller and Duncan Nordew.  By this time the veteran comic was aged 82, in September of the same year he appeared at the Velvet Hall in Paphos, Cyprus.

In 2011 The Comedians celebrated 40 years and to mark the occasion at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre, Frank appeared in the 40th Anniversary Show alongside Mick Miller, Roy Walker, Jim Bowen, Dougie Brown and Stan Boardman.  The show was presented by the show’s original producer Johnnie Hamp.

Working to the last Frank had been intending to tour in 2012.

Clips

Merchandising

WARNING: SOME CLIPS CONTAIN STRONG LANGUAGE AND ADULT REFERENCES

Jim Davidson OBE, is the British Stand Up Comedian who has been entertaining audiences of all ages both on the TV and live for over thirty years.  As well as his sell out tours, there’s the adult pantomimes and some great TV work that was prime time family stuff.  On top of all of this he’s a great supporter of our armed forces, traveling the globe to entertain the troops.

He’s also had a colourful and well documented private life, which he has used to great effect in some of his humour.

Quick Bio

James Cameron Davidson was born in  Kidbrooke, London, the son of a Glaswegian Father.  He attended  Kidbrooke Park Primary School, Blackheath and St Austen’s School in Charlton.

A young Jim Davidson would do impressions of celebrities, this impressed acquaintances of his Father and he was given the chance to appear in Ralph Reader’s Gang Show at the Golders Green Hippodrome at the age of 12 and appeared on television in the Billy Cotton Band Show.  He also briefly attended a stage school in Woolwich.

After leaving school he held a variety of jobs including:  a drummer for pub bands, a supermarket shelf stacker, a messenger, air ticket clerk for a travel agency, a cashier for Wall’s ice cream, he trained as a reprographics operator and worked for Rank Xerox for a time.

His married life has given him plenty of material over the years.  His first marriage was in 1971, he divorced a year later in 1972 before finding fame.  The second marriage was in 1981 and ended in divorce in 1986, a year later wife number three, lasting a year, they divorced in 1987.  Three years later in 1990 he married again, this marriage lasted ten years, they were divorced in 2000.  Jim married his current wife in 2010.

Jim Davidson had a well publicised battle with alcohol that lasted six years.  His problems, however did not end with ex wives and alcohol.  In 2003 he ran into problems with the tax man, on 27 August 2003, after a meeting with the Inland Revenue Davidson claimed he spent £10,000 a week on back taxes, commission to agents, maintenance and school fees, and a £2.2 million mortgage.

On the 6th July 2006 , after failing to keep up payments on £1.4million back tax bill he had reduced to £700,000, Davidson was eventually declared bankrupt.

In March 2004, Davidson, a self-professed Conservative, publicly left the United Kingdom for the tax-free haven of Dubai in protest at the Labour Party government. At the time, he declared that “I may as well go to Dubai and be an ethnic minority there than wait five years till I become one here.”  He has subsequently been quoted as attributing his move as being motivated primarily by the tax-free status afforded him. He returned to live in Britain in the summer of 2010.

Career

Jim Davidson started in show business, when as a regular in a pub in Woolwich, he stood in after the regular comedian hadn’t turned up. He became a regular on the London comedy circuit and in 1975 he first auditioned for Opportunity Knocks, the audition was unsuccessful, where it is alledged that  Hughie Green told him to  “go away”.  His audition for New Faces was more successful, and he proceeded to win the show by one point, and then to come second in the overall contest.

Television success would soon follow including What’s On Next and several series of his own show The Jim Davidson Show which ran for five complete series and won Davidson the TV Times award as “Funniest Man On Television”.

Davidson made a few appearances on Tiswas in 1977, and claimed in 2004 to have been the first Phantom Flan Flinger on that program.  He made two sitcoms: Up the Elephant and Round the Castle and Home James.

After falling from our screens, he started back on television with his one man show screened on ITV, Stand Up Jim Davidson was recorded on stage at London’s Royalty Theatre.  In 1991 he began a stint at the BBC hosting snooker based games how Big Break until 2002.  During 1995 until 2002 he was also the host of the popular game show The Generation Game, after standing in for Bruce Forsyth in 1994 for one show.

After appearing in the third series of Hell’s Kitchen in 2007 and the BBC’s Comedy Map of Britain in 2008, most of Jim Davidson’s work is live tour based and has included his hugely successful adult pantomimes Sinderella and Boobs In The Wood.

A great favourite with the British Armed Forces, he set up a charity to fund shows to provide entertainment for British soldiers living abroad.   As well as touring extensively to entertain the troops, he has starred in a number of his own TV specials for ITV and BBC, including one from HMS Invincible, Homeward Bound for Christmas and in 2002 he made the Jim Davidson Falklands Bound which was screened during the 20th Anniversary of the end of the hostilities.

During the Iraq conflict he was trapped on a cargo plane to entertain the British soldiers for no fee, and in 2003 Jim Davidson Basra Bound was screened on BBC One and further BBC TV Specials of his live stand-up show followed.  He has made five visits to the Falkland Islands, twice to the Republic of Macedonia, and at least six times to Iraq.  He is presently the Chairman of The British Forces Foundation charity, which aims to promote the well-being and esprit de corps of service personnel. Davidson was awarded the OBE in the New Year’s Honours List 2001 for his services to charity.

Clips

Merchandising

Official Website www.jimdavidson.org

We take a look back at the career of a veteran entertainer, a man that has been on our screens since the 1950′s.  Sir Bruce Forsyth

Quick Bio:
Born in 1928 in Edmunton North London.  At the age of eight he trained in dance, starting in show business aged just fourteen.  His first act was a song, dance and accordion routine called ‘Boy Bruce, The Mighty Atom’ which he performed in his first stage appearance at the Theatre Royal, Bilston.
It was in 1957 tat he got his big break when he appeared with comedian Dickie Henderson.  This led to him being offered the job of compere on Val Parnell’s weekly TV variety show, Sunday Night At The London Palladium.

Career:

Bruce has had an amazing career to date on both TV and Stage and in Films including a part in Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  We take a quick tour over his TV career, proof positive that here is a man who has brought laughter to millions.

Bruce kept up a hectic schedule of stage performances during the 60′s and returned to our TV screens in the 1970′s with this…

1976 Muppet Show

In 1978 Bruce left The Generation Game to present Bruce Forsyth’s Big Night on ITV

It lasted one season but remaining with ITV he began the first of three stints hosting Play Your Cards Right running from 1980 -87, 1994 – 99 and 2002 – 03.

in 1986 there was the US gameshow Bruce Forsyth’s Hot Streak and for ITV Thames between 1986-87 Sitcom Slingers Day.  In 1989 for ITV the first series of You Bet (sorry no clips could be found), who can forget Bruce’s forfeit as his own waxwork.

Back to the BBC 1990 – 94 to host the return of The Generation Game and one series of game show Takeover Bid.

1995 – 2001 Bruce’s Price is Right

1997 An Audience With Bruce Forsyth

Who can forget that now legendary appearance on Have I Got News For You !

Coming right up to date with Strictly Come Dancing.

In 2011 after a long campaign by both the public and his fellow entertainers it was finally time to arise Sir Bruce Forsyth.

Merchandising

Sunday Night at the London Palladium [DVD]

Continuing our look back at 40 years of The Comedians we look at the life of Comedians and Bullseye star Jim Bowen.
Probably best remembered for the game show Bullseye, Jim Bowen was one of the stars of the groundbreaking series The Comedians that’s celebrating 40 years in 2011.

Quick Bio

Born Peter Williams on 20th August, in Heswall, Cheshire.  He was educated at Accrington Grammar School in Lancashire and Chester Diocesan Training College.  Moving onto Lancaster University Jim gained a degree in mathematics and early years education.

He spent his early career as  a teacher at schools in Lancashire, becoming deputy headmaster of Caton Primary School near Lancaster.

Career

It was whilst teaching that Jim Bowen became involved with the local Dramatic Society.  This sparked an interest in show business.  During the 1960′s he worked as a part time Stand-Up Comedian on the Northern Club circuit.  It was the 1971 show “The Comedians” that gave him his big break into National Television.  The show was a huge success and prompted Jim to leave the world of education for a career in entertainment.

Other television opportunities followed and Jim made appearances on Granada’s “Wheeltappers and Shunters’ Social Club” alongside Thames Television’s late-night chat show ‘Take Two’. Central Television’s “Up For the Cup” and “Starburst” featured Jim together with “Summertime Special” and “Noel’s House Party”. (He was “Gotcha’d” by Noel as part of his Saturday night programme). Many other guest appearances followed including “Celebrity Squares”, “Pebble Mill”,” Family Fortunes”, “Des O’Connor Tonight” and numerous Christmas Television Specials.  However he will probably be best remembered for the hugely popular game show “Bullseye” which he hosted between 1981 and 1994.

In 1999 Bowen began presenting on BBC Radio Lancashire but after working there for three years, resigned after referring to a guest on his show as a “nig-nog”. He admitted that, even though he apologised for the remark almost immediately, he believed his showbusiness career was over.

Jim  returned to the stage in 2005, when he performed a solo show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe about Bullseye, called “You Can’t Beat a Bit of Bully”.  He returned to Edinburgh in the summer of 2006 performing at ‘Jongleurs’ from 8 to 28 August.  He performed at the 2010 festival once again with his Bullseye spin off with side-kick and muse James Kazal.

In 2011 Jim Bowen joined Dougie Brown, Frank Carson, Stan Boardman, Mick Miller alongside producer Johnnie Hamp in Blackpool for a series of special shows celebrating 40 years of The Comedians.

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Visit Jim Bowen’s Official Website www.jimbowen.tv/

Quick Bio
Born Bernard John Manning on 13th August 1930, in the Ancoats district of Manchester, he was of Russian, Jewish and Irish descent. Years later this was  something he would note when making later jokes about the Jews and the Irish, just to  to emphasise he meant no ill will.
Bernard left school aged 14 and he joined his father’s greengrocery business and then worked in a Gallaher’s tobacco factory, before joining the British Army to serve his National Service.
In much the same way as other comedians of the time (including the cast of The Goon Show), Manning held little thought of entertainment as a career.
It  was upon being posted to Germany, given the responsibility of Guarding Nazi war criminals (Rudolf Hess, Albert Speer and Karl Doenitz) at Spandau Prison, Berlin just post World War II.
To pass the leisure time, Manning began to sing popular standards to entertain his fellow soldiers. Manning’s ability to achieve this led him to put free shows on at the weekends: when he began to charge admission and audiences did not decrease, he realised that there was the possibility of making money from showbusiness.
In 1959 Bernard bought Harpurhey’s Temperance Billiard Hall in 1959 and set it up alongside his Father as The Embassy Club.
Despite his ability to make people laugh, life wasn’t always happy for Bernard, as early as 1944 he lost his Brother John, his wife Veronica, known as Vera died of a heart attack in November 1986, aged 57.  Finding himself home alone he moved out of the family home to live with his Mother.  Bernard was struck by triple tragedy when in 1995 his Mother and his two remaining brothers Jackie and Frank also died.
For much of his later life Bernard was tee-total and diabetic.  In June 2007 Bernard Manning was admitted to  North Manchester General Hospital for a kidney complaint, two weeks later on Monday, 18 June 2007 at the age of 76 Bernard Manning died.

Career
On returning to Britain from his National Service,  Manning continued to sing professionally,whilst also working as a compere.   Bernard Manning was an effective singer of popular ballads  fronting many big bands during  the 1950s, such as the Oscar Rabin Band.  As the years passed, he would start introducing humour into his compering. This was well received and he slowly moved from being a singer/compere to a comedian.
Like many comedians of his time Bernard spent much of his professional career during the 1950′s and 60′s working the Comedy Clubs and the Northern Working Men’s Clubs.
It was in 1971 that a ground breaking TV series made by Granada TV “The Comedians” gave him his break into television.  In 1974 he would use his compere skills as the host of another Granada TV show The “Wheeltappers And Shunters Social Club”
During the 1980s, Manning fell out of favour with television companies, but his appearances on the Northern Working Men’s Club circuit continued, playing to packed audiences which often included people from ethnic minorities.  He never toned down his act, but  had a minor television career revival towards the end of his life, including Channel 4 taking him to Bombay to perform.
In 2006, he appeared at the 40th birthday party of chef Marco Pierre White, with Madonna as one of the members of the audience.
In March 2007 he was ranked 29th on the list of the 100 Greatest Stand Up comedians in a poll conducted by Channel 4.
In his later life, although he still toured Britain, he tended to appear most frequently at his own club The Embassy.

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