Cricket Times

The amazing legacy of iconic entertainer George Formby will endure thanks to the likes of talented musician Andy Eastwood.

Jimmy Cricket devotes his latest long-running newspaper column to Andy, who went into showbusiness as a child.

He studied classical violin and piano, but also developed a passion for jazz and pop.

Andy made history at Oxford University by becoming the first musician to give a degree recital on the ukulele! 

Below is Jimmy’s Lancashire Evening Post column about George Formby and Andy.

In George Formby’s song Riding in The TT Races, there are two lines that always make me chuckle: “In a ten-mile race/I’m the best” and “I ride two miles/and skid the rest.”

It’s from a movie made in 1935 called No Limit, in which George plays a hapless would-be motorcyclist who wants to compete in the Isle-of-Man Grand Prix.

George’s gormless character, who always got it right in the end, made him a global star and endeared him to millions of moviegoers, especially during the war years when he helped to lift people’s spirits.

However, it will be for his wonderful songs like Leaning on a Lampost and When I’m Cleaning Windows that he will be remembered for in generations to come.

Golden classics

One such entertainer who will make sure his legacy endures is Andy Eastwood.

In fact, he performs the Formby songbook so well that none other than the American Banjo Museum invited him over to Oklahoma City to perform at a ceremony in which George Formby was inducted into their Hall of Fame.

George’s niece Gina was there on behalf of the family and I bet she had a tear in her eye as she watched Andy sing and play those golden classics!

Andy’s own career is quite remarkable.

Born in Blackburn, he moved to Dorset when his dad took up a teaching post there.

Genuine George Formby ukulele

He made his stage debut when he was only 12 at a vehicle rally in Southsea.

A few years later he turned his back on the bright lights of the entertainment profession, when he got a musical scholarship to Oxford University.

He must be one of the few people in the whole wide world to come away from that great institute of learning with a music degree in ukulele studies.

I can just picture all the students and professors at his graduation singing With My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock.

Career crossroads

With his musical studies completed, Andy returned to showbiz and it was around about that time our paths crossed when we both appeared in a variety show in Ilfracombe, North Devon.

I remember vividly he was with his father and mentor, Walter, and they’d just been gifted a genuine George Formby ukulele from a lady whose late husband had paid £1,500 at an auction.

Apparently, she was so enthralled when she saw Andy performing on stage one night that she felt he was the one to carry on George’s legacy.

What a present!

Andy then toured extensively with Sir Ken Dodd and Blackpool impresario Duggie Chapman, but when both these giants of the entertainment industry sadly passed away within 18 months of each other, he found himself at a crossroads in his career.

I can’t wait to see her play the ukelele!

However, the show must go on, so Andy put on his producer’s hat on and to this day he promotes his own afternoon shows specialising in nostalgia for older theatregoers with titles like We’ll Meet Again celebrating wartime anniversaries and other shows that relive the great music from the fifties and sixties.

Oh, and there’s more, if you turn up to any of these matinees, he’ll not only regale you with his singing and ukulele expertise, but you’ll be amazed at his virtuoso violin-playing as well.

Andy lives in Blackpool with his lovely wife Helen Farrell, a beautiful singer in her own right.

When I worked at the Cast Theatre in Doncaster with them a few weeks ago, they had with them their seven-month-old baby Poppy May whom they brought on stage and, needless to say, stole the show.

I can’t wait to see her play the ukulele!

To find out more about Andy check out his website at www.andyeastwood.com

Also read from this website: Show included George Formby tribute act