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and there’s more

‘A very happy 80th birthday to the legend of laughter, Jimmy Cricket!’ 150 150 mhamer

‘A very happy 80th birthday to the legend of laughter, Jimmy Cricket!’

Star-studded show to mark Jimmy Cricket's 80th birthday!Hundreds of people have been congratulating comedian Jimmy Cricket on his 80th birthday.

The well-known entertainer celebrated the memorable milestone on Friday.

And his friends and followers took to social media to pass on their best wishes on the big day.

Among them was musician Andy Eastwood who appears in variety shows with Jimmy.

Andy said: “A very happy 80th birthday to the legend of laughter Jimmy Cricket!! 🎭🎷

“And there’s more… we look forward to our show with you at the Spa Theatre Bridlington in March! X.”

Many more people will show their affection for Jimmy at his Big Birthday Gala Show at The Lowry on 1 November.

Tim Vine, Roy Walker, Barbara Nice, Syd Little and Steve Royle are among the entertainers performing at the Salford venue.

Northern Irish funnyman Adrian Walsh and Jimmy’s daughter, Katie Mulgrew, complete the talented line-up – as well as the birthday boy himself, of course!

Go here for the full story

Jimmy was born James Mulgrew on October 17 1945 in Cookstown, Northern Ireland.

He left school at 16 years of age and worked for the next two years in a betting shop.

He then spent the summer of 1966 working as a Redcoat in Butlin’s holiday camp at Mosney, County Meath.

And that was followed by two more summers at the Butlin’s holiday camp in Clacton.

By the early 1970s, he was living in Manchester and from 1972 worked at the Pontins holiday camps in Southport and Morecambe.

He won LWT’s talent contest Search For A Star and was later given his own series on Central Television in the mid-1980s called And There’s More.

 

 

Video of first TV appearance is very popular on social media 150 150 mhamer

Video of first TV appearance is very popular on social media
Jimmy Cricket's first appearance on television
Video footage has appeared on Facebook showing Jimmy Cricket’s first performance on television.
The clip, originally posted by Mike Fox (Man Fom Belfast) on TikTok, shows Jimmy’s near four-minute comedy act.

Belfast-born Jimmy won ITV’s television talent contest Search For A Star at the beginning of the 1980s.

He earned his own television show called And There’s More, which was broadcast over four series between 1985 and 1988.

The show included the first TV appearance by the impressionist Rory Bremner.

Jimmy also appeared in a television special broadcast on ITV called All Cricket and Wellie.

By now, Jimmy was a household name and the subject of Eamonn Andrews’, programme, This Is Your Life, which aired in September 1987.

He also had his own comedy series on BBC Radio 2 during the 1990s called Jimmy’s Cricket Team’.

In addition to his own TV show, Jimmy made numerous other television appearances, including featuring on both the ‘Royal Variety Performance’ and the children’s equivalent.

He appeared regularly on BBC TVs long-running show ‘The Good Old Days’.

The video of his first TV appearance has attracted thousands of likes and hundreds of comments across both Facebook and TikTok.

Comments include: 
Brenda JonesModern Love The green bolded text says "Love This". "i" in the "This" is emphasized with a pink heart. sticker

Garry Williams Class act.

Steve Massey Brilliant 👏 ❤️

Mark Pearce A lovely man, appeared in a Charity Concert with him a few years ago , and we met up at a Butlins Reunion too 🤝😀
Dave Starr I remember from way before that, Jimmy, will never forget the very first time we ever worked together.

Jean Fox I have worked with him on pantos he is a lovely man and still wears his boots loved him when I was younger

A lovely man and still going strong 👍
Search for a Star success signalled start of something special 150 150 mhamer

Search for a Star success signalled start of something special

Next @leponline article chatting about the past and the wonderful television showcase 'Search For A Star' which featured newly discovered talent from the cabaret and club scene (where they came to see you perform live for the audition) #keepvarietyalive

Jimmy Cricket’s big breakthrough into showbusiness came when he won a TV talent show called Search for a Star.

The Northern Irish comedian says he had previously spent eight gruelling years performing on the North of England club circuit.

“It was a tough, bruising apprenticeship,” Jimmy tells readers of his latest newspaper column in the Lancashire Evening Post.

London Weekend Television’s Search for a Star featured newly discovered talent from the cabaret and club scene.

And winning one of the programme’s heats in 1980 put Jimmy in the national spotlight.

He appreciated the significance of the timing, “breaking into televison in the 1980s when glamorous and dazzling variety shows dominated the schedules”.

Jimmy was later given his own series on Central Television in the mid-1980s called And There’s More.

It included the first TV appearance by the impressionist Rory Bremner.

Watch Jimmy’s first television appearance on Search for a Star here. (Warning: there may be advertisements.)

Read details here of the 1980 Search for a Star heat, which Jimmy won.

World’s poorest communities

In the LEP column, Jimmy also talks about his recently released aut0biography, which is now on sale.

Memoirs Of An Irish Comedian tells the heart-warming story of Jimmy’s illustrious life and career – told in his own words.

The paperback costs £11.99 and is available at online retailer Amazon here.

One pound from the sale of every book goes to Mary’s Meals.

The charity supports feeding projects in some of the world’s poorest communities where hunger and poverty prevent children from gaining an education.

Also read – Autobiography: Buy The Jimmy Cricket Story now!

Daily Express marks Jimmy Cricket’s special milestone 150 150 mhamer

Daily Express marks Jimmy Cricket’s special milestone

An article on Jimmy Cricket appeared in the Daily Express newspaper

The Daily Express devoted two pages celebrating Jimmy Cricket’s 50 Golden Years in showbusiness.

Journalist and author Neil Clark penned the article in the 27 January edition of the national newspaper.

The headline read: “And there’s more to come from Jimmy Cricket.”

Underneath, it said: “‘I used to be afraid of the dark. Yesterday, I got my electricity bill and now I’m afraid of the light,’ jokes the comedian as he celebrates 50 years in showbiz, revealing just why his brand of gentle, whimsical humour will never go out of fashion.”

Neil, who has nearly 110,000 Twitter followers, highlighted the Daily Express piece with a post on the social media platform.

He commented: “And there’s more…. to come from Jimmy Cricket.

“My exclusive interview with the much-loved comedian – celebrating 50 years in the business – in today’s @Daily_Express.”

And Jimmy tweeted: “My thanks to @NeilClark66 (who is very knowledgeable on the subject of Variety and who was a lot of fun to chat too, on the subject), for the interview that aired in the @Daily_Express #keepvarietyalive.”

An image of the two-page spread in the Daily Express is at the top of this article.

‘Come closer!’

Jimmy has been making people laugh as a professional comedian for half a century, usually raising money for worthy causes at the same time.

Instantly recognisable for wearing a funny hat and green wellies marked L and R on the wrong feet, he proudly keeps his comedy clean – increasingly rare these days –  which makes him a perfect family entertainer.

His best-known catchphrases include ‘And there’s more!’ and ‘Come closer!’

He is also famed for reading out Letters from his Mammy, which have provided the material for two published books.

Read more about Jimmy’s life and career here.

All his tour bookings and other events can be found here.

Also read on this website: More shows to mark 50 years as an entertainer

Jimmy Cricket has been in showbusiness for 50 years

TV tennis sketch – to whom did those umpire legs belong?! 150 150 mhamer

TV tennis sketch – to whom did those umpire legs belong?!

Hi folks! with the US Open a week away, here is a fun sketch, (will be featuring many on the front page of my website in the coming weeks), meanwhile who do these umpire legs belong to?Jimmy Cricket chose a topical time to post his popular TV tennis sketch on social media.

The US Open starts on Monday at Flushing Meadows in New York and lasts two weeks.

It is usually tennis’s final Grand Slam tournament of the year, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon.

The tennis sketch is from Jimmy’s popular TV show called And There’s More.

It went out on ITV prime-time on Saturday nights and ran for three years between 1985 and 1988.

The show was a mixture of stand-up routines and sketches.

He said earlier this week: “Hi folks! With the US Open a week away, here is a fun sketch, (will be featuring many on the front page of my website in the coming weeks).

“Meanwhile, who do these umpire legs belong to?” Thinking face

Jimmy subsequently shared the answer to his question.

He revealed: “Hi folks, the umpire legs belonged to the great scriptwriter Eddie Braben.

“The great man himself kindly lent us his knees for the sketch and was always fantastic fun to work with, as we went through the scripts he had written!

“You can spot him many times doing cameos throughout the series of And There’s More.”

Eddie, who died aged 82 in 2013, was a legendary comedy writer.

As well as Jimmy, he provided material for Morecambe and Wise.

Eddie was credited with changing the profile of the famous duo.

He helped to turn them into one of the most popular and enduring comedy acts in the history of British entertainment.

Jimmy started working with Eddie on his TV show, And There’s More, and then his radio show, Jimmy’s Cricket Show.

Watch the tennis sketch here

Eddie Braben exhibition is ‘a tribute to a genius’

 

Cookstown family businesses included a bar & undertakers! 150 150 mhamer

Cookstown family businesses included a bar & undertakers!

Cookstown in Northern Ireland, where Jimmy Cricket was bornJimmy Cricket was reminded of his childhood with a memory-evoking image taken of Cookstown, the County Tyrone town in which he was grew up.

The Northern Irish comedian was born James Mulgrew in Cookstown on 17 October 1945.

Now a popular all-round entertainer, Jimmy said he was recently sent the photograph seen here on the right.

He added: “As you can see, there’s a parade going through the town.

“But, if you look up, you can clearly see the name Mulgrew.

“My parents owned a bar and had an undertaking business at the back.

“And it didn’t finish there – my father was also a taxi driver and an auctioneer. He had four jobs!

“He was an entrepreneur and a character in Cookstown.”

Jimmy left school at 16 years of age and worked for the next two years in a betting shop.

He spent the summer of 1966 working as a Redcoat in Butlin’s holiday camp in County Meath.

That was followed by two more summers at the Butlin’s holiday camp in Essex.

By the early 1970s, he was living in Manchester and from 1972 worked at the Pontins holiday camps in Southport and Morecambe.

He became a household name though his TV series on Central Television in the mid-1980s called And There’s More.

Jimmy ended up settling in Rochdale in the North-West of England with his wife, May, herself a professional singer.

Also read: You Must Be Joking comedians meet up in Cookstown

Find out more about Jimmy’s life here

From the archives: Secret service sketch from TV series 150 150 mhamer

From the archives: Secret service sketch from TV series

Jimmy Cricket has been posting more sketches from his 1980s TV series.

Jimmy Cricket has highlighted another sketch from his 1980s TV series on social media.

Central Television hosted And There’s More.

The famous Northern Irish comedian linked to the latest sketch in which he plays a hapless secret service agent called Wally!

Wally is shown to his hotel room by a hotel porter.

He receives a message which he thinks is in code, until the porter points out the piece of paper is upside down.

Wally gives it to the porter to read and it begins: “On no account, let the hotel porter see this note!”

And so he immediately grabs it back off her.

Watch the full sketch on Jimmy’s Twitter account here.

He said on social media: “Hi folks! Editing snippets from, And There’s More, series for the website.

“Thought I would share this one with you, for all those who miss sketch shows on the telly.

“This one is for you! #savethearts.”

Jimmy became a household name with And There’s More, which ran for a total of three years between 1985 and 1988.

Keep an eye on the homepage of this website for more sketches from And There’s More.

Watch series two episode four of And There’s More

Also read: Brian Conley among special guests in 1980s TV show