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left and right wellies

LEP readers, come closer to hear about the wellies! 150 150 mhamer

LEP readers, come closer to hear about the wellies!

wellJimmy Cricket's column in the Lancashire Evening Post
Jimmy Cricket has told readers of his newspaper column how he came to end up with his trademark wellingtons – and why they were recently the subject of a photo shoot.

The Northern Irish entertainer is famous for wearing the green wellies – marked with the letters R and L – on the wrong feet during his acts.

Jimmy, 70, said in the Lancashire Evening Post (LEP) that he first donned them in a Manchester club in an effort to “get a laugh on my entrance by being visually funny… to help me win over some of the more hostile audiences”.

He added that an old pair of his boots were currently on display at a footwear exhibition in Nottingham.

Jimmy also told of the time a pair of concrete wellingtons presented to him by fellow funnyman Ken Dodd were stolen from his garden in Rochdale (they still haven’t been found).

And he also related the story of how recently they were the focus of a photo shoot by Andy Hollingworth,  a photographer who specialises in comedy.

Andy wanted to capture an image of Jimmy’s wellies for an exciting project, which involves him photographing iconic artefacts linked to famous comedians – either from mainstream or alternative comedy.

He has already photographed Eric Morecambe’s glasses, Norman Wisdom’s cap, Mr Bean’s teddy, Alan Carr’s glasses and he even flew over to Los Angeles to meet Harpo Marx’s family, who gave him permission to photograph his famous harp.

A special guest on tour of world-famous Osmonds 150 150 mhamer

A special guest on tour of world-famous Osmonds

Jimmy Cricket will be teaming up with the world-famous Osmonds for a special Christmas tour later this year

Jimmy Cricket is teaming up with several of the world-famous Osmonds for a special tour of the UK later this year.

The well-known Northern Irishman comedian will be a special guest for the series of shows, called the Andy Williams Christmas Spectacular, throughout the month of December.

The Osmonds are an American family music group with a long and varied history as star performers.

They started their musical careers as children and achieved further success as teen-music idols, going on to produce a hit television show and also perform as solo and group artists.

The Osmonds group first comprised brothers Alan, Wayne, Merril and Jay Osmond. They were later joined by younger siblings Donny – the most famous of all of them – and Jimmy. Their only sister Marie, who rarely sang with her brothers at that time, launched a successful solo career in 1973.

Jimmy said: “The month of December has traditionally meant pantomime time and this tour will be quite a departure for me.

“Nonetheless, it is an exciting prospect and I cannot wait to team up with the Osmonds, who have a global following and reputation.

“Although I love the art form of pantomime and the attraction it holds for children and families, I have thought for some time that there should be an alternative offering out there over the Christmas period.

“This show fits the bill perfectly and the atmosphere at each venue will be so uplifting that those in attendance will definitely leave in the Christmas spirit!”

Tickets for the tour will go on pre-sale from Wednesday morning (March 25), with tickets on general sale from Friday.

Full list of dates and venues for the Andy Williams Christmas Spectacular are as follows:

DECEMBER

TUES 8 – MALVERN Theatres 01684 892277 www.malvern-theatres.co.uk

WED 9 – GUILDFORD G Live 0844 7701 797 www.GLive.co.uk

THURS 10 – WORTHING Assembly Hall 01903 206206 www.worthingtheatres.co.uk

FRI 11 – HARROGATE International Centre 01423 502116 www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk

SAT 12 – CROYDON Fairfield Halls 020 8688 9291 www.fairfield.co.uk

SUN 13 – WATFORD Colosseum 0845 075 3993 www.watfordcolosseum.co.uk

MON 14 – MARGATE Winter Gardens 01843 292795 www.margatewintergardens.co.uk

TUES 15 – EASTBOURNE Congress Theatre 01323 412000 www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk

WED 16 – LONDON Indigo2 08448 244824 www.axs.com

THURS 17 – WOLVERHAMPTON Civic Hall 0870 320 7000 www.wolvescivic.co.uk

FRI 18 – BRADFORD St George’s Hall 01274 432000 www.bradford-theatres.co.uk

SAT 19 – BURNLEY Mechanics Theatre 01282 664400 www.burnleymechanics.co.uk

SUN 20 – NEWCASTLE City Hall 0191 277 8030 www.newcastlecityhall.org

MON 21 – EDINBURGH Queens Theatre 0131 668 2019 www.thequeenshall.net

TUES 22 – CHESTERFIELD Winding Wheel 01246 345222 www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk

The tour is promoted by Tony Denton Promotions and  for more information about the show and for links to each individual venue, please go to the Tony Denton Promotions website at www.tdpromo.com

Christmas card features stolen wellies 150 150 mhamer

Christmas card features stolen wellies

Jimmy Cricket's Christmas cardJimmy Cricket’s latest Christmas card is based on his concrete wellies which were stolen last summer.

And the specially designed card is the subject of a story in his local newspaper, the Rochdale Observer.

The concrete wellies, which had been given to Rochdale-based Jimmy as a 50th birthday present by fellow comedian Ken Dodd, were taken from his garden in Shawclough.

Northern Irish entertainer Jimmy is famous for wearing wellingtons, marked with the letters R and L on the wrong feet, during his acts.

He said at the time of the theft that the concrete wellies were of “high sentimental value”.

The BBC, ITV, the Rochdale Observer and several radio stations were among many media organisations to report on the crime.

Saturday’s edition (21 December) of the Observer features Jimmy’s 2013 Christmas card (above right) which has him appealing to Santa Claus to retrieve his wellies and put them under his Christmas tree on the big day (see image below).

The Belfast-born funnyman used the inspiration of London 2012 when it came to designing last year’s Christmas card, which featured Olympic champions Usain Bolt and Mo Farah.

* Jimmy, who is currently appearing in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Forum Theatre in Billingham near Middlesbrough, wishes everybody a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Jimmy Cricket's Christmas card which features in the Rochdale Observer

Backing the Big Red Seat Appeal 150 150 mhamer

Backing the Big Red Seat Appeal

Jimmy Cricket makes an appeal on behalf of the Royal Concert Hall in NottinghamJimmy Cricket used his legendary wellies to support a campaign set up to renovate a famous theatre. 

The Big Red Seat Appeal aims to raise enough funds to replace all 2,500 seats in the Royal Concert Hall auditorium in Nottingham.

It costs £300 to replace each seat is £300, meaning a fundraising target of £750,000 with Nottingham City Council pledging to match all donations, so every £1 given becomes £2.

Since singer-songwriter, composer and pianist Sir Elton John opened the Royal Concert Hall on 27 November 1982, millions of people have come through its doors to experience live performances, from every genre of music, dance and comedy.

Famous entertainer Jimmy was the headline performer of a national music hall tour during 2013 and the Nottingham venue was one of the autumn dates in the show’s schedule.

While he was there, he was asked to support the Royal Concert Hall appeal, a request he could not resist, so he grabbed his trademark wellington boots and made his own personal endorsement of the campaign.

Jimmy is a big supporter of live theatre and this was another opportunity to put his words into action.

Find out more about the appeal.