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The tall Texan who saved the day in Rochdale 150 150 mhamer

The tall Texan who saved the day in Rochdale

My Feb @leponline column folks, here I tell how at the very last minute, the Texan @AndrewJBoyer with his great voice, saved the Remembrance Day Concert at the Rochdale Town Hall for me and my fellow performers, which was in aid of the Lord Mayor, Billy Sherrin's Charities!

Jimmy Cricket has recalled the story about a Texan who came to the rescue in an English town.

Let’s hear it for the wee man is a musical which Jimmy created a few years ago.
It is about Northern Ireland’s only recipient of the Victoria Cross, submariner James Magennis.
The musical was performed in front of 300 people in aid of the Mayor of Rochdale’s charity appeal on Remembrance Day last year.
However, as Jimmy recounts in his latest Lancashire Post column, a week before the event, the singer playing the title role pulled out.
So Jimmy and wife May frantically began looking for a replacement and even put a plea out on social media channel Facebook.
And just a few days before the concert at Rochdale Town Hall, a Texan called Andrew J Boyer called them.
Andrew J Boyer will play war hero Jim Magennis in Jimmy Cricket's musical at Rochdale Town Hall on Remembrance SundayAndrew (pictured left) is a 24-year-old piano-vocalist from Dallas who had just moved to Salford.
He has been a performer for almost a decade, and sings and plays the piano from time to time on cruise ships.

The musical tells the courageous story of Magennis who joined the Royal Navy aged 15.

He won the UK’s highest military honour for his bravery onboard a midget sub that attacked the Japanese cruiser Takao on 31 July 1945.

His job was to attach six mines to the enemy vessel in the risky covert operation in Singapore Harbour.

Jimmy and @RochdaleMayor Coun Billy Sheerin having a good old yarn about the James Magennis play

Jimmy with Bill Sherrin, the Mayor of Rochdale

However, he ran into difficulties and faced grave danger.

But he persisted with the mission before returning to the sub exhausted.

King George VI recognised his heroics by awarding him the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry.

Magennis continued his service until 1949 when he returned home with his wife Edna Skidmore and their four sons.

In 1952, he lost his job and was forced to sell his VC medal.

However, an anonymous benefactor later returned it to him on the condition he did not sell it again.

Blue plaque

Magennis spent the rest of his life in Yorkshire working as an electrician before dying of cancer in 1986 aged 66.

His heroics were commemorated in 2018 with a special blue plaque in his honour.

Belfast-born Jimmy, who has lived in Rochdale for many years, wrote both the words and the music for the play.

It also featured actor Charles Lawson, actress and singer Sue Devaney and comedian Jimmy himself.

Find out where Jimmy is performing and his other forthcoming shows by viewing all his tour dates on this website.
My chance meeting with ‘courageous’ BBC journalist 150 150 mhamer

My chance meeting with ‘courageous’ BBC journalist

Here is my November LEP column where I tell of my chance meeting with this wonderful courageous lady @OrlaGuerin in Manchester Airport on my way to New York this summer!

Jimmy Cricket has been recalling the moment he met a BBC TV news reporter on his way to catch a plane.

The famous entertainer was travelling to the United States to attend his daughter Jamie’s wedding earlier this year.

In his latest Lancashire Post column, Jimmy tells about his encounter with news presenter Orla Guerin.

He posted the image above and an accompanying comment on Twitter about his November column.

Jimmy said: “I tell of my chance meeting with this wonderful courageous lady @OrlaGuerin in Manchester Airport on my way to New York this summer!🎭”

Orla Guerin MBE is an Irish journalist currently working as a BBC International Correspondent based in Istanbul.

Jimmy says: “How many times have we looked at our television screens and heard those dulcet Irish tones calling out from some war-ravaged part of the globe?

“Shining a light on injustice, holding dictators to task and giving a platform to the oppressed and downtrodden?

‘Spoke with affection’

“Now here she was standing opposite me uttering these immortal words ‘what’s your surname again?’

“Yes readers, I was face to face with BBC correspondent Orla Guerrin. And she couldn’t have been nicer.

“We weren’t in a life-threatening situation now, although going through security at Manchester Airport can be quite stressful.

“Orla was a delight.

“She smiled and, after she’d retrieved her belongings from the security belt, Mrs Cricket took a photograph of the two of us.

“Then, later on in the airport lounge, we talked about comedy and the entertain industry.

“She spoke with affection about the entertainers from her hometown in Dublin that we both knew.

“Then she was off to Istanbul for another assignment and we were off to New York for our daughter Jamie’s wedding.”

Follow Orla on Twitter here

Jimmy Cricket’s LEP column: My celebrity blunders 150 150 mhamer

Jimmy Cricket’s LEP column: My celebrity blunders

Well folks! Have you ever accidently put your foot in it! 😂 😂 Here's a fun loving look at a couple of little blunders I had along the way in the world of showbusiness!
Jimmy Cricket reveals in his latest LEP column some blunders he has made in relation to fellow celebrities.
Well folks! Have you ever accidently put your foot in it! 😂 😂 Here's a fun loving look at a couple of little blunders I had along the way in the world of showbusiness!
In the 19 August edition of the Lancashire Post newspaper, the Northern Irish entertainer recalls when he failed to recognise two well-known actors.
Jimmy highlighted his article on social media by tweeting: “Well folks! Have you ever accidentally put your foot in it!😂😂Here’s a fun-loving look at a couple of little blunders I had along the way in the world of showbusiness!😉“
He says he had once been talking to the late great Andrew Sachs, who played Manuel in the classic comedy Fawlty Towers.
It was only when somebody shouted in their direction “look, it’s Manuel!” that Jimmy realised.
And he admits: “I’m ashamed to say it didn’t dawn on me.
Ground-swallowing moment
“Of course, I apologised profusely. He, to his eternal credit, let me off the hook by replying ‘why should you recognise me dear fellow when I’m not in my working clothes’.”
Jimmy continues: “My next ground-swallowing moment involved a star from Coronation Street.
“A gentleman called Gerry Kelly hosted an Irish TV chat show and he flew over to Granada Studios in Manchester to record an episode.
“I found myself sitting beside none other than Jim McDonald.
“If you remember, Jim was married to Liz on the street. And, as we were both from Northern Ireland, we had a rare old time chin-wagging.
“Now, for some reason, I’d got it into my head that his first real name was Jim as well as his Corrie Street character. Wrong!
“After a few minutes, he leaned over and said ‘it’s just a character, my real name’s Charlie’.
Jimmy says he himself sometimes got mistaken for another famous Irish comedian – the late Frank Carson – on numerous occasions.
 
My football song intended to inspire Rochdale FC 150 150 mhamer

My football song intended to inspire Rochdale FC

Jimmy Cricket writes about football chants in his latest column in the Lancashire Post

Jimmy Cricket writes about football chants in his latest newspaper column.

The June article in the Lancashire Post begins: “The other morning I was eating my breakfast and it was going, snap crackle and pop, which surprised me. It was a kipper.

Then for some reason football songs came into my head. You know the ones fans sing to cheer on their favourite team. I don’t mean the things they chant like, ‘What a load of rubbish’, or, “There’s only one ‘insert coach or manager’s name here.’

No I mean the songs they adopt from other sources. Take the jazz classic, When the Saints Go Marching In, Manchester United fans have changed it to, When The Reds Go Marching In. West Ham fans have hijacked an old Music Hall song called, I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles, and wait till you hear this:

My son, who is a catholic Priest, (he calls me dad and I call him father), was given a a treat a few weeks ago when one of the parishioners in Salford invited him to Liverpool’s ground Anfield, to watch them take on Leicester City.

He said when the home crowd broke into, You’ll Never Walk Alone, the emotion was palpable. When my other son Dale, took his family to Portugal recently they went to see Sporting Lisbon play and the home fans were singing My Way.

All this is leading up to a secret I want to share with you: Many moons ago when I first arrived in my adopted town Rochdale, the local football were languishing at the bottom of their division and I, like a lot of club comics at the time did jokes chronicling their ineptitude.

Things like, I rang Rochdale Football Club and asked them what time was the kick off this coming Saturday. The voice at the other end said, ‘What time can you make it?’, and there’s more. The steward saw two guys climbing the wall at Rochdale Football Club. He shouted, ‘Hey, you two get back in and watch the match!’

Lancashire theatre almost as famous as the Chorley Cake itself 150 150 mhamer

Lancashire theatre almost as famous as the Chorley Cake itself

I talk about the history of the @ChorleyTheatre and how it has survived over the decades, to become a great theatre venue under the direction of artistic Director Ian Robinson!

Jimmy Cricket has been telling readers of his monthly column about a small theatre which has “a warmth and atmosphere all of its own”.

The even-green Northern Irish comedian writes about working with Chorley Little Theatre in his latest column in the Lancashire Evening Post.

He begins: “While visiting Chorley recently, I made it my business to go and see the Little Theatre. Nestling slap bang in the middle of town in a place called Dole Lane, it’s so quaint and cute, you could see why it’s getting to be almost as famous as the Chorley Cake itself.

“It opened in 1910 as the Empire Electric Theatre with a capacity of 700. The less well-off sat at the front on wooden seats, while the posh people were able to put their feet up at the back in ‘plush seats.

“It originally showed silent movies with a live pianist accompanying the action. These piano players were special in the way they interpreted the scenes, using light-hearted music when the characters were happy and dramatic notes when danger struck. What a lovely era that must have been, sitting with your friends passing round the popcorn looking up at the big screen and laughing hysterically at the comedic exploits of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.”

Jimmy finishes off his column by saying: “With a fully licensed bar and car parking facilities just across the road the 236 seater has a warmth and atmosphere all of its own. I know that from playing it myself a few years back.

“It’s run by a team of enthusiastic volunteers and spearheaded by a young man whose passionate about live Theatre called Ian Robinson.

“I myself will be returning there on Sunday May 19 with a new play I’ve written called No More Fiffen and Faffen. It tells the story of a comedy double act. It’s their last night in summer season in an end of pier show, but because things haven’t gone according to plan they decide to make it their last show after 36 years in showbusiness.”

Tickets for Jimmy’s show at the Chorley Little Theatre are £10 concessions £5, Box Office: 01257 284362 for more information visit their website: www.chorleytheatre.com

Read Jimmy’s full column here

 

Paying tribute to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy 150 150 mhamer

Paying tribute to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

pay tribute to a fellow Irishman, and to the Silver Screen's Stan and Ollie, with a great performance from @Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly

Jimmy Cricket writes about his admiration for a legendary comedy duo in his latest newspaper column.

In the 1 April edition of the Lancashire Post, the popular Northern Irish entertainer reviews a recent film about the careers of Englishman Stan Laurel and American Oliver Hardy.

They acted during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema and became well known during the late 1920s to the mid-1940s for their slapstick comedy. Laurel played the clumsy friend of the pompous Hardy.

Jimmy’s column begins: I’ve just come back from doing my one man show at the Slapstick Comedy Festival in Bristol at the Studio adjoining the Old Vic Theatre. The festival was started by a guy called Chris Daniels who just loves visual and silent comedy.

“I did my live set sandwiched between movies of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy up on the big wide screen. There’s been a resurgence of interest in Laurel and Hardy, mainly due to a biopic of the duo which went on general release in our cinemas recently called Stan and Ollie.

“In fact, I’ve been to see it twice. Well folks, our local Odeon Cinema here in Rochdale only charges a fiver to get in. It’s a moving, tender tribute to one of the funniest double acts ever to grace the silver screen; not only do Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel, and John C Reilly as Oliver Hardy get into the skin of these two lovable clowns, but the ladies that played their wives both give stunning performance as well.

“Nina Arianda plays Stan’s other half and Shirley Henderson is Ollie’s. I had a little inside information on this film. Steve Coogan’s Uncle Bernard takes his grandkids to the same school in Rochdale that I take mine, so I get some tasty nuggets of gossip in the playground.

“I looked at him enviously as he told me about getting the red carpet treatment when he got invited to the premiere of the movie up at the local cinema in Ulverston where Stan Laurel grew up. The only time I get to see a red carpet is when Mrs Cricket hands me the Hoover.”

Read Jimmy’s full column here

 

June Whitfield – a ‘great actress and lovely lady’ 150 150 mhamer

June Whitfield – a ‘great actress and lovely lady’

 

Hi folks I had the great pleasure of working with this great actress and lovely lady the late June Whitfield here is my tribute to her!

Jimmy Cricket has been sharing his memories of his good friend, comedy actress June Whitfield, who died at the end of last year.

The comedian devoted his latest monthly column in the Preston-based Lancashire Evening Post to the late English radio, television and film star.

Jimmy told all his social media followers about his column, saying: “Hi folks I had the great pleasure of working with this great actress and lovely lady the late June Whitfield here is my tribute to her!”

His LEP column read: “The death of June Whitfield at the great age of 93 closes the chapter on one our best ever comedy actresses. In a career that spanned more than six decades, June brought so much joy and laughter that, for many of us, it was not just losing a brilliant performer, but losing a friend.

“You have to go right back to the 1950s to find out when June first got the nation’s chuckle muscles rippling. Radio was king then and June could be heard on a popular show called Take it From Here, penned by Frank Muir and Dennis Norden. She could also be heard on a weekly segment called The Glums, playing Eth, the daft girlfriend to equally dim witted partner Ron, (played by Dick Bentley).

“Her timing and vocal inflections were such that I almost envied the studio audience who were there to witness it in the flesh. She then went on to play straight woman to some of the best comedians of the last century. Tony Hancock, Frankie Howard, Benny Hill, to name but a few.

“So how come when comedians can be a neurotic bunch, (I should know), and always worried about other people getting to many laughs, did June get the gig, so to speak?…”

Read the full column here