Web Page No 2512

23rd  September 2018

1^st Picture. Young Jimmy Clitheroe

2nd Picture. That’s my Boy with Derek Guyler

3^rd Picture. The Clitheroe Kid

4^th Picture. Jimmy with his mum, behind, and villagers from Blacko in the mid 1930s.

The Clitheroe|Kid.

Sunday afternoon, after lunch it was time for the radio comedy slot. One of these programmes was the Clitheroe Kid, but what do we know of that diminutive comedian?

James Robinson Clitheroe was born at 58, Wilkin Street, now called Highfield Road, in Clitheroe, Lancashire, on Christmas Eve, 1921.His thyroid gland was damaged during the birth and he never grew after the age of 11, remaining at just 4ft 3in.

He was brought up in Blacko near Nelson at 14, Spout Houses, a row of terrace houses below Blacko Tower, and attended the Council School up to the age of 12, when he transferred to Barrowford Board School for his final two years.

On his back street he put on ha'penny shows, including refreshments, which was lemonade powder mixed in a bucket.

He had an ambition to join the circus and began taking part in variety shows, including the Sunday school potato pie suppers and later with the Methodist Church's concert party, which toured East Lancashire.

"Skip", as he was known to his friends, was bullied at school, but his fleetness of foot meant he could run around the other boys and nip their arms and legs, hence his other nickname "The Little Nipper".

He played cricket and football and was often carried to school on the shoulders of one of his best friends, Harry Blezzard, who was twice his size, but the same age.

He took part in village concerts and won a talent competition at the Alhambra, in Nelson, with his dancing and piano accordion routine. Later he abandoned this heavy instrument and played the saxophone instead.

Unable to go into the weaving sheds like his parents, as he could not reach the looms, he got a job in a Nelson bakery for a while, but left it as he quipped, "Because I wasn't making enough dough".

He then joined an all-girl dancing troupe called the Winstanley Babes and toured with them, doing acrobatics, dancing, roller skating, and female impressions. When touring, theatrical landladies always insisted that Jimmy had to sleep downstairs on the couch.

Lily Whittaker, from Great Harwood, remembers Jimmy joining Miss Winstanley's troupe for their Isle of Man tour. If Jimmy was tired, she would give him a piggy back and, as he did not eat that much, she would finish off the meagre rations they were given to eat. She earned just five shillings a week.

He was found dead at his Blackpool home in 1973 on the day of his mother's funeral. A coronial inquest found that his death was due to an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. He was 51 – but still looked 11.

He is remembered at the Jimmy Clitheroe cafe, by the market in Clitheroe, which has many posters and photographs of him, and where countless members of the showbusiness community have popped in over the years to pay their respects.

As a celebrity, he was much in demand at public events. He opened the model village Miniland at Belle Vue in Manchester, opened local fetes, appeared at charity events, and crowned local beauty queens.

He had many business interests outside show business. He owned a racehorse, betting shops, and a hotel. The latter was managed for him initially by his boyhood friend from Blacko, Tommy Trafford, who was also in show business.

Jimmy had a reputation for being “careful” with his money - a trait he got from the hard background which he endured growing up in the Great Depression. He maintained a very private private-life, away from all his other interests, living quietly at Blackpool in a semi-detached bungalow with his mother.

 He always appeared in a schoolboy cap and blazer and almost always played a schoolboy. In Blackpool between 1944 and 1971 he set a record for the number of appearances in Summer Season shows. In the mid-1950s, Jimmy moved into radio and soon had his own series, Call Boy. But his biggest hit was The Clitheroe Kid which ran for 15 years, from 1957 to 1972, and became the BBCs longest-running situation comedy. Most episodes revolved around Jimmy’s interactions with his sister Susan, her daft boyfriend Alfie Hall, his friend Ossie and his arch-enemy, Mr. Higginbottom.

His most famous catchphrase was “Don’t some mothers ‘ave ’em”, although he was often heard to exclaim “Ooh, flippin’ ‘eck”  whenever he found himself in a scrape (ie: weekly).

In the 1960s Jimmy broke into television, starring on ITV in That’s My Boy and Just Jimmy from 1963 to 1968.. Both shows were made by ABC Television. In the 1960s he also made his best remembered film, Rocket to the Moon, which he made in 1967 with Burl Ives and Terry-Thomas.

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Peter

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On this day 23^rd September 1960-1965

On 23/09/1960 the number one single was Apache - The Shadows and the number one album was Down Drury Lane to Memory Lane - A Hundred and One Strings. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 23/09/1960 the number one single was Apache - The Shadows and the number one album was Down Drury Lane to Memory Lane - A Hundred and One Strings. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 23/09/1961 the number one single was Reach for the Stars / Climb Ev'ry Mountain - Shirley Bassey and the number one album was Ipswich Town. The top rated TV show was "Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £Argentinian swims English Channel both ways non-stop and 13.25 were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Take Your Pick (AR)".

On 23/09/1962 the number one single was She's Not You - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Best of Ball Barber & Bilk. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 23/09/1963 the number one single was She Loves You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 23/09/1964 the number one single was You Really Got Me - Kinks and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 23/09/1965 the number one single was Make It Easy On Yourself - Walker Brothers and the number one album was Help - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.