The lifetime of Jimmy Clifford – The little legend with a giant coronary heart

Jun 10, 2023 at 6:13 PM

It was as integral part of post-war Sundays in Britain as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and the Sunday Express.

For 15 years, from 1957 to 1972, as much as 1 / 4 of the households within the nation tuned in on Sunday lunchtime to hearken to the most recent escapades of The Clitheroe Kid, a well-liked radio sitcom starring Jimmy Clitheroe.

The 4ft 3in Lancastrian comic, who stopped rising on the age of 11 attributable to a medical situation, charmed the nation along with his lovable schoolboy character.

But the pint-sized jester who introduced pleasure and laughter to thousands and thousands, and who paved the way in which for different performers reminiscent of The Krankies, died a tragic and lonely demise from an overdose of sleeping tablets on the day of his beloved mom’s funeral.

It got here after a succession of devastating private blows which might have been exhausting for anybody to take.

The Clitheroe Kid’s story started appropriately sufficient within the Lancashire city of Clitheroe. Clitheroe was Jimmy’s household identify but additionally his fatherland.

His dad and mom have been weavers in a cotton mill, however Jimmy, born on Christmas Eve 1921, was too brief to succeed in the looms.

He labored for some time in a bakery, however the lure of selection proved too nice.

“The stage was just meant for him,” his cousin Irene recalled.

While the proficient musician might play quite a few devices, he determined to specialize in comedy. In 1936 he made his debut on the Blackpool stage and appeared there yearly till 1971, setting a report for consecutive summer time appearances.

In 1938 he starred in his first pantomime and was nonetheless delighting panto audiences, normally as Tom Thumb or Buttons, into the early Seventies. He labored with all the celebs in Northern leisure, together with Frank Randle, Arthur Lucan, aka “Old Mother Riley”, and ukelele-playing George Formby, with whom he appeared within the 1942 movie Much Too Shy.

But it was when he moved into radio within the mid-50s that he turned established as a family identify in his personal proper.

Originally broadcast on the North Region of the BBC Home Service, The Clitheroe Kid switched to the nationwide Light Programme in 1959.

Soon thousands and thousands throughout the nation have been tuning in to see what mischief Jimmy would stand up to every week.

Set in an unnamed city within the North of England, Jimmy lived along with his Scottish grandad, his mom, his sister “Scraggy Neck” Susan, along with his common comedian confederate being Susan’s reasonably gormless, stuttering boyfriend Alfie, performed by Danny Ross.

In whole, 290 episodes of The Clitheroe Kid have been made, making it the longest-running BBC sitcom in historical past. At its peak, it attracted greater than 10 million listeners.

Among devotees was a younger Jimmy Cricket: “I was a massive fan growing up in Belfast in the Fifties. I remember later James Casey, the producer and co-writer, telling me Jimmy Clitheroe was perfect for the radio because he sounded so like a cheeky schoolboy, but at the same time had the timing of a seasoned performer.”

Cricket twice noticed Clitheroe carry out and every time was enthralled: “I saw him at the Britannia Theatre in Great Yarmouth in 1968 and the Queen’s Theatre, Blackpool in 1969. He was hilarious.

“This pompous magician came on stage asking for a volunteer from the audience, and little Jimmy would come up from the audience in his schoolboy attire and proceed to wreak havoc with this guy’s props.”

Jimmy was well liked by these he labored with. “He was just marvellous,” says Diana Jager, who as Diana Day performed Jimmy’s sister Susan.

“After we’d done the recordings we’d all go to the pub together. We were like a family. In fact, Jimmy became a godfather to my daughter Melanie.”

The accordion star Lawrie Adam provides: “Once when we were in Scarborough, he said, ‘Do you want to go fishing tomorrow?’ So we went to the fishing shop to buy some tackle and everyone stopped him to get his autograph. He signed every single one. He was great with the public.”

Yet regardless of incomes £60,000 a yr in his heyday Jimmy stayed near his roots.

Even on the peak of his fame, he lived along with his mom Emma in a bungalow in Blackpool.

“He was a great character,” says Alex Connor, who nonetheless works at The Squirrel, Jimmy’s native.

“He used to come in and play snooker with us. He’d ask the landlord to fetch him a beer crate to stand on. He’d always say to us ‘What’s everyone drinking?’ and offer to buy us all a pint.”

Jimmy invested his cash in property, owned racehorses and greyhounds and even had his personal betting store.

He drove a blue Mercedes which had particular blocks fitted so he might attain the pedals. But he obtained so fed up with being stopped by police who thought they’d seen an underage driver he marketed for a driver and basic assistant.

But in 1972 the BBC dropped The Clitheroe Kid, simply 10 episodes from its 300 milestone. That was a sufficiently big blow, however quickly afterwards, after a row, Jimmy’s girlfriend Sally was killed in a automotive crash.

With his personal well being declining and issues too over his mom, who was now in her mid-80s, Jimmy’s world would seem like collapsing round him.

What was to be his ultimate UK tour befell in early 1973 with Lawrie Adam.

Lawrie recollects: “In Annan, in Scotland, there were lots of people waiting at the dressing room to get Jimmy’s autograph. They pressed on the door and it fell down!

“Jimmy was underneath, but he just laughed it off and signed the autographs.”

But a number of weeks later his temper had modified. “When we got to Plymouth he was so depressed,” says Lawrie. “He didn’t really want to mix with anyone.”

Jimmy was discovered collapsed in his lodge room and brought to hospital. Adam was anxious ought to Jimmy’s mom discover out, however the news obtained out. Just two months later, on June 1, 1973, Emma Clitheroe died, leaving Jimmy heartbroken.

The subsequent Wednesday, the day of the funeral, kinfolk who had travelled up from London discovered Jimmy unconscious in his bed room. He was taken to hospital however died an hour after his mom was cremated.

A autopsy examination discovered he had died from the impact of sleeping tablets blended with a number of glasses of brandy.

It was a tragic finish for a person who had introduced a lot pleasure to so many.

Neil Clark is writing a biography of Jimmy Clitheroe