Aherne, Caroline Mary (1963–2016), comedian, actress, and writer, was born on 24 December 1963 at Perivale maternity hospital, London, the second child of Bartholomew Edmond (Bert) Aherne (1933–1994), a railwayman with London Transport, and his wife Mary Frances (Maureen), née Regan...
Article
Aherne, Caroline Mary (1963–2016), comedian, actress, and writer
Jeff Evans
Article
Askey, Arthur Bowden (1900–1982), actor and entertainer
Richard Murdoch
revised
Askey, Arthur Bowden (1900–1982), actor and entertainer, was born on 6 June 1900 at 29 Moses Street, Liverpool, the elder child and only son of Samuel Askey (d. 1958), secretary of the firm Sugar Products of Liverpool, and his wife, Betsy Bowden (...
Article
Brown, Janet McLuckie (1923–2011), actress and impressionist
Ian Brown
Brown, Janet McLuckie (1923–2011), actress and impressionist, was born on 14 December 1923 at 26 Hamilton Road, Rutherglen, near Glasgow, the daughter of Andrew Brown, a sheet-iron worker in the Clyde shipyards, and his wife, Helen McLuckie, née Russell. She was educated at ...
Article
Corbett, Ronald Balfour [Ronnie] (1930–2016), actor and comedian
Ian Brown
Corbett, Ronald Balfour [Ronnie] (1930–2016), actor and comedian, was born in the Royal Maternity Hospital, Edinburgh, on 4 December 1930, the oldest of three children of William Balfour Corbett (1898–1974), a baker, and his wife Annie Elizabeth, née Main...
Article
Crazy Gang (act. 1931–1962)
David Goldie
Crazy Gang (act. 1931–1962), comedians, came to prominence in the early 1930s. They comprised the double acts of Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen [see Allen, William Ernest (Chesney) (1894?-1982)], Jimmy Nervo and Teddy Knox [see Knox, Edward Albert Cromwell], ...
Article
Emery, Richard Gilbert [Dick] (1915–1983), comedian
Barry Took
revised
Emery, Richard Gilbert [Dick] (1915–1983), comedian, was born on 19 February 1915 at University College Hospital in St Pancras, London, the only child of Laurence Cuthbert Emery, an actor, and his wife, Bertha Gilbert Callen, a former Gaiety girl. During most of Dick Emery's...
Article
Feldman, Martin Alan [Marty] (1934–1982), comedian and scriptwriter
Barry Took
Feldman, Martin Alan [Marty] (1934–1982), comedian and scriptwriter, was born on 8 July 1934 at University College Hospital, London, the elder of the two children of Myer Feldman, a gown manufacturer of Islington, and his wife, Cecilia (Cissie), née Crook. He had a sister, ...
Article
Field, Sidney Arthur [Sid] (1904–1950), comedian
Michael Pointon
Field, Sidney Arthur [Sid] (1904–1950), comedian, was born on 1 April 1904 at 307A Bell Barn Road, St Martin, Birmingham, son of Albert Edward Field (d. 1927), a journeyman whipmaker, and his wife, Bertha Workman. His childhood was spent in the Birmingham...
Article
Fields, Dame Gracie [real name Grace Stansfield] (1898–1979), music-hall entertainer and film actress
Jeffrey Richards
Fields, Dame Gracie [real name Grace Stansfield] (1898–1979), music-hall entertainer and film actress, was born at 9 Molesworth Street, Rochdale, Lancashire, on 9 January 1898, the eldest of the four children (three daughters and one son) of Fred Stansfield (1874–1956), engineer, and his wife, ...
Article
Flanagan, Bud [real name Chaim Reuben Weintrop] (1896–1968), comedian and singer
Sid Colin
revised by David Goldie
Flanagan, Bud [real name Chaim Reuben Weintrop] (1896–1968), comedian and singer, was born on 14 November 1896 in Hanbury Street, London, the fifth son and the youngest of the ten children of Polish immigrants, Wolf Weintrop, the owner of a barber's shop and tobacconist's in ...
Article
Formby, George [real name George Hoy Booth] (1904–1961), music-hall entertainer and actor
Jeffrey Richards
Formby, George [real name George Hoy Booth] (1904–1961), music-hall entertainer and actor, was born at 3 Westminster Street, Wigan, Lancashire, on 26 May 1904, the eldest of the seven surviving children (four girls and three boys) of James Lawler Booth (1875–1922), music-hall entertainer, and his wife, ...
Article
Fulton, Robert Kerr [Rikki] (1924–2004), actor and comedian
Paul Maloney
Fulton, Robert Kerr [Rikki] (1924–2004), actor and comedian, was born on 15 April 1924 at 46 Appin Road, Dennistoun, Glasgow, the third and youngest son of John Fulton (d. 1966), hardware salesman, and later stationer and newsagent, and his wife, Margaret McMillan, ...
Article
Hay, William Thomson [Will] (1888–1949), comedian and actor
Eric Midwinter
Hay, William Thomson [Will] (1888–1949), comedian and actor, was born on 6 December 1888 at 23 Durham Street, Stockton-on-Tees, co. Durham, the second of the three sons and third of the six children of William Robert Hay (1859–1919), an engine fitter and later foreman at an engineering works, originally from ...
Article
Hill, Alfred Hawthorne [Benny] (1924–1992), comedian
Barry Took
Hill, Alfred Hawthorne [Benny] (1924–1992), comedian, was born in Southampton on 25 January 1924, the younger son and second of three children of Alfred Hill (d. 1971), a former circus performer and the manager of a surgical appliance shop in Southampton, and his wife, ...
Article
Howerd, Frankie [real name Francis Alick Howard] (1917–1992), comedian
Barry Took
Howerd, Frankie [real name Francis Alick Howard] (1917–1992), comedian, was born in York on 6 March 1917, the elder son and eldest of three children of Francis Alfred William Howard, soldier and tutor in the army education corps, and his wife, Edith Florence, ...
Article
Jewel, Jimmy [real name James Arthur Thomas Marsh] (1909–1995), comedian and actor
Dave Russell
Jewel, Jimmy [real name James Arthur Thomas Marsh] (1909–1995), comedian and actor, was born on 4 December 1909 at 52 Andover Street, Pittsmoor, Sheffield, the younger child of James Arthur Thomas Marsh (1881–1936), music-hall artist (under the name James A. Jewel) and designer and builder of stage scenery, and his wife, ...
Article
Lanchester [married name Laughton], Elsa Sullivan (1902–1986), actress and entertainer
Rohan McWilliam
Lanchester [married name Laughton], Elsa Sullivan (1902–1986), actress and entertainer, was born on 28 October 1902 at 48 Farley Road, Lewisham, London, the second child of James Sullivan (d. 1945), factory worker and later commercial clerk, and Edith Lanchester (1871–1966), daughter of ...
Article
Laurel, Stan [real name Arthur Stanley Jefferson] (1890–1965), comedian
Eric Midwinter
Laurel, Stan [real name Arthur Stanley Jefferson] (1890–1965), comedian, was born at his grandfather's house in Argyll Street, Ulverston, Lancashire, on 16 June 1890, the second son in the family of four sons and one daughter of Arthur Jefferson, known as A. J....
Article
Lucan, Arthur [real name Arthur Towle] (1885–1954), comedian
Michael Pointon
Lucan, Arthur [real name Arthur Towle] (1885–1954), comedian, was born in Sibsey, Boston, Lincolnshire, on 16 September 1885, the second of five children of Thomas Towle, a groom, and his wife, Lucy Ann Mawer. Educated at a local national school, from an early age he became interested in theatre and frequented ...
Article
Milligan, Terence Alan [Spike] (1918–2002), comedian and author
Ned Sherrin
Milligan, Terence Alan [Spike] (1918–2002), comedian and author, was born on 16 April 1918 in Ahmednagar, near Bombay, India, the elder son of Leo Alphonso Milligan (1890–1969), soldier, and his wife, Florence Winifred, née Kettleband (1893–1990). His brother, Desmond Patrick, was born in 1925. ...