JIMMY CLITHEROE'S RADIO SHOW. His radio show, now a classic and much in demand, ran from 1957 for 15 years. Alongside Jimmy was an impressive cast including Eddie Leslie, Peter Sinclair (Granddad), Judith Chalmers, Rosalie Williams, Fred Fairclough, Brian Truman, Bob Monkhouse, John Broadbent, Jack Watson, Herbert Smith, Jack Haworth (later Coronation Street’s Albert Tatlock), Fred Ferris, Shirley King, Violet Carson (Ena Sharples).Patricia Burke, Danny Ross, Diana Day and Tony Melody Those who remember him, he will always be the eternal schoolboy uttering his immortal line: “Don’t some mothers ‘ave ‘em.” “I’m all there wi’ mi cough drops.” Or; “Where’s scraggy neck?”
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Jimmy Clitheroe was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England on Christmas Eve 1921 at 58 Wilkin Street, (now called Highfield Road),to weavers Emma Pye and James Robert Clitheroe, who had married in 1918. He was born at his maternal grandparents' house. Within days the family moved to Blacko, near Nelson, living at 14 Spout Houses, a row of terrace houses below Blacko Tower. He attended the Council School up to the age of 12, when he transferred to Barrowford Board School for his final two years.
An only child, he was named after his mother's brother, James Robinson Pye, who had been born in Clitheroe in 1894 and was killed in action in the First World War
According to newspapers in 1938, at the age of 16 Jimmy Clitheroe was 3 ft 6 in and a half. His father was over 6 ft tall but Jimmy never grew any taller than 4 ft 2in — about average for an 8 or 9 year old boy. Jimmy Clitheroe's small size was caused by his thyroid gland being damaged at birth during a forceps delivery and, until later life, he could easily pass for an 11-year-old, which was the character he played on stage, in his early films and on radio in The Clitheroe Kid.
Jimmy Clitheroe was too small to work in the weaving sheds with his parents as he could not reach the looms so at first he worked in a bakery in Nelson on leaving school, but before long started out on the stage, touring the variety theatres in Yorkshire and Lancashire from 1937. He was a boy accordionist and also played the xylophone and saxophone. His parents bought a caravan so they could take him round the various towns in whose theatres he appeared. He made his first pantomime appearance in 1938, alongside the bumptious "Two Ton" Tessie O’Shea. In pantomime he was usually cast as Buttons, Tom Thumb or Wishee Washee. but moved into films from 1940 (thanks to a chance meeting with top of the bill stars Arther Lucan & Kitty McShane, into radio from 1954 (initially on the BBC's regional Home Service North, and subsequently on the nationwide Light Programme), and finally onto television (with ITV, produced by ABC Television in their Manchester studios) from 1963.
He also appeared in pantomime and summer season dates and bit-part film appearances with Old Mother Riley, George Formby, Vera Lynn, and Frank Randle.
In 1959 Jimmy Clitheroe took part in the royal command variety show and he also starred in the television series Holiday Hotel.
Mollie Sugden (who played Mrs Slocombe in the BBC TV series Are You Being Served), played Jimmy Clitheroe's mother on stage in the 1960s and in his ITV television series Just Jimmy from 1964 to 1968 (which also featured Jimmy Clitheroe's co-star from The Clitheroe Kid, Danny Ross).
Jimmy Clitheroe owned a bookmaker's shop on Springfield Road and the Fernhill Hotel at Preesall, and appeared on Blackpool stages for many decades. For many years he drove a Mercedes with blocks on the pedals so his feet could reach them. Appearing to be an underage driver, he could seldom complete a journey without coming to the attention of the police.
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