Jimmy Clitheroe

James Robinson Clitheroe (24 December 1921 – 6 June 1973) was an English comic entertainer. He is best remembered for his long-running BBC Radio programme, ''The Clitheroe Kid'' (1956–72).

Early years

Jimmy Clitheroe was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England on Christmas Eve, 1921 to weavers Emma Pye and James Robert Clitheroe, who had married in 1918. His place of birth was his maternal grandparents' home at 58 Wilkin Street (now called Highfield Road). His childhood was spent in the mill village of Blacko, near Nelson, living at 14 Spout Houses, a row of terraced 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, in an era when education was compulsory only up to the age of 14.

An only child, he was named after his mother's younger 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 he was tall. Although his father was over tall, Jimmy never grew any taller than – about average for an eight or nine-year-old boy. His small size was thought to be caused by his thyroid gland being damaged at birth during a forceps delivery. According to Robert Ross however, Jimmy's small size was due to a rare genetic disorder. 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 and television.

Career

Being unable to work in the weaving sheds with his parents, as he was too short to reach the looms, Clitheroe worked for a time in a bakery in Nelson, but was also touring the variety theatres in Yorkshire and Lancashire from 1937 as a boy accordionist, and also played the xylophone and saxophone. Later, he bought a caravan to live in whilst touring 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. He moved into films from 1940 (thanks to a chance meeting with top of the bill stars Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane) and radio from 1954 (initially on the BBC's regional Home Service North, and subsequently on the nationwide BBC Light Programme, then television (with ITV, produced by ABC Television in their Manchester studios) from 1963.

During the 1940s, Clitheroe appeared in pantomime and summer season dates, and in films, with stars of the day including Arthur Lucan (as Old Mother Riley), George Formby, Vera Lynn, and Frank Randle. In 1959, Clitheroe was invited to take part in the Royal Command variety show, in the presence of the Queen Mother.

His long-running radio programme on the BBC
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