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Thomas Patrick O'Connor (31 October 1939 – 18 July 2021) was a British comedian, television presenter, and actor. Originally a comedian in
working men's club Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class me ...
s, he progressed to hosting TV game shows such as '' Crosswits'', ''
The Zodiac Game ''The Zodiac Game'' is a British game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demo ...
'', ''
Name That Tune ''Name That Tune'' is an American television music game show. Originally created and produced by orchestra conductor Harry Salter and his wife Roberta Semple Salter, the series features contestants competing to correctly identify songs being p ...
'', ''
Password A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...
'' and ''
Gambit A gambit (from Italian , the act of tripping someone with the leg to make them fall) is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices with the aim of achieving a subsequent advantage. The word '' gambit'' is also sometimes used to describe sim ...
''.


Early life

O'Connor was born in
Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...
, and attended St Mary's College, Crosby, and Saint Mary's College,
Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...
. He became a mathematics and music teacher at the St Joan of Arc School, Bootle, and was also assistant headmaster. After work he appeared as a comedian in
working men's club Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class me ...
s.


Television career

His television break came when he appeared on '' The Comedians''. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was one of the most popular faces on British TV. He was a subject of the television programme '' This Is Your Life'' in 1977 when he was surprised by
Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...
. He continued to host many shows including ''Name that Tune'', ''Wednesday at 8'', ''The Tom O'Connor Show'', ''Gambit'', ''Crosswits'', and many more including ''The Tom O'Connor Road Show'' for the BBC. This show ran daily at lunch times and was watched by over 12 million viewers each day, but was an expensive show to mount as it came live from a different town each week, requiring the production team to move weekly. The show had several young producers who were overseen by executive producer Steve Weddel, and came out of the now defunct BBC
Pebble Mill Studios Pebble Mill Studios was the BBC's television studio complex located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, which served as the headquarters for BBC Birmingham from 1971 until 2004. The nine-acre site was opened by Princess Anne o ...
. The script was written by O'Connor and writer Barry Faulkner, who had worked with O'Connor on his previous shows, with up-to-the-minute changes being made just before broadcast. In 2000, O'Connor made his television acting debut as Father Tom (a Catholic priest) in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
series ''
Doctors Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...
''. On 24 February 2006, he was given an award for having appeared as a guest on the TV programme ''
Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
'' 100 times. O'Connor won '' Celebrity Come Dine with Me'', scoring a record-breaking 29/30, on 14 March 2010. In 2011, O'Connor appeared on ''
Pointless Celebrities ''Pointless'' is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay subsidiary Remarkable Television for the BBC. It is hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers to ...
'', a celebrity edition of the
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
gameshow with his daughter-in-law
Denise Lewis Denise Lewis (born 27 August 1972) is a British sports presenter and former track and field athlete, who specialised in the heptathlon. She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was twice Commonwealth Games champion, ...
(the gold medal winning Olympic heptathlete). They reached the final, eventually winning £500 for charity.


Stage career

His stage acting debut was as Pike in ''The Perils of the Pond'' at the Playhouse,
Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon ...
, in 1991. O'Connor also appeared in
summer stock theatre In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock the ...
,
cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...
tours and
pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
s.


Death

O'Connor, who had been diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
in 2007, died in hospital on 18 July 2021, aged 81.


Bibliography

* ''Tom O'Connor's Book of Liverpool Humour'' (1987) * ''Tom O'Connor's Book of the World's Worst Jokes'' (Pestalozzi Children's Village Trust, 1991) * ''From the Wood to the Tees: An Amusing Golf Companion'' (Robson, 1992) * ''One Flew Over the Clubhouse'' (Robson, 1993) * ''Take a Funny Turn'' (Robson, 1994) * ''Follow Me, I'm Right Behind You!'' (Robson, 1995) * ''Eat Like a Horse, Drink Like a Fish'' (Robson, 1996). * ''Fit to Travel'' (Acer Designs, 2004) * ''Golf...is Where You Find It'' (Acer Designs, 2005) * ''Is There Anything in that Empty Box?'' (Acer Designs, 2005) * ''I Remember: the Collected Thoughts of Tom O’Connor'' (Acer Designs, 2008)


References

* "Tom O'Connor." ''People of Today.'' Debrett's Ltd., 2007. Biography in Context. Web. Retrieved 2014-5-22


External links

*
Tom O'Connor Official Website
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Tom English game show hosts English male soap opera actors English stand-up comedians People from Bootle 1939 births 2021 deaths Schoolteachers from Merseyside Comedians from Liverpool People educated at St Mary's College, Crosby English people of Irish descent Alumni of St Mary's University, Twickenham Neurological disease deaths in England Deaths from Parkinson's disease 20th-century English comedians 21st-century English comedians