Jimmy Tarbuck

Speaker 20:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in two thousand and four, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:30

Mike Osaway this week is an entertainer. He's one of the veterans of show business, occasionally down, but never out. An effortless comedian, the son of a professional dancer and a bookmaker, brought up in a loving environment in lively Liverpool, he always knew that he could make it as a performer. He was only in his twenties when he became compere of Sunday Night at the London Palladium, then the biggest variety show on British television. Since then, he's never been far from centre-stage, presenting his own programmes and starring in others. Self-confident enough always to reinvent, and talented enough to make sure it always worked. I should have died twice, he says, but I've had a one-way ticket to Fairyland. It's gone on and on. To all of which he adds, I love being Jimmy Tarbuck. You're blessed then, Jimmy. Is that what you're saying? You've got a guardian angel. Oh, most definitely, yes. What about dying twice?

Jimmy Tarbuck1:21

I was in two car accidents. One when I was a kid, up in a place called Woolton in Liverpool. Hit a roundabout and the car just turned over and over and over and the door opened and I got laid on to the road with the car spinning through a hedge.

Jimmy Tarbuck1:35

and I just got up and there was not a scratch on me.

Jimmy Tarbuck1:39

Just walked away. Walked away, and the second time a car jumped the lights and it hit the front of this car.

Presenter1:39

Just walked away.

Jimmy Tarbuck1:46

And just knock the front right off it.

Presenter1:48

So you're charmed. I mean, you you don't think you're tempting fate in saying

Jimmy Tarbuck1:51

Well, I hope not. I I do hope

Presenter1:52

We hope not. But look, I mean, you've been at it for forty years, this performance lock. Do you still get the same buzz of adrenaline?

Jimmy Tarbuck1:58

I absolutely love it. I get nervous, apprehensive, till I walk on there and it's just very, very enjoyable still.

Presenter2:06

You get nervous and apprehensive, and yet you don't really plan, do you? I mean, you fly by the seat of your pants.

Jimmy Tarbuck2:10

Flying by the side.

Jimmy Tarbuck2:11

You know, I always have them.

Presenter2:12

Why?

Jimmy Tarbuck2:13

It's just the way I work that it falls into place with me. The great, great I've worked with uh only a few comedy geniuses. I've worked with good comics, but geniuses. And one of them, absolute hero, Eric Morgan, just said to me when I was a kid, he said, You've got something. Never ask what it is or analyse it, and I never have.

Presenter2:31

So you just go out there and use it. But you're watching yourself all the time, I presume. I mean, you you're you're yes, you're

Jimmy Tarbuck2:32

Yeah, that you

Presenter2:37

You know, giving the gags and so on, but you're also, you've got an eye on yourself almost sitting on your own shoulder thinking: have I got this audience? Have I got this audience? Yeah, get in there, get in there.

Jimmy Tarbuck2:43

Yeah, get in there, get in there, come out of there, go over there.

Presenter2:45

Yeah.

Presenter2:46

They're gonna need a bit more work in one department or not another.

Jimmy Tarbuck2:48

Monday

Jimmy Tarbuck2:49

The thing that fascinates me in the theatre, Sue, is the people who don't laugh, who sit looking at you. And that's like a magnet. I'm not looking at the ones who are falling about. And it makes me laugh when I see them going,

Presenter2:54

Uh

Jimmy Tarbuck3:01

I mean, it just it just draws me to them.

Presenter3:04

That's bait. That's bait.

Jimmy Tarbuck3:04

I suppose it is. Yeah, yeah.

Presenter3:06

But it wasn't like that, was it, when you very first walked on to that Palladium stage? I mean, you must have been in a right old state.

Jimmy Tarbuck3:13

Well, I did a show up that only went out up in the north called Comedy Bandbox.

Jimmy Tarbuck3:18

and I'd had a good night on it, it all worked.

Jimmy Tarbuck3:21

And then Val Parnell saw a recording of it and put me on the Palladium the the next Sunday night.

Presenter3:26

He was a great impersario. It was called that Val Parnell's.

Jimmy Tarbuck3:27

Sorry, Valphon.

Jimmy Tarbuck3:29

It was called that Valpanel's Valpanel and the Grades ran show business.

Presenter3:33

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck3:33

And they put me on and

Jimmy Tarbuck3:35

It just happened, and I don't can't tell you why it happened, but it just did.

Presenter3:41

And you were ma I mean, it changed your life that night, did it?

Jimmy Tarbuck3:42

Oh, I mean totally.

Presenter3:43

It's an institution, eighteen million.

Jimmy Tarbuck3:45

Yes, in those days it totally changed my life. A lot of comedians had been round a long time.

Presenter3:50

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck3:50

And so this bright sparky kid from Liverpool, who looked like the Beatles the hair and everything, the the the high button suit

Speaker 13:55

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck4:00

That didn't hurt either, I promise you faithfully.

Presenter4:02

Right place, right time.

Jimmy Tarbuck4:04

I would I would I would think totally that, yes.

Presenter4:06

Yes.

Presenter4:07

First record.

Jimmy Tarbuck4:09

Well, I I have a routine of a morning. I get up and I like peace in the morning. I get up very early and I like to read the paper and I like Puccini and it's o meo babbino caro and I love the orchestral version of it. It is so peaceful of a morning.

Presenter5:23

Oh, my beloved father from Puccini's Gianni Schiki, played by Frank Chaxfield in his orchestra, morning music for my peaceful, isn't it? It is, absolutely. Jimmy Tarbuck sitting here. You say you looked like a Beatle. You actually were at school with a couple of them, weren't you?

Jimmy Tarbuck5:30

That's very peaceful, isn't it? It is.

Jimmy Tarbuck5:39

Yeah, with with with John Lennon, uh i i in in his early days and then Peter Harrison was in my class at Rose Lane and his brother was uh the young George, God rest him and God rest John, uh was p you know, in the class uh below.

Presenter5:53

But were you alike at all, you and John Lennon? Were was he?

Jimmy Tarbuck5:56

Well, he was quite an aggressive kid. He you know, he'd get in the scraps in the playground and things like that.

Presenter6:01

And a practical joke, I mean,

Jimmy Tarbuck6:02

Oh, great practical joker.

Presenter6:04

Didn't he play a very nasty trick on you?

Jimmy Tarbuck6:06

I used to have terrible ideas. You'd all leave your drinks around and things like that, or you'd nod off or something. And he'd drop speed in your drinks and you'd be uh high as a kite for days and he thought that was just hysterically funny. He was a good lad, you know, one of the lads. Good laugh.

Presenter6:21

Yeah.

Presenter6:22

Yeah yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck6:23

They all they all went their own way.

Jimmy Tarbuck6:25

George was quite quiet.

Jimmy Tarbuck6:27

Ringo's Ringo. All drummers are mad. I always drummers and goalkeepers, they are mad to do what they do. And uh, you know, and Paul's Paul, Mr. Show business.

Presenter6:36

Well, absolutely, there he is. But anyway, there we are, back in the what, fifties, shall we say, by the time you get to secondary mod Rose Lane secondary mod. Now, I presume you were a teddy boy then, weren't you?

Jimmy Tarbuck6:45

Yes, I was.

Presenter6:46

Yeah, Brill Cream, Winkle Picker.

Jimmy Tarbuck6:47

At all that the Tony catches her do.

Presenter6:49

Velvet colours

Jimmy Tarbuck6:50

The velvet collars and a headmaster who really didn't like me. His name is E. L. Shepherd.

Presenter6:51

And I had

Presenter6:54

Hmm.

Jimmy Tarbuck6:54

And uh he couldn't bear me at all.

Presenter6:57

It's a great line I read on your report when you were leaving. Tarbuck courts easy popularity with the Duke of the United States.

Jimmy Tarbuck7:03

Oh, sorry, yes, yes, he said that. He caught easy. And how right he was, of course.

Presenter7:08

Yeah, he got you in one, didn't you?

Jimmy Tarbuck7:09

Yes, I mean I'd have loved him to be there when I got a gong and I'd have just liked to have come out of Buckingham Palace and go up yours. Yes, really, I would have liked to have done that.

Presenter7:21

But tell me about the family. Now your dad was a bookie and your mum was a tiller girl.

Jimmy Tarbuck7:22

Yeah, mum

Jimmy Tarbuck7:24

Yep.

Presenter7:25

But your dad, I get the impression, was more of a performer, if you like, than your mum, wasn't it?

Jimmy Tarbuck7:28

He was an ailhouse comic. He loved making people laugh at the bar, my dad, and he loved comics. And that's where I first got my love of comedians. He used to go and see comics all the time.

Presenter7:38

So did he come and see you?

Jimmy Tarbuck7:39

Oh yes, he used to beam when he came to see. My mother never understood it all. My dad used to just beam looking at me.

Presenter7:46

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck7:47

And my mother used to come to summer shows and wherever she came she'd say, Can you get me in the bingo? and I'd ring the local bingo hall and say, Hi, Jimmy Tarbak here. Can I go? Of course And she treated like the queen mother.

Presenter7:59

Didn't she once push through a load of fans surrounding you and and give you some kind of errand to run?

Jimmy Tarbuck8:04

Well, I was signing autographs in Liverpool. I'd just cracked it, and I'm up in Allaton Road, where we lived, and I'm signing autographs. Here's misses Tarbuck now, let her through, and she comes through, bless her, and she said to me, Your father's forgot his sandwiches. Drop these off at the office. And I said, Mother, I'm signing autographs for my fans. Don't be so stupid. Listen to him, she said, and just walked out of the shop, with every one roaring, laughing, and the all went, Oh, yeah, Tony, Jimmy, and they all left.

Jimmy Tarbuck8:30

Yeah.

Presenter8:30

And did you deliver the sound?

Jimmy Tarbuck8:31

Of course. Yeah, it took them down to the old man. Record number two.

Jimmy Tarbuck8:35

I never dreamt that these four fellows would change the face of music totally, and they became the four most famous people in the world for a short period. I could never believe that. And um

Jimmy Tarbuck8:48

In the cavern one day they were playing this song. They'd just come back from Hamburg. And they said, What do you think of this? and they played it and I said to John Lennon, You should sell that to the Everly brothers and he never let me forget this.

Speaker 29:14

Love we do.

Speaker 29:17

You know I love you.

Speaker 29:20

I'll always be true.

Speaker 29:28

Yeah.

Presenter9:28

Love me too

Presenter9:32

The Beatles and The Love Me Do, a song they didn't sell to the F W.

Jimmy Tarbuck9:35

What a great line, how you should sell this to the Averley Brothers. What a buck. Dear Lord, a buck.

Presenter9:40

Now apparently you've also said that you caused your parents a lot of pain. What kind of pain did it cause them?

Jimmy Tarbuck9:45

Well, I was you know, they were always coming having to fetch me, I was getting brought home by policemen for stealing apples and things like that.

Presenter9:53

You got expelled at least once.

Jimmy Tarbuck9:53

You could expect

Jimmy Tarbuck9:55

Yes, I did. I got expelled. I never went. That's what happened. I never went.

Jimmy Tarbuck9:59

and uh I got caught in the swimming pool that the school came for a gala, and I was in there already swimming, and uh I got dragged out.

Jimmy Tarbuck10:09

What I didn't agree with, they used to give you a thing called a ferola. It was a whale bone encased in leather.

Jimmy Tarbuck10:14

And I was never forget, Joe McCann was this guy's name.

Jimmy Tarbuck10:18

I was in his office and he went right bend over that chair. I said no. He said you will. I said I won't. And he came round the desk. It was like a Tom and Jerry cartoon and I went round the other side. He said You I said no, I won't. And he said I'll send for someone. And he went to send for someone and he had French windows. I was out the windows and down the garden and off.

Presenter10:38

And that was the end of that?

Jimmy Tarbuck10:39

Yeah, and got a belt off my dad, uh, you know, and uh disciplined and all that.

Jimmy Tarbuck10:44

I was the most cooperative of person of people I still am. If I'm asked to do something, if I'm told to do something, I get a hackle goes up. And that and with teachers, certain teachers who who

Jimmy Tarbuck10:57

Love would be a wrong word, but I'd do anything for. And all the sports, I played every game for the school, which again used to upset the headmaster because he'd have to read the results out and who scored in the basketball team or maybe you know, the soccer and that. And funny isn't the only game I wasn't really big on was cricket. I used to get bored because you were standing round all the time. Batting and bowling, fine, but stood on the boundary was not for me.

Presenter11:20

So talented but uncontrollable.

Jimmy Tarbuck11:21

I would say so. That's not a bad idea.

Presenter11:24

What about your dad? Because you've also said that later on when you did start to make it and and he used to come and see you and everything that you didn't give him enough time afterwards that you lacked patience.

Jimmy Tarbuck11:33

And I like patience terrible with him, he'cause he he'd I'd come home from a show or I'd be on the television and he'd say things to me, Well, how did it go? you know, bursting with pride. And I'd say, Yeah, it went great. It was terrific, Pop

Jimmy Tarbuck11:46

Then twenty minutes later he says, Did it go all right? and I say, Yeah, yeah, it went great.

Jimmy Tarbuck11:51

Then half an hour later he'd say, It went all right, didn't it?

Jimmy Tarbuck11:54

And unfortunately, I couldn't tell him three or four times.

Presenter11:58

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck11:59

And I regret that.

Presenter12:00

But he wanted you to talk about it. He wanted a bit of vicarious pleasure.

Jimmy Tarbuck12:01

Of course you did.

Jimmy Tarbuck12:03

I think you're right.

Presenter12:04

Yeah. One last thing about you, Mum, she kind of cursed you with love on her deathbed, didn't she?

Jimmy Tarbuck12:09

Yes, she did. She wasn't well, unfortunately, and I I had to tell my

Jimmy Tarbuck12:14

Brother, my sister, and my dad, that she wasn't really not well. And, um,

Jimmy Tarbuck12:19

I'd been in Liverpool and I'd I'd had a few drinks and I went back to the hospital just to sit in with her.

Jimmy Tarbuck12:24

And I was just sat by the bed, and she said, Are you there? I said, Sure.

Jimmy Tarbuck12:28

And she started to praise my sister, my lovely girl, and then my brother. And I thought, well, what's she going to say about me? She said, and you.

Jimmy Tarbuck12:37

You, you bugger, she said. You've been nothing but a heart take all your l all your life. To me I said, Really? I said, Well, where are the other two? Oh, shit, oh, I knew they wouldn't be here. Should I knew you would be And she started laughing.

Speaker 112:48

The microphone.

Jimmy Tarbuck12:50

And I started laughing uh with her and uh

Jimmy Tarbuck12:54

She just thought she had shingles, bless her, and that we just let her think that.

Presenter12:58

Hmm.

Jimmy Tarbuck12:58

And it was uh

Jimmy Tarbuck13:01

Great, you're a great lady.

Presenter13:02

And your dad died very shortly after.

Jimmy Tarbuck13:04

Yeah, he turned it in. He turned it in, the old man. On his wreath at Mum's funeral, he just put on his wreath. See you soon. He he just loved her and loved the companionship of her.

Presenter13:04

Yeah.

Presenter13:13

But they'd seen you achieve fame. I mean, this was what, it was the 70s. They died about 25 years ago. It still gets you. Yes, it does.

Jimmy Tarbuck13:18

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck13:20

Yes, it does. Yes, it does. And um, Sue, you know how it is, to be able to go and buy them a house and things like that. That's where I'm said I've been blessed that I could do those things, but I couldn't pick a phone up and say, Will you cure them?

Jimmy Tarbuck13:34

And that's when you see what fame is all about.

Presenter13:36

But if they'd come to Buckingham Palace with you and seen you get your idea, let alone the teacher you talked about, I mean, they'd have burst.

Jimmy Tarbuck13:39

I don't know.

Jimmy Tarbuck13:41

I mean that they

Jimmy Tarbuck13:43

I'd have loved that. I'd I'd have that would have been wonderful, yes.

Presenter13:48

Tell me about record number three.

Jimmy Tarbuck13:49

When I first heard the introduction to this rock and roll record, the hair stood up on the back of my neck. It's Little Richard's Good Golly, Miss Molly.

Jimmy Tarbuck14:03

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck14:06

To call it Miss Mars.

Jimmy Tarbuck14:09

So like the ball with dollar meat marlling.

Jimmy Tarbuck14:15

So that's the ball!

Jimmy Tarbuck14:17

When you're rocking them or bowing

Jimmy Tarbuck14:20

Ain't no mama car

Presenter14:26

Little Richard and good golly, Miss Molly. I forgot, Jimmy, to ask you about the the trademark gap between the two front teeth. Is that real or brought about?

Jimmy Tarbuck14:34

It it was there, but then this period of running away into the swimming pool instead of going to school, I came up and hit the b the bottom corner on on th the bars in Wool Woolton Baths and the it just clipped it.

Presenter14:49

And you decided not to do anything about it, you just and there it is.

Jimmy Tarbuck14:51

And there it is. Yes, it is. It stayed. And everybody knows it.

Presenter14:53

Then it stayed.

Presenter14:56

And you sang in front of a mirror with a hairbrush for a microphone. Oh, you were, because you were.

Jimmy Tarbuck14:59

Oh, you were, of course. You did all that. Johnny Ray was the first one. Walking in the rain. Yes.

Presenter15:04

Walking in the rain.

Jimmy Tarbuck15:06

Cry. Frankie Lane.

Presenter15:08

Dickie Valentine.

Jimmy Tarbuck15:09

Cool, yeah, absolutely.

Presenter15:11

All of them

Jimmy Tarbuck15:11

All of us.

Presenter15:12

But what about what was the first time ever that you walked onto a professional stage? Did you do it as a as a child or as a young man or

Jimmy Tarbuck15:19

Yes, I tried I tried in Carol Lovis' Discoveries uh and I sang a song called A White Sport Coat in a Pink Carnation and it was

Jimmy Tarbuck15:28

It was dreadful, and and I'd put a pair of the old man's shoes on, because they were always polished as shoes.

Jimmy Tarbuck15:35

Then I went uh to Potheli, uh a Butlands holiday camp, and I won the People Talent contest. I was eighteen.

Jimmy Tarbuck15:44

And in October

Jimmy Tarbuck15:46

I was on a tour with Cliff Richard.

Jimmy Tarbuck15:48

Right out the blue, comparing this show.

Presenter15:50

But what were you doing? What did you do to win the talent?

Jimmy Tarbuck15:52

Well, just told some told some jokes. And I remember the I said, Well, don't laugh if you don't want to And I got up to give the lads a laugh.

Presenter16:02

But at the same time you were you weren't making a living out of it, were you?'Cause you had all sorts of jobs, having left school early, didn't you? You were

Jimmy Tarbuck16:08

Well, I started to go on clubs for like a pound and and thirty Bob they used to call it, one pound ten and uh and all that. And uh I I d did lots of jobs and couldn't settle. Then I found one I enjoyed. I work in a hairdressing salon.

Presenter16:22

But what did you do in the hairdressers?

Jimmy Tarbuck16:24

Brushed hair up, but I used to go brushed hair up and helped.

Presenter16:28

What does brushed hair mean?

Jimmy Tarbuck16:29

You know, when when someone had cut their hair they say, Brush that off.

Presenter16:31

Oh, swift!

Jimmy Tarbuck16:32

I swept the floor.

Jimmy Tarbuck16:34

No, no, no. And then I used to finish the heads off, you know, at the back. And what do you mean? Well, you'd have your hair done, but maybe the back needed three curls put in. I could do that with with with with the

Presenter16:46

What's this licking in the thumb?

Jimmy Tarbuck16:47

Well you do that to to get the clip and you turn the hair and do it. But of course in a dan in the dance halls in Liverpool overnight I'd tell the girls I was a hairdresser. It's a great way of meeting girls. It was terrific and they went, Oh really? And they'd ring the salon up and ask for me and say, We'd like Mr Jimmy to do our hair and they say, No, we've got no no me say, You don't mean Jimmy the Apprentice

Presenter17:07

It's wafer off.

Jimmy Tarbuck17:08

Yes, and I used to duck away until one day a a guy called Howard Marks said finish that head off and it was just the bottom and I just had to clip and clean the neck up.

Jimmy Tarbuck17:18

And as God is my judge, this is true. I clipped through the woman's death aid. Now in those days they weren't like today on a battery. You had a wire that went down down the back of their frocks into a battery. And I didn't see this and I clipped it. And what I'd done is I'd tied the wires together so she wouldn't know. Well, that was the talk of the salon.

Presenter17:36

Uh so

Presenter17:38

Yeah.

Presenter17:41

Tell me about record number four.

Jimmy Tarbuck17:42

Right, I said about people who changed music and uh

Jimmy Tarbuck17:47

Elvis Presley certainly did. I got to meet him. We I was in Las Vegas. Tom Jones took me over to Las Vegas.

Jimmy Tarbuck17:54

It was wonderful at the dressing room door. He said, Someone's coming in open the door. And there he was, stood there. Twenty he was slim, great looking fellow, and there he went, Hi, how you doing?

Jimmy Tarbuck18:04

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck18:05

I mean, I really

Jimmy Tarbuck18:07

A hero was in front of me, and I'm thrilled to this day that I met him.

Speaker 118:12

Well, the blessing of my soul, but what's wrong with me? I'm at you like a man on a fuzzy tree. My friend says

Presenter18:19

I'm acting what is a pull game in love.

Presenter18:23

I'm all shook up.

Presenter18:27

Mm-hmm.

Presenter18:28

Yay yay.

Jimmy Tarbuck18:29

Uh

Presenter18:29

Uh

Jimmy Tarbuck18:30

Yeah.

Speaker 118:31

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck18:31

Oh well my hands shake you that my knees are weak Yeah.

Speaker 118:35

Uh

Jimmy Tarbuck18:35

I can't see

Presenter18:36

Me standing on my horny feet

Speaker 118:37

Yeah.

Presenter18:38

Who do you think when you have such luck on love?

Presenter18:42

I'm all shook up by Elvis Presley. That's you say that's him going. Yeah, that that.

Jimmy Tarbuck18:46

Yeah, that that beat you here. So, you know, the history of the records, it's on an empty drum cover that he's he's keeping time. Yeah.

Presenter18:53

But he wasn't the greatest dressing.

Jimmy Tarbuck18:55

I didn't say he was a well-dressed lad. No, he he he came out this night in a white suit with four black pockets and a black collar. And Tom says, Well, what does he look like? And and uh but he loved Jonesy. They got on great together. He loved Tom's singing and Tom's movements. They were very, very big friends. And it's again, it's the old thing, my dear. I was in the right place at the right time to meet him. It was just lovely, it was.

Presenter18:57

Oh, we

Presenter19:18

It's just love

Presenter19:19

However, you mightn't have been there'cause you might have been a footballer, mightn't you?

Jimmy Tarbuck19:22

Wanted to be.

Jimmy Tarbuck19:24

Wanted to be very much so and and played a little bit. Played in the uh reserves and the A team down at Brighton Home Albion and then played for money semi-professionally with Potheli in the Welsh League.

Jimmy Tarbuck19:35

And we had a gentleman called m mr Curtis, who was the manager down at um Brighton.

Jimmy Tarbuck19:41

And we were playing Eastbourne in a Southern Cup tie one night. And I'll never forget he came round giving the team talk. Well, come on, boys, he said this is an important match. Goalie, Charlie, a bit of that from you, Bob. Get in. Let them know you're there. Rattle them a bit, Bob. A few of your tricks. And he went round and then he stood in front of me and he went, And nothing tricky from you.

Jimmy Tarbuck20:02

That's what he thought of me.

Presenter20:04

But was there a decision for you to make then between our

Jimmy Tarbuck20:06

Not really. I wasn't really I wasn't good enough. I could play it there, but I couldn't play it there where I wanted to.

Presenter20:08

I think

Presenter20:10

There where I wanted to. But you did play there, i. e. quite high up, um as far as the stage was concerned,'cause Royal Command performance you got to at the age of, what, twenty four, back at the Palladium, a year after you'd appeared there.

Jimmy Tarbuck20:14

Um

Jimmy Tarbuck20:19

Back at the Palladium.

Presenter20:21

You were the kind of boy wonder but the beetle who talked I think they call it

Jimmy Tarbuck20:24

I mean, I I do a gag on stage, not so much the fifth Beatle, I was the fourth Beverly sister. Yes. And uh yeah, they put me on and uh

Presenter20:30

Perfect.

Presenter20:33

And you shared a dressing room with some of your heroes, huh?

Jimmy Tarbuck20:35

Well, we're just total heroes. I walked in the room and there was Morcom Unwise and Tommy Cooper. David Jacobs was in there.

Presenter20:42

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck20:42

Hello there.

Presenter20:44

Well Duke Box Jury was going strong. Absolutely.

Jimmy Tarbuck20:45

Absolutely. Tommy Cooper stole the show. Morecambe and Wise were wonderful. And just I I was second on in the second half. And just as that was going on,

Jimmy Tarbuck20:56

Tommy and Eric came in the wings to wish me luck.

Jimmy Tarbuck20:59

And I thought, gee, that that's

Jimmy Tarbuck21:02

Nice of them to do that to a to a kid. I mean, it it just lifted me.

Presenter21:03

Do it.

Presenter21:06

Because of course all the names you mention, those the kinds of comedians, were much older, weren't they? Oh yes. So that would make you very different.

Jimmy Tarbuck21:10

Oh yes.

Jimmy Tarbuck21:13

Well, there was certainly a fifteen fifteen year gap between us, at a minimum. I suppose the cheek of me coming along just helped the impetus.

Presenter21:20

Mm-hmm.

Presenter21:21

But I wonder what had happened, why why there had been no comedians in between and weren't really. But I suppose it was Ken Dodd was the same age as you.

Jimmy Tarbuck21:27

Oh, comedy genius. No, he's he's a lot older than me, Doddy.

Presenter21:31

Did he?

Jimmy Tarbuck21:31

Yes, he's in his uh middle seventies.

Presenter21:33

All right.

Jimmy Tarbuck21:34

But a comedy genius there, like Eric Morgan. He's the best stage comic I've ever seen, Dodd. Fantastic.

Jimmy Tarbuck21:40

Just a little bit. By showing.

Jimmy Tarbuck21:44

He wouldn't have eight records, he'd have a a whole series with you, yeah.

Presenter21:44

Yeah.

Presenter21:49

But it is interesting that you came from nowhere and it happened.

Jimmy Tarbuck21:52

Yes, it happened like a, you know, a bolt from the blue for me and that first night on the uh it just changed my life.

Jimmy Tarbuck21:59

Right. Well, I love Elton John's music and I'm a very, very big fan of Rod Stewart. I think his voice is just superb.

Jimmy Tarbuck22:08

And it's one of Elton John's greatest songs, but a version I don't think is heard very often. It's Rod Stewart singing that beautiful song, Your Song.

Speaker 222:17

Uh

Presenter22:17

It's a little bit funny

Presenter22:21

This feeling inside

Presenter22:25

I'm not one of those who can

Presenter22:29

Is a l'er.

Presenter22:33

I don't have much money.

Presenter22:36

But boy if I did.

Presenter22:40

I'd buy a big house where

Presenter22:44

We could both live.

Presenter22:47

Rod Stewart singing your song. There were so many eponymous Tarbuck shows, weren't there, during the sixties and the seventies. It's Tarbuck, tell Tarby, Tarbuck's Luck, Tarbuck, and all that. I mean, on and on.

Jimmy Tarbuck22:58

Yeah.

Presenter22:59

It's amazing. And of course there was winner takes all and so on.

Jimmy Tarbuck23:01

Oh, that was great. I did that for years. I enjoyed that. I did that for 15 years. That was wonderful.

Presenter23:02

That went on for years.

Presenter23:05

But there was a kind of gap at some point in the eighties and and it was when, you know, the alternative comedians came along, the young ones and Rick Mel, and they started taking the Mickey out of it.

Jimmy Tarbuck23:14

Oh, I was a great target for them, yeah.

Presenter23:16

Yeah, did that hurt?

Jimmy Tarbuck23:17

No. Didn't hurt. The vindictive ones, I used to take them to task when I saw them, and they didn't enjoy that.

Presenter23:25

But what about your kids when you were used as the butt of that kind of humour? How did they suffer? Because they would have been at school at the time.

Jimmy Tarbuck23:31

Well, I just said to them, I said, Look, there's th you'll hear things about me, just say yes, we tried to stop him doing it. I said, Don't get involved in arguments about me

Presenter23:39

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck23:40

I never dreamt Liza would do what she's done.

Presenter23:42

Amazing, isn't it?

Jimmy Tarbuck23:44

Well, she won a scholarship for Rada all off her own bat and there were six spots up and she got one of them and it's quite astounding.

Presenter23:51

But Lisa, we should remind people, you know, presented the big breakfast she's recently starred in the West End in a Zephyrli production. I mean, she's doing amazingly well. Do you?

Jimmy Tarbuck23:56

Reduction

Presenter24:00

Does it start to happen that you find yourself being treated as the father of the more famous daughter?

Jimmy Tarbuck24:05

Well, I think uh to a certain age group, I'm Jimmy Tarbuck, the stand-up comedian, and then to another age group, oh, that's Lisa's dad.

Presenter24:11

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck24:11

Oh, there's no doubt about that, yeah.

Presenter24:13

But it is, as I said at the beginning, all about reinventing yourself. And after that you did have that gap when they were taking the Mickey's as I say. And then suddenly you came back. You c you c I I mean, who knows why, but suddenly you were given live from Her Majesty's.

Jimmy Tarbuck24:27

What happened? The Sun newspaper printed in the exact words where they said the BBC they've succumbed. I'm the new presenter of the generation game.

Jimmy Tarbuck24:37

They had asked me to do it.

Jimmy Tarbuck24:39

But it was all negotiating.

Jimmy Tarbuck24:41

And then LWT rang up and said, We're too late to get him, aren't we?

Jimmy Tarbuck24:47

And I hadn't signed a thing. What a position to be in And my manager, Peter Pritchyard, said, No, you're not too late, but we've got a deal going here and he's signing on Friday. Zump, bum, bump, bump, bum, bum, bump. He came in and he said, They have offered you this I said, I don't believe you and a roll over.

Jimmy Tarbuck25:02

I said, well, that will do me. That was security for life. So the sun made you. Uh

Presenter25:07

You're a millionaire.

Jimmy Tarbuck25:07

Yeah, did it? Yes, yes they did. A multi-millionaire.

Presenter25:10

So, I mean, you must have kissed the reporter who wrote that story a million times over.

Jimmy Tarbuck25:14

Whenever I see him, I remind him, and he goes, You don't know the full story. His name is Charlie Catchpole.

Presenter25:21

Thank you.

Jimmy Tarbuck25:21

Thank you.

Presenter25:22

You owe him.

Jimmy Tarbuck25:22

Yes, I do. I tell him that.

Presenter25:25

Number six, what is it?

Jimmy Tarbuck25:26

Well, as I said to you, laughter.

Jimmy Tarbuck25:28

Laughter is the best medicine, and I love

Jimmy Tarbuck25:32

Unintentional laughter. This was of course uh a very funny man anyway, Brian Johnson, and it's the great cricketing uh thing when both of them try to step over the stumps, and I hear this all the time and I just cry with laughter.

Speaker 125:45

He tried to do the splits over it, and unfortunately, the inner part of his thigh must have just removed the bale. Dude, he just didn't quite get his leg over. Anyhow, he.

Speaker 125:53

He did very well indeed, batting one hundred and thirty one minutes and hit three fours. And then we had Lewis playing extremely well for his forty-seven not out. Aggers, do stop him.

Speaker 126:05

And he was joined by DeFreitus who was in for forty minutes, a useful little partnership there. They put on thirty-five in forty minutes and then he was caught by Dujan Falsch. Lawrence, always entertaining, badly for thirty thirty-five.

Speaker 126:23

But

Speaker 126:25

Thirty-five minutes hit a four of the weekkeepers.

Speaker 126:31

Meggers, for goodness sake, stop it.

Speaker 126:36

Yeah, it's Lawrence.

Speaker 126:39

Take a

Speaker 226:39

Yeah.

Presenter26:45

That was Brian Johnson and Jonathan Agnew. Jonners and Aggers. They were losing it at the Test Match special in 1991. It was great stuff.

Speaker 226:50

Wonderful.

Presenter26:53

She's talking about Live from Her Majesty's. 1984 you were doing that. That was actually uh when Tommy Cooper collapsed and died, wasn't it?

Jimmy Tarbuck27:00

I was doing the last joke with him.

Jimmy Tarbuck27:02

You know, Miss Mock Conjurer and Magic Act.

Jimmy Tarbuck27:05

And the young girl came on and put a a cloak round his neck, you know, like a caftan thing. And I was coming from between his legs through the back door with a crate of beer and a ladder, you see,'cause he but he was making them all up.

Presenter27:16

Sounds powerful.

Jimmy Tarbuck27:17

Of course. Well, you know you know how wonderfully, wonderfully mad he was. Everyone thought he'd put a a levitation type joke in because he was such, you know

Presenter27:20

Yeah.

Presenter27:27

Mm.

Jimmy Tarbuck27:28

Zaney and Looney, and he just went down like that, and his legs went under him, so he didn't fall, and he was just on the stage, sat there. Yes, upright. And they put the curtains round him.

Presenter27:37

What city up?

Presenter27:42

Well people trying to resuscitate him well

Jimmy Tarbuck27:43

Yeah, absolutely, travel with his son there and I mean it was just quite dreadful. It's quite dreadful in the show going on.

Jimmy Tarbuck27:49

Good way to go though, if you've got to go. Well, yes, I mean he he he went with roars of laughter round him. Yeah.

Presenter27:51

Well

Presenter27:57

What about you? I mean, you reinvented yourself again after that. I mean, again in the nineties. I think you appeared on a Scylla Black show and the you know, your your career took off again, didn't it? Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck28:05

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck28:07

Had a good night. Then I did a a an audience with

Presenter28:11

Yes. L W T

Jimmy Tarbuck28:12

And it just things went through the roof again. Now, don't ask me why all these things happen. I've told you, but they just did.

Presenter28:15

Yeah.

Presenter28:19

But could you do it again? Could you reinvent yourself again? I mean, I know you're still performing, but I mean, I just wonder if there's another version of Tarbuck to come yet.

Jimmy Tarbuck28:27

Oh, I don't know. I mean, I I

Jimmy Tarbuck28:30

The best fun I've had lately was was I was in a film uh w w with uh Judy Walters, Robert Lindsay and Alan Armstrong and acting.

Jimmy Tarbuck28:39

Acting, being in the company of great actors, was wonderful for me.

Presenter28:43

But there's still a yeah, I mean, I detect still a competitive edge in you.

Jimmy Tarbuck28:46

Oh, totally.

Presenter28:47

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck28:48

I still love getting up there, I do.

Jimmy Tarbuck28:50

You know, and if it's a form of showing off, I don't know what it is. Yes, I still enjoy it immensely. While I can do it at a certain level, I wouldn't want to do it in.

Jimmy Tarbuck29:00

Fathers saying to children and grandparents, He was great when he was younger.

Presenter29:04

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck29:04

Yeah.

Presenter29:05

No, no, you've got to get off well you'll do it.

Jimmy Tarbuck29:06

I wouldn't do it. Oh, absolutely. And this last tour I've done, I've had a wonderful time wi with with the British people. I've come on to a round of applause that I used to go off to. And it's just wonderful. I have fun.

Jimmy Tarbuck29:19

Well I've always believed when I was on Her Majesty's of bringing new talent on and uh especially comics are you know a big supportive but I heard a new talent, a girl called Nora Jones and she made an album and it's the best new album I've heard for years and years and I'm just a a huge fan and this song is called Come Away With Me.

Presenter29:39

Who tried to come?

Presenter29:43

Come away with me and we'll kiss On a mountain top

Speaker 129:52

Yeah.

Speaker 229:52

Come away with me.

Presenter29:54

Get out of here.

Presenter29:56

Yeah.

Speaker 229:56

Uh

Presenter29:56

Never stand. Loving you.

Presenter30:04

Nora Jones and Come Away With Me. Now somebody said it's impossible to overstate the importance of golf in Jimmy Tarbuck's life, so I presume, you know, you're going to set up a pitch and putt course on this desert island.

Jimmy Tarbuck30:14

I think I'd do that. I would, yes.

Presenter30:16

Pretty?

Jimmy Tarbuck30:16

Yes, for for my relaxation. I I quite enjoy hitting golf balls. Some people don't like practising, I do. Oh yes, that'd keep me sane.

Presenter30:25

So you set up your own club?

Jimmy Tarbuck30:26

Yes, I would, and I'd be the life president.

Presenter30:30

And you have your own rules. What rules would you have?

Jimmy Tarbuck30:31

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck30:32

Everyone was welcome.

Presenter30:34

All right.

Jimmy Tarbuck30:34

Discipline. I'm I'm uh I like discipline.

Presenter30:36

We like a bit of discussion.

Jimmy Tarbuck30:37

Oh yeah, I think it's essential in life. I do.

Jimmy Tarbuck30:40

Yes, I do. I do. I can't believe you just said undisciplined, but that's yes, that's the children. I was very yes, a disciplinarian as well.

Presenter30:42

I can't believe he just said

Presenter30:49

Oh, I see. But you didn't have a ferula or whatever you called it.

Jimmy Tarbuck30:49

But you didn't

Jimmy Tarbuck30:52

Oh no, no, Ferala, no old.

Presenter30:52

Faralla, no.

Presenter30:55

But you'd be all right on this island because you'd win through because Jimmy Tarbach always wins through.

Jimmy Tarbuck31:00

Oh, I don't know about that, but I think I'd be okay. I don't mind my own company. I'd survive.

Jimmy Tarbuck31:06

Oh yes, I would survive.

Presenter31:08

I WILL SUVIVE, RECORD NUMBER EITH.

Jimmy Tarbuck31:11

Well, this sums it all up, really, and when they use the word star.

Jimmy Tarbuck31:17

It was underused in this man's head. He was so charismatic. If you never saw him live you missed one of the great occasions of your life being entertained. Franks and Arta in my way.

Jimmy Tarbuck31:27

Say the pain so

Jimmy Tarbuck31:31

He truly feels and not the words.

Speaker 131:37

A one who kneels, the record shows

Speaker 131:44

I took the blow.

Jimmy Tarbuck31:47

Uh

Speaker 231:48

Yeah.

Presenter31:56

Thanks, Anata, and my way. You met him too.

Jimmy Tarbuck31:59

Yes, yes it did.

Presenter32:00

Have you met em all?

Jimmy Tarbuck32:01

Through a man called George Raft, film star.

Presenter32:03

Ophries

Jimmy Tarbuck32:04

Yes, I I looked after him over here. I was in Miami and I got I got the call to go and see the great man, he was terrific.

Jimmy Tarbuck32:12

Which is great.

Presenter32:12

Looked after you.

Jimmy Tarbuck32:13

Yes, he did. I mean, absolutely. I won't hear nothing against him. He was just terrific.

Presenter32:13

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck32:18

He uh gave Paulin and I a night out that we will just remember.

Jimmy Tarbuck32:21

With all the rascals around him, there's one or two.

Presenter32:24

Mm.

Jimmy Tarbuck32:24

with bulges in their suits, but he was just great, he was lovely.

Presenter32:28

Now, if you could only take one of those eight records with you, which one would you take?

Jimmy Tarbuck32:33

O me o bambi no caro

Presenter32:34

Okay.

Jimmy Tarbuck32:34

Yes, for the peace that it gives me. For the tranquility.

Presenter32:36

Yeah.

Presenter32:38

What about your book? You've got the Bible, you've got the complete works of Shakespeare.

Jimmy Tarbuck32:42

Well, that's great for starters. I'd take uh the essential Henry Longhurst. He was the best.

Jimmy Tarbuck32:48

Golf commentator, for quite a sh it was only a short period, but he makes all the others look.

Speaker 132:51

Don't

Jimmy Tarbuck32:54

I mean like selling platers as they say in in racing terms. Lovely. And I I I I read the book regularly and I

Speaker 132:59

Yeah.

Presenter32:59

Yeah.

Jimmy Tarbuck33:02

You can go back and read it again and laugh. Great humour.

Jimmy Tarbuck33:05

And what about your luxury? I would have to take a set of golf clubs.

Jimmy Tarbuck33:09

Your own? Yes, my own clubs, just a set of clubs with a real good supply of balls that would keep me.

Jimmy Tarbuck33:16

Occupied.

Jimmy Tarbuck33:18

Apart from searching for the odd coconut, the food, a bit of fishing, I know I do all that and I like swimming and that and um.

Jimmy Tarbuck33:24

Yes, that would be it.

Presenter33:26

That is it, Jimmy Tarbach, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island discs.

Jimmy Tarbuck33:30

It's been a great pleasure, thank you.

Speaker 233:39

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.