James Joseph Tarbuck OBE (born 6 February 1940) is an English comedian, singer, actor, entertainer and game show host.
Jimmy Tarbuck OBE | |
---|---|
Born | (1940-02-06) 6 February 1940 (age 82) Wavertree, Liverpool, England |
Other names | Tarby |
Occupation | Comedian, television presenter |
Years active | 1963–present |
Spouse | Pauline Carfoot (m. 1959) |
Children | 3, including Liza Tarbuck |
He was a host of Sunday Night at the London Palladium in the mid-1960s, and hosted numerous game shows and quiz shows on ITV during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. He is also known for leading ITV's Live From Her Majesty's and its subsequent incarnations during the 1980s.
Actress and television and radio presenter Liza Tarbuck is his daughter.
Tarbuck was born in Wavertree, Liverpool, on 6 February 1940.[1] [citation needed] He has an older brother and his parents, Ada McLoughlin and Joseph Frederick Tarbuck, married in March 1947.[2]
He attended Dovedale Primary School in Liverpool, where he was a schoolmate of John Lennon.[3][4] His first television show was It's Tarbuck '65! on ITV in 1964,[5] though he had been introduced on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963 by Bruce Forsyth.[6] He then replaced Forsyth as the last original host of the show from 1965 until it was axed in 1967. He has also hosted numerous quiz shows, including Winner Takes All, Full Swing, and Tarby's Frame Game. In the early 1970s he hosted a variety show Tarbuck's Luck on the BBC.
In the 1980s, he hosted similar Sunday night variety shows, Live From Her Majesty's, Live from the Piccadilly and finally Live from the Palladium, which were produced by London Weekend Television for ITV.
He appeared on the fourth series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing in 2006, but was forced to pull out due to high blood pressure, and needed surgery to fit stents in his heart.[7] In 2008, he returned to a variety format on television screens when he co-hosted, alongside Emma Bunton, an edition of ITV1's variety show For One Night Only. He appeared on Piers Morgan's Life Stories on 25 May 2012, while on 3 December that year he was invited to celebrate 100 years of the Royal Variety Performance along with Bruce Forsyth, Ronnie Corbett and Des O'Connor.[citation needed]
Tarbuck made a Comedy Playhouse pilot for the BBC in 1967, acting in Johnny Speight's To Lucifer, A Son alongside John Le Mesurier and Pat Coombs, but a series was not commissioned.[8] His only other acting credit was in a 1993 episode of police comedy The Detectives, playing the straight role of Johnny McKenna, an international arms dealer who liked to conduct his business on the golf course.[citation needed]
In October 2015, Tarbuck and Des O'Connor starred in their own one-off show at the London Palladium to raise money for the new Royal Variety Charity. During the following two years they toured clubs and theatres around the UK with his comedy show, and sometimes as a double act with Kenny Lynch.[citation needed]
Tarbuck married Pauline (née Carfoot) in 1959. His best man was footballer Bobby Campbell.[9] The couple live in Coombe, Kingston upon Thames, London, and have three children: Cheryl (born in 1960), Liza (born in 1964), and James (born in 1968).
Tarbuck has often been nicknamed 'Tarby'. He is a Conservative Party supporter,[10] and at the height of his celebrity was a prominent supporter of Margaret Thatcher and her policies, baking her a cake to celebrate her 60th birthday in October 1985.[citation needed]
Tarbuck is well-known as a keen player of golf, and was prominent as a competitor in pro-celebrity golf matches when these were televised.[11]
In February 2020, Tarbuck revealed that, the day after his 80th birthday, he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.[12]
†Credited to 'The Caddies' (Henry Cooper, Tony Dalli, Bruce Forsyth, Kenny Lynch, Glen Mason, Ed Stewart, Jimmy Tarbuck)