“I’m sorry I’m late – I couldn’t find the M6 motorway … I had to go up the M3 twice,” was a line typical of the comedian Jimmy Cricket, who has died aged 80. He became a household name in the 1980s thanks to his barrage of daft jokes, trademark catchphrase of “And there’s more!”, and unmistakable outfit – floppy bowler hat, tattered evening dress, fingerless gloves and askew welly boots with the R and L demonstrably on the wrong side.
With a cherubic, beaming face and innocent demeanour he was really an old-fashioned clown: stooped, guileless, gazing around on stage as if he might find the answer to life’s imponderables in the wings. He was a singular combination: a madcap humorist with totally clean material; an uncynical, abstemious family man of deep personal faith who succeeded in a sometimes coarse trade.
