James Robinson "Jimmy" Clitheroe was an English comic entertainer.
Background
He was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England, to weavers Emma Pye and James Robert Clitheroe, who had married in 1918 and named their son after Emma"s brother, James Robinson Pye, who had been born in Clitheroe in 1894 and killed in World War I. Brought up in Blacko, near Nelson, Jimmy Clitheroe started out in variety and theatre, but moved into films, pantomime, and radio, and finally onto Independent Television television during the 1960s.
Career
He is best remembered for his British Broadcasting Corporation Radio programme, The Clitheroe Kid, a version of which was produced for television under the title Just Jimmy. His long-running radio programme on the British Broadcasting Corporation, The Clitheroe Kid, which aired from 1956 to 1972, is still regularly repeated on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4 Extra. His catchphrase was "Don"t some mothers "ave "em!" He never grew any taller than 4 feet 3 inches, and until later life could easily pass for an 11-year-old boy, the character he played in The Clitheroe Kid.
He died at 51 in 1973 from an overdose of sleeping pills, on the day of his mother"s funeral.
His funeral was held at Carleton Crematorium, Blackpool, where for many years he was commemorated by a plaque attached to memorial tree Number 3. Mollie Sugden (who played Mrs Slocombe in the television series Are You Being Served?) played Clitheroe"s mother on stage and in his Independent Television shows.