Jimmy Cricket

Jimmy Cricket — born James Joseph Mulgrew on 17 October 1945 in Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland — was one of the warmest and most distinctive entertainers of his generation. The youngest of six children, he lost his father Frank when he was just eight years old, and watched his mother Philomena hold the family together through sheer determination, working at the local Lucozade factory and beyond. It was in that Belfast home, shaped by hardship and Irish good humour, that Jimmy's love of making people laugh took root. He left St Patrick's College at fifteen with no formal qualifications, drifting through supermarket deliveries, labouring, and betting shop work while entering every talent show he could find. In 1966, his professional life began in earnest when he put on his first red coat at Butlin's Holiday Camp in Mosney, County Meath — and the stage name Jimmy Cricket, borrowed with affection from Walt Disney's beloved Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio, was born. Fourteen years on the holiday camp circuit and northern comedy clubs forged a performer of rare instinct. His television breakthrough arrived in 1980 when he finished runner-up in LWT's Search for a Star, leading to spots on The Good Old Days and Crackerjack!. By 1985, Central Television handed him his own ITV series, And There's More — a show that ran for four series, gave Rory Bremner his first television appearance, and enshrined Jimmy's catchphrase in the national memory. The Royal Variety Performance (1984), seven Children's Royal Variety Performances, and a This Is Your Life special in 1987 followed. He later hosted four series of Jimmy's Cricket Team on BBC Radio 2, written by Eddie Braben, the genius behind Morecambe and Wise. On stage he was unmistakable: floppy bowler hat, cut-off evening trousers, tailcoat, fingerless gloves, and Wellington boots marked "L" and "R" — deliberately worn on the wrong feet. His comedy was clean, physical, warm, and rooted in Irish logic, punctuated always by his conspiratorial "C'me 'ere" and the promise of "And there's more." He never worked blue, not once in sixty years. In 2015, Pope Francis awarded Jimmy a Papal Knighthood in the Order of St. Gregory the Great for his tireless charitable work, including decades of benefit shows for Francis House Children's Hospice in Manchester. His 2023 autobiography, Come 'ere There's More, donated its proceeds to Mary's Meals. He was still fully booked for performances in 2026 when a short illness took him on 3 September, aged 80, surrounded by his family, the wife he adored — May, always "Mrs. Cricket" — and the sound of laughter and songs. He is survived by May, their four children Dale, Frankie, Jamie, and Katie, and four grandchildren. Jimmy Cricket loved people with a sincerity that audiences felt across the footlights for six decades. The laughter he gave so generously is the purest kind of legacy.