Des O'Connor


Desmond Bernard O'Connor, is an English comedian, singer and television presenter.
He was a long time chat show host, and the presenter of the long-running Channel 4 gameshow Countdown for two years. He has recorded 36 albums and has had four top-ten singles, including a number-one hit with "I Pretend", with global sales of more than sixteen million records.

Early life

O'Connor was born in Stepney, East London, to Maude and Harry O'Connor. His mother was Jewish and his father was from Ireland. He claims to be the only O'Connor who ever had a Bar Mitzvah. He had a brother, William O'Connor, and has a sister, Patricia, who is one year his junior. He was evacuated to Northampton during the Second World War and was briefly a professional footballer with Northampton Town.
After completing his National Service in the Royal Air Force, he worked as a redcoat at Butlins holiday camp in Filey, where he met his first wife Phyllis, and as a shoe salesman at Church's in Northampton, and for United Counties, both on the road and in the office, before entering show business. Before his break in television, his first theatre appearances were in variety, where he appeared in venues throughout the country.

Career

On stage, O'Connor starred at the Glasgow Empire, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, the Opera House, Sydney and the O'Keefe Centre, Toronto, and made more than one thousand solo appearances at the London Palladium.
O'Connor worked with many pop stars, including Frank Sinatra, Adam Faith, Liberace, the Beatles, Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand and Cilla Black.
He toured with Buddy Holly and Jason Donovan.
O'Connor was the first subject of the second incarnation of the long-running television programme This Is Your Life, when the show returned to screens after a five-year absence, produced by Thames Television. He was surprised live on the stage of the London Palladium by Eamonn Andrews in November 1969.
In late 2011, O'Connor starred in Dreamboats and Petticoats at the Playhouse Theatre.
In May 2012, O'Connor replaced Russell Grant in the West End musical, The Wizard of Oz, at the London Palladium, as Professor Marvel, Doorman at the Emerald City, Tour Guide, and The Wizard.
In October 2015, O'Connor and Jimmy Tarbuck starred in their own one-off show at the London Palladium to raise money for the new Royal Variety Charity. Due to the success of this show, they toured the country in 2016 from April to October. The venues they visited were, Southampton Mayflower Theatre, Leeds Grand Theatre, Southend Cliffs Pavilion, Bristol Hippodrome, Bournemouth International Centre, and Milton Keynes Theatre.
In 2017, O'Connor and Tarbuck toured the UK again from May to December. The venues they visited were, The Anvil, Basingstoke, Theatre Royal, Norwich, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Blackpool Opera House, Princess Theatre, Torquay, Derngate Theatre, Northampton, The Hexagon, Reading, Theatre Royal, Newcastle, Theatre Royal, Nottingham, and Grand Theatre, Swansea.
As of 2017, O'Connor continues to tour theatres around the UK with his one-man show.

Television

O'Connor has starred in a mainstream television show in almost every year since 1963, a feat that only one other television personality has achieved worldwide.
O'Connor has had a successful career as a singer, recording 36 albums, five of which reached the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart. O'Connor appeared with Morecambe and Wise on their Christmas Shows in 1975, 1976 and 1979.
In 1969, thirteen of O'Connor's variety hours were sold to NBC in the United States, as a summer replacement for the network's Kraft Music Hall. The series was broadcast in more than forty countries.

Awards and honours

In 2001, O'Connor was presented with the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards for his contributions to television.
He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

Personal life

O'Connor has been married four times:
  1. Phyllis Gill
  2. Gillian Vaughan
  3. Jay Rufer
  4. Jodie Brooke Wilson

    Discography

Albums

Compilation albums