FRANK CARSON: FRANK CARSON, the Belfast-born comedian who has died at the age of 85, was an immensely popular entertainer whose fans rejoiced in his lack of political correctness.
He was an old-style trouper, still taking on about 80 events a year until shortly before he died. He continued to perform his stand-up show until last December; one of his final performances was for the Duke of Edinburgh.
He was born into a family of Italian descent in the deprived working-class area near York Street in north Belfast known as Little Italy. The son of a binman, he worked as a plasterer and electrician before joining the British army’s parachute regiment. He served three years in the Middle East in the 1950s before turning to showbusiness.
Journalist and friend Eddie McIlwaine said: "A lot of his humour came from his mother. She was the real wit in the family." He said an inspiration behind Carson's comic career was meeting Laurel and Hardy in a barber's shop in Belfast when he was performing at pubs and small concert halls. Carson subsequently shot to fame when he won the British television talent show Opportunity Knocksthree times in the 1960s.
During the 1970s he starred alongside the likes of Bernard Manning and Jim Bowen in the British TV series The Comediansand he was a familiar face on air during the following two decades. His catchphrases defined him: "It's a cracker" and "It's the way I tell 'em".
Although he lived in Blackpool, people in Northern Ireland regarded him as one of their own, and many of the warmest tributes came from there.
First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he would be remembered with “special fondness”.
Belfast Lord Mayor Niall Ó Donnghaile was the first to sign the book of condolence opened in City Hall on Thursday. “Frank Carson was a Belfast man through and through and he had a great quintessential Belfast wit.”
Former chat show host Sir Michael Parkinson said Carson represented “front-of-cloth comedy”.
“It’s a different genre from the kind of comedy that we have today, where younger and smarter comedians play big halls – he was a club comic,” he said.
“At that time, comedians could talk about fat women and people with bow legs. I doubt whether he’d enjoy going on TV today, with all the strictures that are put on people.”
Carson worked tirelessly for charity and was made a Knight of St Gregory by Pope John Paul II in 1987. Last year he attended the late pope’s beatification ceremony in Rome.
Despite his own heart problems, he was a dedicated carer of his wife Ruth, who had serious eyesight problems, along with his sons Tony and Aidan and daughter Majella.
He was a supporter of Blackpool football club. Politically, he backed the UK Independence Party which campaigns for Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.
Frank Carson: born November 6th, 1926; died February 22nd, 2012