Merseyside Mirth Makers - Tom O'Connor

Thomas Patrick O'Connor

                
Thomas Patrick O'Connor was born on the 31st of October 1939 in Bootle. He attended St. Mary's College, Crosby and Saint Mary's College, Twickenham before he became a mathematics and music teacher at the St. Joan of Arc School, Bootle for 14 years teaching there at the same time as the father of ''The Weakest Link' presenter Anne Robinson. For 6 of those years he plied his trade with after school work, appearing as a comedian in the Working Mens Clubs in and around Liverpool. In 1974 he eventually swapped the classroom for a life in show business and never looked back. His big break came when he landed a spot on Hughie Green’s talent show, 'Opportunity Knocks' which he won three weeks running, missing out on the top spot on the fourth week but still appeared in the All-Winners show.

Appearing at Russell's in Liverpool

His act was based upon a kind of observational comedy which his audience would recognise as part of their culture. Many times a sentence would begin with ' Do you remember when your Mam/ Dad/ Girlfriend/ Wife would do /say this....? Sometimes he would intersperse reality with fictional events but all would be related to his Liverpool roots. This nostalgia was a crucial feature of his comedy act as well as his pride in where he came from ' We're brilliant aren't we?' he would often say. His act never contained any profanity and was geared to a family audience.

Tom's first television break came when he appeared on the 1970's show 'The Comedians'. It was here that Bernard Delfont, the theatrical impresario, noticed that he had a personality and look that was ideal for being a presenter and decided he'd be the perfect host for 'Name That Tune', a game that was to be part of a show called 'Wednesday At 8' andTom subsequently became one of the most popular faces on TV. He presented nine game shows in all, as well as his own music and comedy shows.There is no doubt that during the 1970's and 1980's he was one of the most popular faces on British TV and was given the highest honour for a performer, a spot on the Royal Variety show, which took place at the London Palladium.

Compere of 'Name That Tune'

Some of the other many shows he hosted during this time included, the Tom O'Connor Show, Gambit, Crosswits, and many more including the Tom O'Connor Road Show for the BBC. This show ran daily at lunch times and was watched by over 12 million viewers each day, but was a very expensive show to mount as it came live from a different town each week, requiring the production team to move weekly. The show had several young producers who were overseen by executive producer Steve Weddel, and came out of the now defunct BBC Pebble Mill Studios. The script was written by Tom O'Connor and writer Barry Faulkner, who had worked with Tom on his previous shows, with up-to-the-minute changes being made just before broadcast.

However unfounded newspaper allegations about an extra marital affair meant that within a year he had lost all but one of his shows 'Cross Wits' and he found himself relegated to the cruise-ship circuit, presiding over the same games hows but now adapted for an older seafaring audience. These days, he is the king of the corporate event.
Undoubtedly if he was starting out today he would be in the same bracket as Peter Kay or Jason Manford and would be playing to stadium packed audiences.

He is the father-in-law of Denise Lewis (British Olympic heptathlete) and his son and daughter have managed many music groups together including All saints Five Madness and Ice T.

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