Merseyside Mirth Makers - Billy Butler

Billy Butler MBE ( Mrs Butler's Eldest)

William George 'Billy' Butler, because of evacuation in WW2, was born on the 24th January 1942 in Amlwch, Anglesy and has a varied career. He had worked on the docks and was a DJ at the Cavern in the early 1960's at which time he became a pop performer with his group 'The Tuxedos'.His music knowledge is vast and he has been in show business for 40 years.
See :-
http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2016/11/mersey-beat-tuxedos.html and also http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2017/11/mersey-beat-mardi-gras.html )

However he is included in our history of Merseyside Mirth Makers due to his comedy slots on radio, particularly BBC Radio Merseyside, where he has become a radio legend, due in a large part to the best-selling cassettes and videos of 'Hold Your Plums'. The BBC's 'Inside Out' paid him a fitting tribute stating that his quirky quiz shows are regarded as one of the most innovative in broadcasting. 'Hold Your Plums' with the catchphrase, "Give us a clue, Billy" is a classic.

Billy joined BBC Radio Merseyside in 1972 and will be forever associated with one of the funniest programmes ever produced, the anarchic 'Hold Your Plums' which can be loosely described as a radio quiz show. Hosted by Billy and his lifelong friend and onetime producer Wally Scott, the series spawned many tapes of 'The Best of...' and two successful 'Hold Your Plums' videos.

Billy & Wally

It had started out as a segment of Billy Butler’s radio show and was extended to a two-hour show of its own. It was broadcast live from the BBC Radio Merseyside Studios on Paradise Street in
Liverpool on Sundays from 11 am to 1 pm, using Billy Joel's 'Root Beer Rag' as its regular catchy theme tune. Mostly an audience was present in the studio as the show went out.
The show became an institution with a huge following. It was loved by people, not only in the north-west, but by celebrities such as Peter Kay. During an interview in 1983 on the Terry Wogan chat show 'Wogan', Liverpool's Cilla Black regaled to a captivated audience some of her favourite moments from the show which also had a  mention on 'Parkinson'.
Billy has also appeared on stage in Liverpool in both Dramas and Panto's.

The setup of the show was that contestants answered a general knowledge question correctly to be allowed a turn of the fruit machine to see if they could win a prize. Contestants had to match up three symbols of Bells, Cherries or Lemons to win a prize. If they were lucky enough to match up three Plums then they won the star prize. If they collected three different symbols they were able to ‘nudge’ the symbols into a winning combination, as on a standard fruit machine. A member of the audience was delegated the job of 'Nudger-Watcher' and would have to call out ‘The nudger's out’ should three different symbols be given by the fruit-machine. If contestants received two matching symbols they were asked to ‘hold’ the two that matched and were given one last spin to see if they matched the third symbol and, because 'Plums' were the shows top symbol to win its star prize, contestants were encouraged to ‘Hold Your Plums’, coining the show's name. The prizes were often tacky silly pointless objects and were only added for comical value. Often contestants would return to the show and become regular stars themselves often complaining to Billy or Wally that the prize they won last time on the show had never been delivered adding more comic value.
Usually Billy was quiz master and clue giver, helping contestants as best as he could to get the right answer. This would often lead to Billy becoming increasingly frustrated with the contestant failing to understand his 'helpful' clues with Wally ecouraging his frustration. Billy operated the fruit-machine and Wally set the questions and organised the prizes, often attempting to help Billy with clues to help contestants answer their given question.
The show won a Bronze Sony award.

They both organised Pontins’ Weekend Shows at Ainsdale which were the stuff of legend as funny stories would be recounted by the pair on air as well as also producing countless shows on clubs throughout the North West of England.

see next :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2018/11/merseyside-mirth-makers-freddie-starr.html?q=Billy+Butler