Merseyside Mirth Makers - Les Dennis

Les Dennis

Leslie Dennis Heseltine was born in Chesterton Street, Garston on the 12th of October 1953. For a while, he lived in a pre-fab in Speke before moving to Childwall. He attended Stockton Wood School as well as the overspill classes at Joseph Williams Primary School, also attended by Paul and Mike McCartney. He then went to Rose Lane School where Jimmy Tarbuck had gone to from Dovedale School, and then Quarry Bank High School after passing his 11-plus which was John Lennon’s old school.

He remembers his early days “We went to Butlins in Pwllheli every year, and when I was ten I went in to the Junior Talent Competition and I came third. I then went into the adult competition when I was 14 and won it and got my free week at Butlins as a prize."

As a school boy he had a Saturday job in Burtons, a mens clothing store, and started in entertainment working as a stand-up comedian in the North West Social and Working Men's clubs. This was the time he made his debut radio broadcast in 1971 on Stuart Gillespie's BBC Radio Merseyside series 'Variety Time' (the programmes were taped in front of a live audience in Merseyside clubs).

In 1974, he won the ITV talent show 'New Faces' and appeared on numerous light-entertainment shows. He almost became the first contestant ever to score the maximum 120 points on New Faces; but had to settle for 119 when Tony Hatch gave him 9 out of 10 in his final mark, drawing derision from the rest of the panel that included fellow Liverpool comedian Arthur Askey.

Les with Dustin Gee

In 1982 he had his big break when he was paired up in a sketch with fellow comedian Dustin Gee as 'Vera and Mavis', when part of the team on 'Russ Abbott's Madhouse' and 'The Russ Abbott Show'. Dustin was already an established star on TV when they formed their comedy partnership which led to a series of their own, 'The Laughter Show'.

In 1987 Les landed the role as host of the quiz show 'Family Fortunes' which he would hold for the next 16 years. This gave him the luxury of being able to go off to Oldham Rep to perform theatre and plays and learn the craft. Over the following years Les appeared in many theatre productions as well as a couple of films and several TV  'Soaps'.

On 11 August 2005 Dennis appeared as a guest star in an episode of the first series of the BBC sitcom 'Extras', written by and starring Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. In this appearance, Les portrayed a fictional version of himself, alongside Gerard Kelly, who played a camp theatre director, the recurring character Bunny. Dennis would go on to say that "you could say 'Extras' changed my life.
He is still enjoying a busy life on stage and screen and has recovered from some difficult times in his personal life and can be considered to be one of the most successful television personalities of the 20th century to hail from Liverpool.

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