After Dinner Speakers: Des O'Connor, Vic Reeves, Michael Barrymore

Des O'Connor started out at the beginning of the 1950s as a 'Red Coat' at a Butlins Holiday Camp. He rapidly grew a reputation as a funny entertainer and soon turned to that role as a full time professional. His easy going personality and comic charm made him an ideal master of ceremonies and show host. He did just that on the famous tour that Buddy Holly and the Crickets made of Britain during early 1958. His clean 'family' humour made him a natural choice for television and he obtained his own television show during the early 1960s. His youthful good looks and sense of fun gained him an admiring female audience who were further delighted by his singing style which borrowed much from American crooners like Dean Martin. Although he had sometimes recorded comic novelties, it was through romantic ballads that he gained chart success. This aspect of his output was sufficiently popular to get him the UK #1 spot in 1968. Although he has been lampooned for the quality of his jokes and the extreme blandness of his singing, particularly by his good friends Morecambe and Wise, he has always taken this with good grace and humour. Indeed, the good natured criticism that has been cast his way has only strengthened the affection held by the British public for his talents. Although his chart career rapidly came to an end during the early 1970s, his success continued when he pioneered a British 'chat' show called 'Des O'Connor Tonight'. This was so successful that he has continued, intermittently, in more or less the same format on British television until today. He is still mocked regularly for his singing- especially 'Dick-A-Dum-Dum' which is probably in danger of becoming a collector's item.