26th May: George Formby

George Formby, famous for singing comedy songs and playing the Ukulele, was born on this date in 1904. Here are some things you might not know about him.

1. George Formby was born in Wigan, Lancashire and was christened George Hoy Booth. His father was James Lawler Booth, who was a music hall performer - he used the name George Formby as a stage name. His mother was Eliza Hoy. George was the eldest of their seven children. George Formby senior was a bigamist - he was still married to his first wife when he married Eliza.
2. George's father didn't want his son to go into showbusiness. When George dropped out of school at the age of seven, he was sent away to work as a stable boy so that he wouldn't see his father perform and want to follow in his footsteps. "One fool in the family is enough", he said.
3. At the age of ten, George was a jockey running in professional races.
4. George Formby Sr. died at the age of 45. To help the young George get over his grief, his mother took him to London where they went to the theatre. Performing at the Victoria Palace Theatre was a Tyneside comedian called Tommy Dixon who was billing himself as "The New George Formby" and basically copying Formby Sr's act. This angered the young George who decided then to follow in his father's profession, with his mother's support.
5. Although he eventually became the highest-paid British entertainer of his day, his first performances weren't well received. "I was the first turn, three minutes, died the death of a dog", he said of his first night. He was booed and hissed at in some places, and was frequently unemployed and his mother supported him financially.
6. During his career, he recorded 189 songs, including Leaning on a lamp post and When I’m cleaning Windows. He starred in 20 films between 1934 and 1946, including No limit, Come on George, Let George do it and Turned out nice again (his catch phrase). This was in spite of the one of the first producers his wife and manager tried to sell him to saying he was "too stupid to play the bad guy and too ugly to play the hero".
7. During the second world war he toured the world entertaining the troops and became a national treasure, awarded an OBE in 1945.
8. "If I'd had a bag of rotten tomatoes with me I'd have thrown them at him", said one performer on the same bill at Castleford, West Yorkshire. Her name was Beryl Ingham, a champion clogdancer and actress who had formed a dance act with her sister. She must have seen some potential in him eventually as she married him and became his manager. Most sources seem to suggest that their marriage was far from happy. While some sources are tabloid press it should be taken with a pinch of salt but if it was really as bad as they made out, when he was earning £1.5million for a film she would give him 25p a week (five shillings) pocket money. They both had affairs while pretending to be happily married. One source suggested Beryl had surgery to prevent her ever having children with George. Yet she was still jealous and banned him from kissing his leading ladies. The marriage continued to unravel as Beryl was diagnosed with terminal cancer and became an alcoholic while George, a chain smoker, became addicted to morphine prescribed for heart disease.
9. Just seven weeks after Beryl died, George became engaged to the daughter of his car dealer, a teacher called Pat Howson. The Formbys and the Howsons had been close friends, but even so the romance caused a stir. They seemed an odd match, too, with Pat being very religious - her subject was religious education and she had at one time wanted to become a nun. She was also more than 20 years younger than him. However, the couple never married, for George died of a heart attack two days before their wedding, aged 56.
10. In spite of the fact George Formby sang cheeky songs and had a turbulent private life, the royal family loved him. Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen was an especially big fan. He gave private performances at Buckingham Palace. The Queen was once asked if she'd become President of the George Formby Society. She was strongly advised against it by her correspondence secretary who didn't think it appropriate for the head of the armed forces and head of the Church of England to accept such a role, to which the Queen replied, ‘Well, I do see that but I love George Formby. I know all his songs and I can sing them.’

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