lit a candle 2d agoAnd there's more, except there isn't anymore. RIP Jimmy.
Their story
James Joseph Mulgrew was born on 17 October 1945 in Cookstown, County Tyrone, the youngest of six children of Frank Mulgrew and Philomena Mulgrew (née Conlon). Frank worked as an undertaker, publican, taxi driver and part-time auctioneer. After Frank died in 1953, Philomena took several jobs to support the family,…
James Joseph Mulgrew was born on 17 October 1945 in Cookstown, County Tyrone, the youngest of six children of Frank Mulgrew and Philomena Mulgrew (née Conlon). Frank worked as an undertaker, publican, taxi driver and part-time auctioneer. After Frank died in 1953, Philomena took several jobs to support the family, including work at the local Lucozade factory. The family moved to Belfast when Jimmy was about two. He attended St Patrick's College, Bearnageeha, and left school in his mid-teens (sources differ between 15 and 16) with a classroom clown's certainty that he could make people laugh, but without formal qualifications.
Odd jobs followed: supermarket deliveries, labouring, and work as a betting-shop cashier. He entered talent shows with comic dances or mime to pop songs, and by 1966 he was a Redcoat at Butlin's Mosney in County Meath, then further summers at Butlin's Clacton. The holiday-camp circuit, later including Pontins in Southport and Morecambe, taught him to chat with holidaymakers, organise games, and learn from seasoned comics. Over roughly a decade he mixed seasonal camp work with the northern club circuit. Early material sometimes borrowed gags (common then), but he shaped a distinctive persona and chose the stage name Jimmy Cricket after Walt Disney's Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio.
His television breakthrough came in 1980 as runner-up in the final of London Weekend Television's Search for a Star. Appearances followed on The Good Old Days (from 1981; the skew-whiff Edwardian music-hall costume supplied by the BBC suited him so well that he kept it), Crackerjack! (1982), and later panel and variety shows. By 1983 he was confident enough to headline his own Isle of Wight shows rather than take a Blackpool season. In 1985 Central Television gave him And There's More, named after his catchphrase; it ran for four series and notably included an early TV appearance by Rory Bremner. He also fronted BBC Radio 2's Jimmy's Cricket Team, written by Eddie Braben, appeared in The Krankies Klub, performed at the Royal Variety Performance (1984) and repeatedly at Children's Royal Variety shows, and was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1987.
On stage he was the old-fashioned clown in floppy bowler, tattered evening dress, fingerless gloves, cut-off trousers and Wellington boots marked L and R but worn on the wrong feet. Catchphrases included "Ladies and gentlemen... come here" (or "c'mere") and "and there's more," plus the comic "letter from Mammy." His humour stayed entirely clean: Irish logic, physical bits, juggling and prop gags, with no victim and no blue material. He toured with acts including The Osmonds, Brotherhood of Man, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cannon and Ball, Paul Daniels, Frank Carson and The Krankies, and played decades of pantomime across the UK and Belfast. In 2007 he appeared in the Comic Relief video of The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" with Matt Lucas and Peter Kay. Later generations embraced him on shows such as John Bishop's Only Joking and Richard Herring's podcast; in 2012 he took a fringe show to Edinburgh with Mick Miller.
Charity was central. He raised funds for Francis House children's hospice in Manchester through parish-hall and touring shows in the Salford diocese for many years. On 18 September 2015 it was announced that Pope Francis had awarded him a papal knighthood (Order of St Gregory the Great, KSG) for charity work; investiture followed on 16 January 2016 at St Patrick's Church, Rochdale, with Bishop John Arnold. His autobiography (Come 'ere There's More / memoirs marketed as Memoirs of an Irish Comedian) directed a portion of proceeds to Mary's Meals. In later years he was a familiar face at Blackpool's Lyndene Hotel and still fully booked into 2026, with a Monday-morning joke book planned for Christmas, before a short illness ended the run.
He met May Tweedie at Pontins Morecambe in 1972; they married in 1974 and had four children: Dale, Frankie (Father Frankie Mulgrew, formerly the comic Frankie Doodle), Jamie and Katie (also a stand-up). Four grandchildren followed. Family statements after his death on 3 August 2026 said he spent his last days surrounded by love, laughter and songs, cracking jokes to NHS staff to the end. Frankie recalled that the day before he died he asked for the last rites twice, "because like a good comedian he wanted an encore," and that in hospital he sang "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." The family closed with his catchphrase turned toward faith: not "there's no more," but "And there's more." A requiem Mass at Salford Cathedral on 21 August 2026, led by Father Frankie, asked mourners to wear bow ties; his wellies and bowler sat at the door. Fellow comics including Roy Walker, Stu Francis, Freddie Davies and Syd Little attended. Tributes called him one of the last great clean comics and a force for joy.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (Jimmy Cricket), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Cricket; Toby Hadoke, The Guardian obituary (2026-08-05); BBC News / BBC News NI; RTE; The Independent; Chortle; jimmycricket.co.uk (fami.
In their own words
“And there's more.”
Signature catchphrase used throughout his stage and television career, and echoed in the family farewell statement.
“Ladies and gentlemen... come here.”
Standard opening beat before a gag, also given as c'mere. Noted across obituaries and style guides.
“I'm sorry I'm late - I couldn't find the M6 motorway ... I had to go up the M3 twice.”
Typical daft travel gag cited in The Guardian obituary by Toby Hadoke.
“If you want to live longer, find out where you're going to die and stay away from there.”
Self-advice recalled in The Guardian obituary in the context of his final illness.
“On Sunday he wanted the last rites twice, because like a good comedian he wanted an encore.”
Father Frankie Mulgrew, BBC News NI, after the death.
“We were going to end by using his famous catchphrase and say, 'There's no more.' But Jimmy was a man of great faith... so really... And there's more.”
Family statement, 3 August 2026.
“I hope I'm like this when I'm older.”
Tim Vine on X, recalling Jimmy singing a new song while dancing at home; reported by BBC and others.
Photos
2Jimmy Cricket, 31 October 2018
Oct 2018
by People Forever
Jimmy Cricket with Ricky Tomlinson, Liverpool, 31 October 2018
Oct 2018
by People Forever
Exactly. My parents used to put his shows on for everyone, grandkids included.