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548:, Susan tricks Jimmy into buying back a lost kitten that he had sold to Ozzie, by offering a reward for it in the local newspaper (under an assumed name), but warns Mr Higginbottom that Jimmy wants it back, so that he has to pay double what Ozzie had paid him. When Jimmy discovers the trick, however, he gets the last laugh, selling the kitten (at a profit) to an employee at the newspaper, who then turns up at home to demand the reward she's offered.
339:, a 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) taxi driver — Granddad's drinking buddy, and father of Jimmy's pal Ozzie. Higginbottom was always threatening to give Jimmy a good hiding for things he had done to Ozzie. Ozzie himself was rarely heard, save as an indistinct background voice in occasional early episodes (such as
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was 35 years old when he started playing the part on radio, but (in the variety theatres and, later, on television) he could pass as an 11-year-old boy because he had never grown physically beyond that age. Although in later years his lined face gave his real age away, this was not apparent on radio.
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Misunderstandings are the essence of the character-driven plots. Jimmy is depicted as frequently eavesdropping, or listening at keyholes, and as mishearing or misunderstanding what he overhears. Even when trying to do a good deed (as when he believes
Grandad has stolen money from a local shop, which
473:
Clitheroe always wore a schoolboy blazer and cap in the role, even at radio recordings, to maintain the illusion that he was 11-years-old. In the beginning (and, in fact, for many years), his high-pitched voice sounded astonishingly young. Real children never appeared on the show, as this would have
434:
Of the 290 broadcasts aired between 1956 and 1972, the BBC has retained 57 complete tapes (in the BBC Sound
Archive and at BBC Manchester), together with edited BBC Transcription Service vinyl discs preserving a further 118 episodes, making 175 recordings in all. However, almost no complete episodes
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For the period 1956 to 1969, supplementing the edited
Transcription Service discs, 58 episodes are currently known to exist as off air recordings made by listeners, many of variable sound quality, some of which are incomplete. An on-going project exists to locate and restore the approximately sixty
536:
Alfie is endlessly mocked also — often countering by threatening to thump Jimmy. It is Alfie who Jimmy refers to in his catchphrase, "Don't some mothers 'ave 'em!?" Mr
Higginbottom is also mocked whenever he appears: among other things, his house is said to be a rat-infested dump. However, Jimmy
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The one person who escapes Jimmy's ready wit is his mother. In real life, his father had died and he was devoted to his widowed mother, so he would not stand for either his real mother, or his radio mother, being mocked. She is the calm centre around which the chaos revolves.
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treads carefully in this, because the bad-tempered
Higginbottom is known for his hair-trigger temper. Higginbottom's son, the much-maligned Ozzie, is a fat kid who Jimmy calls his best friend, while frequently thrashing him, mocking him, and involving him in his wild schemes.
524:. He refers to his teachers by comic nicknames, such as "Hum-ya Pete", "Whistling Willie" and "Tick-Tock Tillie". Mr Higginbottom is frequently likened to a rampaging grizzly-bear. Grandad's Scottish ancestry is endlessly mocked, with much talk of
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Another frequent scenario is some variation on one of Jimmy's many money-making schemes, intended to finance another visit to the sweetshop, or the purchase of a new pair of roller-skates, or somesuch, but which inevitably leads to disaster.
551:
After the end credits, Jimmy would usually deliver a short epilogue, addressed to the audience, tying up loose ends in the plot and, frequently, reporting that
Grandad has given him the (expected) good spanking for the trouble he caused.
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in the bath, and he is portrayed as a man who lives only for his beer. Jimmy's sister, Susan, is typically referred to as "Scraggy-neck", "Sparrow-legs", or occasionally "the
Octopus" (for her clinches with boyfriend Alfie).
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as he tried to explain something, only to make it even less clear, as well as (to the mystification of home listeners) Hall's physical comedy, when he performed one of his trademark falls or other sight-gags.
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played Alfie Hall, Susan's half-witted, tongue-tied boyfriend, who was often drawn into Jimmy's reckless schemes. He joined the show in 1960, replacing Susan's original boyfriend, played by
474:
shattered the carefully crafted illusion that he was a child (the show's popularity overseas arose, in part, because audiences unfamiliar with
British showbusiness believed he really
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The radio show was recorded in front of a studio audience, and there were frequently gales of laughter at
Clitheroe's schoolboy humour, or at Alfie Hall's mangling of the
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458:. However, after two series were aired on North Region only, in 1959 the show was deemed sufficiently popular to be moved to the national transmitters of the
362:, who had appeared in supporting roles in some early episodes, spent two years as a regular on the show, replacing Leonard Williams after the latter's death.
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295:. The pilot show, pilot series, and 16 subsequent series, totalling 290 episodes in all, were originally broadcast between April 1957 and August 1972.
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entirely missing episodes, for which no recording of any sort is known, and to locate better quality and more complete recordings for the others.
504:). Altogether, the BBC retains 175 episodes, as a mixture of complete original recordings on magnetic tape and 25 minute edits on vinyl disc.
311:), and Diana Day as his long-suffering sister, Susan (the sister, originally called Judith Clitheroe, was played in the earliest episodes by
544:
Susan occasionally turns the tables on her "little brother" (Jimmy was only 4 ft 2 in, 1.27 m), in return. In the episode
482:(who would punish any member caught in the company of a girl), but the characters he spoke about were never actually heard themselves.
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and Frank Roscoe (occasionally by Ronnie Taylor, who had written the pilot series), and from 1958 was also produced by James Casey.
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he is actually only minding for the bowling club), he usually messes up, with the assistance of the disaster-prone Alfie.
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Created by James Casey in 1956, the show was produced in
Manchester, originally by the North Region studios of the
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as his girl cousin (playing the roles which would eventually evolve into his Mother, Grandfather and Sister), and
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Following transmission, the BBC mainly preserved the series as 154 recordings on vinyl discs, sold overseas to
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In addition to Clitheroe himself, the show's stars included Peter Sinclair playing his Scottish granddad,
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in the role of a cheeky schoolboy, who lived with his family at Lilac Avenue in an unnamed town in the
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played Mr (Horatio) Higginbottom (his first name was almost never used), normally known as
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Jimmy's comedy technique involves much use of a popular style known (then as now) as
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The show (apart from the 1957 pilot series) was written by
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as his mother (in some early shows the part was played by
648:. Vol. 135, no. 1755 (Television ed.).
581:. Vol. 131, no. 1693 (Television ed.).
687:"Massive Haul Of Clitheroe Kid Episodes Rounded Up"
802:Jimmy Clitheroe official website (founded in 2001)
671:The Jimmy Clitheroe website's missing episode hunt
616:. Vol. 196, no. 2544 (London ed.).
377:as Angus's wife (she was well known on radio from
807:Jimmy Clitheroe website (archived version) (2012)
373:, playing Grandad's Scottish brother, Angus, and
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854:1972 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
797:Surviving recordings in BBC Sound Archives
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388:The lost 1956 pilot episode guest starred
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849:1957 establishments in the United Kingdom
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640:"Jimmy Clitheroe in The Clitheroe Kid"
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697:from the original on 19 August 2009
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610:. What's the Welsh for Trouble?.
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859:1972 radio programme endings
620:. 10 August 1972. p. 40
365:Famous guest stars included
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608:"The Clitheroe Kid"
460:BBC Light Programme
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383:Life with the Lyons
76:BBC Light Programme
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589:19 February
578:Radio Times
487:James Casey
429:Jack Watson
413:Fred Ferris
390:Irene Handl
375:Mollie Weir
367:John Laurie
333:Tony Melody
259:/programmes
238:of episodes
173:James Casey
167:Produced by
153:James Casey
141:James Casey
128:Tony Melody
81:BBC Radio 2
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818:Categories
777:BBC Online
556:References
443:Production
371:Dad's Army
323:Danny Ross
216:1972-08-13
206:1956-04-24
192:Manchester
147:Written by
137:Created by
123:Danny Ross
90:Syndicates
43:30 minutes
21:Radio show
321:comedian
281:BBC Radio
261:/b00clb4p
227:of series
119:Diana Day
695:Archived
530:bagpipes
285:Northern
100:Starring
246:Website
214: (
210: –
204: (
59:English
752:5 June
726:5 June
701:5 June
526:haggis
337:Higgie
319:Oldham
287:comic
279:was a
34:Sitcom
30:Genre
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728:2021
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500:and
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379:ITMA
299:Cast
253:.bbc
194:, UK
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257:.uk
255:.co
251:www
241:290
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