Des O'Connor
| Des O'Connor CBE |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
Desmond Bernard O'Connor 12 January 1932 Stepney, East London |
| Occupation | Broadcaster, musician, comedian |
| Years active | 1956–present |
| Television | The Des O'Connor Show (1963–71) Des O'Connor Entertains (1974–76) Des O'Connor Tonight (1977–2002) Take Your Pick (1992–98) Today with Des and Mel (2002–06) Countdown (2007–08) |
| Spouse(s) |
Phyllis Gill (m. 1953; div. 1959) Gillian Vaughan (m. 1960; div. 1982) Jay Rufer (m. 1985; div. 1990) Jodie Brooke Wilson (m. 2007) |
| Children | 5 |
| Website | des-oconnor |
Desmond Bernard "Des" O'Connor, CBE (born 12 January 1932) is an English comedian, broadcaster and singer. A former chat show host, he was the presenter of the long-running Channel 4 gameshow Countdown for two years. He has also recorded 36 albums and has had four top-ten singles, including a number-one hit with "I Pretend", with global sales of more than ten million records.
O'Connor was born in Stepney, East London to Maude (née Bassett) and Harry O'Connor. His mother was Jewish and his father was from Ireland, O'Connor had a Bar Mitzvah. O'Connor had a brother William O'Connor and has a sister, Patricia, who is one year his junior. He was evacuated to Northampton during the Second World War and was briefly a professional footballer with Northampton Town.
After completing his National Service in the Royal Air Force, he worked as a shoe salesman at Church's in Northampton, and for United Counties, both on the road and in the office, before entering show business. Before his break in television, his first theatre appearances were in variety, where he appeared in venues throughout the country.
On stage, O'Connor has starred at the Glasgow Empire, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, the Opera House, Sydney and the O'Keefe Centre, Toronto, and has made more than 1,000 solo appearances at the London Palladium.
O'Connor has worked with many famous people, from rock and pop stars, actors and TV performers, to politicians, princes, to luminaries such as Frank Sinatra, Adam Faith, Sean Connery, Liberace, the Beatles, Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Cilla Black, Tony Blair and members of the Royal Family. Des pretended to faint at the Glasgow Empire theatre to get off the stage early as the audience was less than impressed by his act.
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Wikipedia