Roy Walker (comedian)
| Roy Walker | |
|---|---|
Walker in 2012
|
|
| Birth name | Robert Walker |
| Born |
31 July 1940 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Medium | Stand-up |
| Nationality | Northern Irish |
| Years active | 1977–present |
| Genres | Observational comedy |
| Spouse | Jean Walker (m. 1962; d. 1988) |
| Children | 3 |
| Notable works and roles |
Catchphrase The Comedians |
| Website | www |
Robert "Roy" Walker (born 31 July 1940) is a television personality and comedian from Northern Ireland, who worked for many years as both a television presenter and comedy actor. He is best known as the original host of the game show Catchphrase between 1986 and 1999, and as one of the stars of the stand-up comedy showcase, The Comedians.
Born in Belfast, as a teenager Walker performed in the Francis Longford Choir, then worked as a riveter in the Harland and Wolff shipyard. He was the Northern Ireland champion hammer thrower for three years, and represented his country internationally. He spent a short time as a comedy partner of James Young before serving seven years in the British Army.
Walker first started work aged 12. By the end of the 1960s, he was running a pawn shop whilst working in the evenings as the compère at the Talk of the Town club in Belfast. The Troubles, a continuing threat of violence between political groups in Northern Ireland, was ongoing at this time. Though Walker was a Protestant and a Unionist, he was confronted by two men, who claimed he supported Irish Independence. They threatened him at gunpoint and gave him 24 hours notice to close the shop. Walker complied, and the shop was destroyed. He decided to leave Northern Ireland and work in Britain, touring as a professional comedian, in working men's clubs and cabaret.
""I'd been 'Mr Belfast' but in Sunderland I had to wait by the phone at nine o'clock hoping that some other poor comic had been paid off after his first act. That seven quid got me my digs."
Walker came to fame in 1977 when he won the ITV talent show New Faces, receiving the highest mark ever given to a comedian. He was also a regular on the 1970s ITV stand-up comedy show The Comedians. He appeared on the BBC show Seaside Special on 15 July 1978. Also in 1978 he appeared in two episodes of Blackpool Bonanza. In 1984 he appeared in an episode of the comedy series The Main Attraction.
...
Wikipedia