Tom O'Connor (comedian)

Tom O'Connor
Birth nameThomas Patrick O'Connor
Born(1939-10-31)31 October 1939
Bootle, Lancashire, England
Died18 July 2021(2021-07-18) (aged 81)
Slough, Berkshire, England
Years active1971-2018
Spouse
Patricia Finan
​
(m. 1962)​
Children4
Notable works and rolesStar of The Comedians and Crosswits on ITV
Websitehttp://www.tomoconnor.co.uk/

Thomas Patrick O'Connor (31 October 1939 – 18 July 2021) was a British comedian, television presenter, and actor. Originally a comedian in working men's clubs, he progressed to hosting TV game shows such as Crosswits, The Zodiac Game, Name That Tune, Password and Gambit.

Early life

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O'Connor was born in Bootle, and attended St Mary's College, Crosby,[1] and Saint Mary's College, Twickenham.[2] He became a mathematics and music teacher at the St Joan of Arc School, Bootle, and was also assistant headmaster.[3] After work he appeared as a comedian in working men's clubs.

Television career

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His television break came when he appeared on The Comedians.[4] During the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the most popular faces on British TV. He was a subject of the television programme This Is Your Life in 1977 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.

He continued to host many shows including Name that Tune, Wednesday at 8,[5] The Tom O'Connor Show, Gambit, Crosswits and many more, including The Tom O'Connor Road Show for the BBC. This show ran daily at lunch times and was watched by over 12 million viewers each day, but was an expensive show to mount because it came live from a different town each week, requiring the production team to move weekly. The show had several young producers who were overseen by executive producer Steve Weddel, and came out of the now defunct BBC Pebble Mill Studios. The script was written by O'Connor and writer Barry Faulkner, who had worked with O'Connor on his previous shows, with up-to-the-minute changes being made just before broadcast. In 1988 he was reported to have fallen in love with an 18-year-old prostitute, which challenged his clean-cut image.[3] Within a year, he'd lost all but one of his shows, Crosswits.[6]

In 2000, O'Connor made his television acting debut as Father Tom (a Catholic priest) in the BBC series Doctors.[7] On 24 February 2006, he was given an award for having appeared as a guest on the TV programme Countdown 100 times.[8] O'Connor won Celebrity Come Dine with Me, scoring a record-breaking 29/30, on 14 March 2010.[9]

In 2011, O'Connor appeared on Pointless Celebrities, a celebrity edition of the BBC One gameshow with his daughter-in-law Denise Lewis (the gold-medal-winning Olympic heptathlete). They reached the final, eventually winning £500 for charity.[10]

Stage career

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His stage acting debut was as Pike in The Perils of the Pond at the Playhouse, Weston-super-Mare, in 1991.[4] O'Connor also appeared in summer stock theatre, cabaret tours and pantomimes.

Personal life

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O'Connor married Patricia Finan in 1962, and they had four children.[3] He was Catholic.[11]

O'Connor was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2007 and with bowel cancer in 2013.[3] He died from pneumonia in hospital in Slough on 18 July 2021, aged 81.[3][12]

Bibliography

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  • Tom O'Connor's Book of Liverpool Humour (1987)[3]
  • Tom O'Connor's Book of the World's Worst Jokes (Pestalozzi Children's Village Trust, 1991)
  • From the Wood to the Tees: An Amusing Golf Companion (Robson, 1992)
  • One Flew Over the Clubhouse (Robson, 1993)
  • Take a Funny Turn (Robson, 1994)[3]
  • Follow Me, I'm Right Behind You! (Robson, 1995)
  • Eat Like a Horse, Drink Like a Fish (Robson, 1996).
  • Fit to Travel (Acer Designs, 2004)
  • Golf...is Where You Find It (Acer Designs, 2005)
  • Is There Anything in that Empty Box? (Acer Designs, 2005)
  • I Remember: the Collected Thoughts of Tom O’Connor (Acer Designs, 2008)[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Friends of St Mary's College". St Marys College.
  2. ^ "News from St Mary's". stmarys.ac.uk.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Hayward, Anthony (19 July 2021). "Tom O'Connor obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b www.9xb.com. "Tom O'Connor". Prime Performers. Archived from the original on 22 December 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Bonner, Neil (12 April 2014). "Whatever happened to Name That Tune's Tom O'Connor?". Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Old comics never die". The Independent. 27 August 2006. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  7. ^ "ASM Talent » Tom O'Connor". Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  8. ^ "O'Connor back on song". 9 June 2009.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Thompson, Damian (12 March 2010). "Tropic of Cancer, BBC One, Celebrity Come Dine with Me, review".
  10. ^ "Series 1, Pointless Celebrities – BBC One". BBC.
  11. ^ "Tom O'Connor, Liverpool-born comedian and TV game-show maestro who shot to fame on Opportunity Knocks – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 18 July 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  12. ^ Pendreigh, Brian. "Obituary: Tom O'Connor, comedian who shot to fame after winning Opportunity Knocks". The Scotsman.
  • "Tom O'Connor." People of Today. Debrett's Ltd., 2007. Biography in Context. Web. Retrieved 2014-5-22
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