Hull comic Norman Collier dies at 87

YORKSHIRE comedian Norman Collier, known to generations for his faulty microphone act, has died at the age of 87.
Norman CollierNorman Collier
Norman Collier

Collier was famed for routines in which he pretended to have a fault on his microphone, as well as his strutting, clucking chicken walk.

The sandy-haired comic suffered from Parkinson’s Disease for a number of years and died in a residential care home close to his home town of Hull.

His family said he died at 6.05pm yesterday.

Norman Collier being escorted by Margaret Green, 20, and Laraine Barden, 17, to his stint in the Black and White Minstrels show.Norman Collier being escorted by Margaret Green, 20, and Laraine Barden, 17, to his stint in the Black and White Minstrels show.
Norman Collier being escorted by Margaret Green, 20, and Laraine Barden, 17, to his stint in the Black and White Minstrels show.
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Collier, who never lived away from Hull, rose to fame on the club circuit in the 1960s, getting his big break on the Royal Variety Show.

He quickly drew a popular following on the northern club circuit, which led to appearances on ABC TV in the north and Midlands, and then at the 1971 Royal Variety Performance, where he won a standing ovation.

Collier leaves a wife, Lucy, to whom he was married for 40 years, three children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Son-in-law, John Ainsley, said his father-in-law died peacefully in his sleep at a nursing home in Brough, East Yorkshire.

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He said he had been suffering from Parkinson’s Disease for seven years.

Mr Ainsley, who is married to Collier’s daughter Karen, said: “His passion was making people laugh and that’s what he did all his life.

“He was the same at home as he was on stage.

“He was adorable, he was hilarious.

“He was a wonderful person who just wanted to get out there and make people laugh.”

“He loved his family and just wanted to be around all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” Mr Ainsley added.

“Everyone who knew him loved him.

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“And to professionals, he was the comedians’ comedian. Comic and writer Eric Sykes named him as one of his comedy heroes, and Jimmy Tarbuck also listed him as a favourite.

Mr Ainsley, who lives in Hull, went on: “He’d been ill with Parkinson’s for seven years but he didn’t make a fuss about it.

“His family saw him yesterday and he died peacefully in his sleep.

“He will be missed by a lot people because he was such an adorable, lovely man.”

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Collier rose to fame on the local club circuit, but took more than a decade of plugging away before he turned professional in the early 1960s.

By 1971 he was on the bill for the Royal Variety Performance and in the years that followed he became a regular face on TV entertainment programmes.

Impressionist Jon Culshaw was among those paying tribute today, calling him a “wonderfully funny man”.

“People would be permanently laughing whenever they were around him,” he said.

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Ricky Gervais made a comic reference to Collier’s long-standing microphone gag, in which he would pretend the sound had an intermittent fault causing letters and syllables to be silent.

Gervais wrote on Twitter: “R P orman ollier.”

Comedy writer and broadcaster Danny Baker said of the mic routine: “That really was some act.”

Collier, who had been a gunner in the Second World War, made his comedy debut in 1948 when a performer at Hull’s Perth Street Club failed to show up and he agreed to fill in.

Alongside his day job as a labourer, he honed his craft on the northern club circuit, eventually making comedy his main career by 1962.

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He did seasons at Blackpool and shared stages with Sir Cliff Richard and the Everly Brothers as he rose up the bill.

Collier went on to find TV fame in the stand-up show The Comedians and later in The Wheeltappers And Shunters Social Club, hosted by Colin Crompton and set in a fictional smoky working men’s club and featuring the top comedy stars of the day.

He continued to perform well into his 80s, playing the variety circuit alongside his contemporaries and more modern performers, as well as raising thousands of pounds with charity The Grand Order Of Water Rats.