Andy Greaves: 'My headteacher told me to quit my dream of being an entertainer - now I'm celebrating 50 years in showbiz'

Just one week later, he was in front of a much bigger audience as he appeared live on a junior talent show on Yorkshire Television. But not everyone was impressed with his early success.

"It went down really well with my family and friends but the next day my headteacher asked me to go into his office,” he recalls. “I didn’t expect him to say I was fantastic but thought I might get a ‘Well done’. He actually said, ‘You can’t be an entertainer and you want to get all this nonsense out of your head’. He said your dad is a coalminer and you’ll need to get an apprenticeship.

"It just made me think, ‘I’ll prove you wrong’."

Andy went onto do magic, theatre and club shows locally, before working as a Butlins Redcoat and then going on to become a full-time entertainer, working in holiday parks in the summer and working men’s and social clubs in winter.

"I had my children’s show which was magic and ventriloquism. In the clubs, it was stand-up comedy, ventriloquism and singing. A lot of the club wanted three half-an-hour spots – you weren’t just there to do an hour, you were the full evening’s entertainment.

"On the holiday parks they used to have a family room and an over-14s room and you’d have an act for each. Now they have evolved and are all family venues. You’ve had to go full circle and combine everything into what is now a family show. I’m loving doing that.”

The nature of his job has entailed plenty of travel over the years. "I bought a new Renault in 1999 and after six years, it had done 246,000 miles. At my busiest I was doing 50,000 miles a year. That was without the airmiles – going to Tenerife and Corfu where I was working for Thomson.”

He says his career has only been possible with the support of his wife Tracy, as well as help from their now-adult daughter Lucy.

“Tracy has always been an amazing support,” he says. "It is our ruby wedding anniversary next month and she has always helped with the accounts and taking bookings – I couldn’t have done all of it without her support. Lucy used to help backstage in the school holidays when I did my theatre shows. She was the best nine-year-old stage manager you could wish for and still knows how to set up a PA system!”

He says the enjoyment he gets from performing remains undimmed.

"When you stand on stage and look at an audience laughing and see those happy faces, it just gives you a great buzz. I do a lot of care homes now, working with people with dementia and when you see people engaging and putting a smile on their face, that is worth everything.”

There have been many highlights along the way in his career, including supporting The Beverley Sisters as well as comedy pop rock group The Barron Knights.

"My inspiration was watching people like Norman Wisdom and Tommy Cooper in Skegness. It was where my dad happened to buy my first ever ventroquilism dummy from. Supporting The Barron Knights happened to be at The Embassy Theatre in Skegness so Skegness has always been a very special for me.

"In 2019 I was asked by Tony Peers, a very well-known theatre producer from Scarborough who sadly passed away a few weeks ago, to appear on his Saturday night summer show at the Spa Theatre in Scarborough. That was a great honour. He was a true gentleman and one of the loveliest people you could ever wish to meet.”

Andy also appeared on Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer’s TV show Families at War and more recently was part of acclaimed Channel 4 film Help, which was set in a care home during Covid.

“Basically Stephen Graham, Jodie Comer and loads of other famous actors and actresses were my audience with a few extras. Stephen Graham just said with a smile, ‘So mate, when the director shouts action, you’ve got to make us all laugh in front of all these cameras – so there’s no pressure’. That did me a favour because it broke the ice completely and I couldn’t have had a better audience.”

Andy says another moment stands out as a career highlight. "A charity that grants terminally-ill children a last wish got in contact with me as a young man with cancer had said to them, ‘The one thing I want to do before I die is meet Andy Greaves again’.

"At 14 he’d been able to go into the adult room at a holiday park in Mablethorpe and my act was the first he ever saw in there. I went to hospital to meet him in his room. Of anything I’ve ever done, to be able to do that was very humbling. When I walked out, I just sobbed. He was only 16 and he passed away a few weeks later.

"If you’ve never done anything else in your life, to be able to do that for somebody was amazing.”

Andy’s annual commitments include children’s shows each February at The Lyric Theatre, in Dinnington, where his career began back in 1975.

“Sometimes I have been known as a comedian, sometimes a ventriloquist, but the one thing I’ve always wanted to be and all I ever set out to be was an entertainer,” he reflects. "I’m very happy, I’m very lucky to have been able to spend 50 years doing something I love.

"A friend was once at our house with her little girl. I said ‘I’m off to work’ and the girl burst out laughing and said, ‘He doesn’t work, he just messes about’.

"So out of the mouth of a little girl, in 50 years, I’ve never worked and just got to mess about. You can’t say it better than that.”

To book Andy Greaves, visit https://www.andygreaves.co.uk/