The Ukulele Man

Relatively unknown today, the ukulele weilding George Formby was one of Britain's most popular entertainers during the 1930s and 40s. With a toothy grin and a kindly turnip face, he sang cheeky songs full of innuendo on the stage, in the recording studio, and in film.

From the youngest ever jockey to a troubled marriage, and from his morale boosting work during WW2 to his premature death, George Formby touched the hearts of millions and when he died, more than 150,000 people lined the two-mile route from the chapel of rest to the church. It remains the largest funeral there has ever been for a show business personality.

W. J. Igoe wrote that "Formby has a common English touch. We warm to the kindly turnip face, the revolving eyes, the mouth like a slashed coconut, the silly little songs .... The comedian is the universal works—platoon and bar-room simpleton—mother's boy—the beloved henpeck—the father who cannot hang a picture and underlying his everyday folly there is the sublime wisdom of the ordinary fool who loves and trusts the world."

"I'm just a clown without the make-up, the circus clown who magnifies the reactions of ordinary people to the things that happen around them". - George Formby on his stage persona.