| Biography | Jimmy Tarbuck OBE or Tarby (born 6 February 1940) is an English comedian. Growing up he was a schoolmate of John Lennon. He was convicted of stealing from Terry-Thomas, and was given a two-year probation (ref. Bounder: The biography of Terry-thomas - Graham McCann). His first television show was It's Tarbuck 65! on ITV in 1964. He has also hosted numerous quiz shows, including Winner Takes All, Full Swing, and Tarby's Frame Game. He was the last original host of Sunday Night at the London Palladium, from 1965.
In the 1980s, he hosted similar Sunday night variety shows, Live From Her Majesty's, Live from the Piccadilly and finally Live from the Palladium, which were produced by London Weekend Television for ITV.
Nicknamed Tarby, he is a Conservative Party supporter, and at the height of his celebrity was a prominent supporter of Margaret Thatcher and her policies, once baking her a cake for her 60th birthday in October 1985.
He was appearing on the fourth series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing in 2006, but he was forced to pull out on medical advice.
In 2008, he returned to a variety format on television screens when he co-hosted, alongside Emma Bunton, an edition of ITV1's new variety show, For One Night Only.
He lives with his wife, Pauline, in Coombe, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. His daughter is the actress, television and radio presenter, Liza Tarbuck. |