Redcoats Who Made The Big Time Back

Des O'Connor

Written by Rocky Mason

Des O'Connor became a Butlin Redcoat, shortly after spending a weeks leave, from the RAF, on holiday at Butlins Filey. It was there that he met his first wife Phyllis, who was also on holiday there. Phyllis won the weekly heat of the National Holiday Princess contest and later in the year went on to win the Grand Finals, becoming Miss Holiday Princess Of Great Britain.

After completing his National Service in the RAF, he and Phyllis were married and soon after this made a joint application to become Butlin Redcoats. They were accepted for Filey camp, where Phyllis became a Redcoat Radio Butlin announcer and Des a general duty Redcoat. At this stage Des' talent on the microphone was secondary and in his autobiography he boasts about running table tennis contests, refereeing football matches and dancing with elderly ladies at the afternoon tea dances. He later developed the confidence to do a sing-song in the Pig and Whistle. He also says in his book. "Every day I learned something new about interacting with a crowd." He also said. "I would volunteer for the bingo sessions, because they were a real challenge. As many as a thousand campers at a time would play, and there were frequent long breaks while cards were being checked. You would have to keep the crowd entertained with jokes, quips, gags and off-the-cuff sing-songs, anything to keep the customers happy". Des was proud to become the House Captain of Edinburgh house, and was coerced into playing Captain Blood, by Jackie Clancy, which almost cost him his life. Captain Blood was normally the alter ego of Jackie, the boxing instructor at Filey, and a great practical joker. He fooled Des into playing the part of the hated Captain Blood. Poor Des, after being chased by thousands of kids, all dressed up as pirates, was thrown into the pool. Not knowing, or caring if Captain Blood could swim or not, he was thrown into the deep end and Des, a non swimmer, nearly drowned. He finished up being rescued by Jackie Clancy, who dived in fully clothed. After Des had been hauled out of danger and into the camp medical centre, he was transferred to Scarborough General Hospital.

By his second Butlin season Des had become resident singer and host in the Pig and Whistle and was doing a comedy spot in the weekly Redcoat show. A visit by London agent, Pete Davies, resulted in a weeks booking at the Palace Theatre, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, on the 12th October 1953. Two shows a night, twenty pounds for the week. That was the start of Des O'Connor's phenomenal career in the world of showbiz.

At the moment of writing Des has recorded thirty six albums and had four top ten singles, including a number one with 'I Pretend'. Des would ultimately present the channel four game show "Countdown" for two and a half years. He also presented the very popular "Des O'Connor Tonight" : "Take Your Pick" : "Today with Des and Mel".

Just a few of his many hits were 'Careless Hands' : 'I Pretend' : '123 O'Leary' : 'Dick-a-Dum-Dum' ; 'Loneliness' and many more. He is one of only a handful of British entertainers to be acclaimed internationally on stage and television. Des had made over 1,000 personal appearances at the London Palladium, and has starred in a mainstream TV show every year since 1963. He was presented with the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards for his contribution to television. Des was also awarded the CBE.

I was delighted with something Des said, in his book, about playing a club in Bermuda. On his first night the club was packed and really jumping, with the large crowd loving every gag and every song, which resulted in Des staying on stage over an hour. The following evening he arrived at the club, eagerly anticipating a full house. The club was almost deserted with just one table with a party of twelve and another of six. The place was like a library. When Des enquired he was informed "Oh, didn't they tell you? The boat left." It was explained that the large audience the previous night were from a cruise liner. The club was accessible only from the harbour. Ships just docked alongside it and passengers literally had only to walk across a gangway to find themselves inside the club. Des says "I went on stage and said 'it's lonely up here. Why don't I come down there and join you? Why don't we all sit at one table?" He continued "We put the two tables together, I bought everyone a drink and sat down with them. They enjoyed this offbeat approach and joined in the fun. At 2.30 in the morning I was still sat with these customers, organizing a sing-song with one of them playing piano!! Not for the first time it confirmed my belief that the two years I'd spent as a Butlin Redcoat had been invaluable!"