BBC<\/a> Radio 2 series Jimmy’s Cricket Team during the 90s.<\/p>\nOther notable television appearances included Bullseye in 1984, being the subject of This Is Your Life, and performing on the Comic Relief charity single, a cover of I’m Gonna Be (500 miles).<\/p>\n
Jimmy toured the UK with other notable performers throughout his career, including The Osmonds, Brotherhood of Man, magician Paul Daniels and comedy duo The Krankies.<\/p>\n
He was planning to tour in August, however, revealed on his website that he had to take a step back for health reasons. He wrote: “I have to take a little sabbatical for health reasons and have started treatment.”<\/p>\n
Jimmy’s close friend and fellow comedian Freddie ‘Parrot Face’ Davies has paid an emotional tribute to the late star, saying: “Jimmy Cricket (James Mulgrew) was a dear friend and we were in contact many times over the years. Jimmy started like me, as a Butlin Redcoat…<\/p>\n
“Our paths crossed many many times over the years. In 2023 I asked him to join us for the show \u2018Legends of Variety\u2019, but he was too busy doing his own show…<\/p>\n
![\"Jimmy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/comedian-jimmy-cricket-circa-1985-7076363.jpg\" "\\"Jimmy")
<\/p>\n
Jimmy was due to tour in the Autumn, but was forced to pull out due to health reasons (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n
“The Christmas of 2014 I was asked to direct \u2018Snow White\u2019. At the Charter Theatre Preston, Jimmy was the star of the show…<\/p>\n
“He was a delight to work with and his gentle comedy was a relaxing change. One always felt comfortable in his company. His adoring wife May was always at his side and he lovingly referred to her as Mrs. Cricket…<\/p>\n
“The last time I saw him was at a Ken Dodd memorial lunch in Liverpool last December where he had the packed audience in hysterical laughter with his wonderful Irishness…<\/p>\n
“He was a true funny Bones comic, a throw back to Variety days. I will miss you Jim, god bless you and RIP.”<\/p>\n
Jimmy had four children with May, his wife of 52 years, and four grandchildren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jimmy Cricket has died at the age of 80 (Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images) Legendary comedian Jimmy Cricket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[243,2283,96,59,240115,240112,240114,240113,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-726280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bbc","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-jiminy-cricket","tag-jimmy-cricket","tag-jimmy-cricket-comedian","tag-jimmy-cricket-death","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Jimmy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Jimmy-Cricket-7076283.jpg\" "\\"Jimmy")
<\/p>\n![\"Jimmy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/british-comedian-jimmy-cricket-at-the-rehersal-for-the-childrens-royal-variety-performance-7076361.j.jpeg\" "\\"Jimmy")
<\/p>\n