View source for Norman Collier

{{Short description|British comedian (1925–2013)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name                  = Norman Collier
| image                 =
| caption               =
| birth_date            = {{Birth date|df=yes|1925|12|25}}
| birth_place           = [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]], [[East Riding of Yorkshire]], England
| death_date            = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2013|3|14|1925|12|25}}
| death_place           = [[Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire|Brough]], [[East Riding of Yorkshire]], England
| occupation            = Comedian
| years_active          = 1948–2013
| spouse                = {{marriage|Lucy Seddon|1948}}
| children              = 3
}}
'''Norman Collier''' (25 December 1925 – 14 March 2013) was a British [[comedian]] who achieved popularity following television appearances in the 1970s. He was best known for his 'faulty microphone' routine and for his chicken impressions.
==Career and reputation==
Collier was born in [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]], [[East Riding of Yorkshire]], [[England]], into the working-class family of Thomas and Mary (née Dowling) Collier on Christmas Day, 1925, weighing 15&nbsp;lb 4&nbsp;oz.<ref name="HDM">{{cite news|url=http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/woldslocal/news/funny-8217-s-just-job/article-786534-detail/article.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505070607/http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/woldslocal/news/funny-8217-s-just-job/article-786534-detail/article.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 May 2013|title=When being funny's just a job ...|date=13 April 2009|work=Hull Daily Mail|accessdate=28 February 2013}}</ref> He grew up in the centre of Hull as the eldest of eight children.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21798955|title=Comedian Norman Collier dies aged 87|date=15 March 2013|work=BBC News|publisher=BBC|accessdate=15 March 2013}}</ref>
At age 17, Collier joined the [[Royal Navy]] and served as a gunner towards the end of the [[Second World War]]. After [[Demobilisation of the British Armed Forces after the Second World War|being demobilised]] he found work as a labourer. In 1948, while he was visiting Hull's Perth Street West club, an act failed to turn up, and Collier volunteered to fill in. He felt natural on stage and started to work a few local clubs. While working at [[BP]]'s chemical factory in [[Salt End]], east of Hull, Collier started making his workmates laugh with improvised comic routines during breaks (and all too often outside them). Encouraged by his managers, he started to work the wider northern [[Working men's club|working club]] scene, becoming a full-time comic in 1962 and enjoying steady success through the 1960s.
He got his initial break at Hull's Perth Street club when a scheduled comedian failed to show, and Collier raised his hand when an audience volunteer was requested. After a positive experience he decided to seek a career in entertainment. He initially began working the local clubs around Hull and further inland in [[Goole]]. It was at one of these clubs that he heard the bingo caller using a microphone that kept cutting out; this inspired the broken microphone routine.
In 1970, he won a [[BBC]] series called ''Ace of Clubs'', in which club entertainers were pitted against each other, performing their full routines in front of a panel of judges. Collier easily won the final by a unanimous decision of the panel.
He came to national media attention after a successful appearance at the [[Royal Variety Performance|Royal Variety Command Performance]] in 1971. Though occasionally appearing on television thereafter, he made his main reputation on the northern club circuit, and was highly regarded by many fellow comics (notably [[Frank Carson]], [[Les Dawson]], and [[Little and Large]], who were regular house guests). [[Jimmy Tarbuck]] dubbed him 'the comedian's comedian'.<ref name="HDM"/>
To casual television viewers, he was best known for two routines: one in the guise of a northern club compere whose microphone is working intermittently; another adopting the noises, gestures and movements of a chicken, using his outturned jacket to suggest the fowl's wings.<ref>[[Syd Little]], Chris Gidney, ''Little by Little'', page 43 (Canterbury Press, 2004). {{ISBN|1-85311-595-9}}</ref> He was the originator of the 'club chairman' character later popularised by [[Colin Crompton]] in the ITV series ''Wheeltappers and Shunters Club''.<ref name="HDM"/> The 'soundbite' demands of television work never reflected the detailed and large-scale routines that have characterised Collier's club work and which brought him enormous success through the 1970s and 1980s. (He was never a participant, for example, in the 1970s ITV series ''[[The Comedians (1971 TV series)|The Comedians]]''.)
==Style==
Collier's style was very much in the traditional northern-comic school, based on absurdist situational monologues rather than a 'series of jokes', and showed a notable influence of the 1950s star [[Al Read]]. Unlike some comedians of the 1970s, Collier's zany set-pieces often drew on northern working-class archetypes.
==Personal life and death==
Collier lived in [[Welton, East Riding of Yorkshire|Welton]], a village west of Hull. He was married to Lucy, and together they had three children, several grandchildren, and a growing number of great-grandchildren. His [[autobiography]], entitled ''Just a Job'', was published in 2009.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/Norman-Collier-s-autobiography-just-job/story-11963105-detail/story.html|title=Norman Collier launches autobiography|date=23 February 2009|work=Hull Daily Mail|accessdate=28 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616060748/http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/Norman-Collier-s-autobiography-just-job/story-11963105-detail/story.html|archive-date=16 June 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
He died on 14 March 2013, aged 87, after a long battle with [[Parkinson's disease]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2013/03/15/17430/norman_collier_dies_at_87|title=Norman Collier dies at 87|date=15 March 2013|work=Chortle|accessdate=15 March 2013}}</ref> His funeral service took place on 27 March 2013 at St Helen's Church, [[Welton, East Riding of Yorkshire]] and was attended by many fellow comedians including [[Russ Abbot]], [[Roy Hudd]], [[Tommy Cannon]] and [[Bobby Ball]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-21959699|title=Norman Collier's funeral attended by TV friends|date=27 March 2013|work=BBC News|publisher=BBC|accessdate=27 March 2013}}</ref>
==Discography==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|+ Singles
|-
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Act
! scope="col" | Release
! scope="col" | Catalogue
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
! scope="row" | Norman Collier
| "Space Chicken" / "Smile"
| [[Crystal (record label)|Crystal]] CR 7036
| 1966
|
|-
! scope="row" | Norman Collier
|"The Singing Chicken" / "I Left My Heart In San Francisco"
| Tembo Records TML 133
| 1988
| Produced by<br> Ian Summers
|-
|}
<ref>Discogs - [https://www.discogs.com/artist/6071274-Norman-Collier Norman Collier, Singles & EPs]</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{IMDb name|id=0171949|name=Norman Collier}}
*{{cite news|title=Obituary - Norman Collier|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/mar/19/norman-collier?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487|work=[[The Guardian]] | location=London|first=Martin|last=Wainwright|date=19 March 2013}}
*{{cite news|title=Obituary - Norman Collier|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/tv-radio-obituaries/9933563/Norman-Collier.html|work=[[Daily Telegraph]] | location=London|date=15 March 2013}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, Norman}}
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:English male comedians]]
[[Category:Comedians from Kingston upon Hull]]
[[Category:Place of death missing]]
[[Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in England]]
[[Category:Male actors from Kingston upon Hull]]
[[Category:Crystal (record label) artists]]