Tag: Celebrities

Alfie Boe Switches on the Lights

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Alfie Boe headlined the Blackpool Illuminations Switch-On concert on 31 August 2018 at the Tower Festival Headland, drawing thousands of visitors to celebrate the launch of the town’s world-famous illuminations. But there’s a bigger connection, the fact he was born in Blackpool. He’s the youngest in a family of nine children and was brought up in nearby Fleetwood. He is of Irish and Norwegian descent and his mother and father named him after the Italian name of Pope John XXIII. He attended St Wulstan’s and St Edmund’s School and Cardinal Allen Catholic High School in Fleetwood. His earliest musical memories were… Read more »

Alfie Boe & Michael Ball Album Launch

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On Friday, 28 October 2022, Michael Ball and Alfie Boe visited Blackpool to promote their album Together in Vegas, their fifth collaborative studio effort, released by Decca Records. The album achieved significant success, reaching number three on the UK Albums Chart. A few years earlier, Boe had also appeared in Blackpool for the Lights Switch-On concert. A clip below shows the duo at Viva Vegas during their promotional tour for the new album. Alfie Boe, the youngest of nine siblings, was born in Blackpool and raised in Fleetwood. Of Irish and Norwegian heritage, his parents named him after Pope John… Read more »

Chris Lowe Back in Blackpool

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Chris Lowe, along with Neil Tennant, his partner in the iconic synth-pop duo The Pet Shop Boys, gave a one-night performance at Funny Girls in Blackpool on 6 September 2024. The pair, who formed their groundbreaking musical act in 1981, continue to captivate audiences worldwide. Lowe was born in Blackpool in 1959 and continues to show his affection for his hometown, as highlighted in a video of him playing It’s a Sin on the Wurlitzer organ at the Tower Ballroom. He has also supported local music initiatives, notably donating a state-of-the-art keyboard to Blackpool Music School. Lowe’s connection to Blackpool… Read more »

Reginald Dixon – Renown Wurlitzer Organist

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Reginald Dixon’s tenure at the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool, beginning in 1930, was a defining era for both his career and the venue’s reputation. Appointed as the resident organist, Dixon quickly became a central figure in the ballroom’s entertainment scene, bringing a new level of excitement and professionalism to the stage. Dixon’s performance style was marked by virtuosity and flair, characterized by a blend of classical music, popular tunes, and innovative arrangements. His ability to adapt his performances to suit various moods and occasions made each show unique and engaging. He skillfully utilized the Wurlitzer organ’s range of stops and effects, including the distinctive Tibia Plena stop, to create rich, resonant sounds that enhanced the theatrical experience of the ballroom.

Roy Castle Photo Exclusive!

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The following pictures were taken by Marilyn Read in 1988 during a Plumb Centre group tour of Portugal and are being published for the first time on Blackpool Timeline. Whilst these photos weren’t taken in Blackpool, Roy Castle is from Cleveleys and spent a lot of time entertaining in Blackpool, including his world record attempt at Blackpool Tower for Record Breakers, the TV show he hosted since its first airing in 1972. The Tower rope slide event can be seen towards the end of the video (featured below in this post) with many of his career highlights.

Cliff Richard at the ABC Theatre

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Cliff Richard and The Shadows are an iconic British musical duo who not only dominated the charts but also became prominent figures in the world of cinema during the 1960s. Together, they appeared in six feature films, establishing a genre known as the “Cliff Richard musical,” which helped cement Richard’s status as a major cultural figure in Britain. Their film career began with Serious Charge in 1959, but it was their later films such as The Young Ones, Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life, and Finders Keepers that truly captured the public’s imagination. These films were incredibly popular, and their blend of… Read more »

Cannon and Ball

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Thomas Derbyshire (Cannon) and Robert Harper (Ball), known collectively as Cannon and Ball, formed one of the most beloved comedy double acts in British entertainment history. Their partnership spanned over four decades, from the early 1960s, when they first met while working as welders in Oldham, Lancashire, to their final performances together before Ball’s passing in 2020. Known for their impeccable timing, slapstick humour, and infectious personalities, the duo became a staple of British comedy, with their variety show The Cannon and Ball Show running on ITV from 1979 to 1988. Cannon and Ball’s journey into show business began in… Read more »

Marlene Dietrich at Opera House

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On 7 July 1955, legendary actress Marlene Dietrich flew into Blackpool to perform two shows at the Opera House. Shortly after her arrival at Squires Gate Airport, she requested a tour of the town and was photographed in front of the iconic Big Dipper at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. However, this wasn’t her first visit to the town; Dietrich had been there two decades earlier, in the summer of 1934, when she experienced an amusing and somewhat frustrating incident—she lost an antique pearl earring while visiting the Pleasure Beach. Interestingly, more than 70 years later in 2007, a construction team draining… Read more »

Kim Novak at The Opera House

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In 1956, Hollywood star Kim Novak visited Blackpool during her time in England for the premiere of The Eddy Duchin Story. The premiere took place at the Blackpool Opera House, where Novak posed for several publicity photos for Columbia Pictures, adding to her rising fame. The film, a biographical drama about the life of pianist and bandleader Eddy Duchin, starred Tyrone Power and Kim Novak. Directed by George Sidney, the film was a Technicolor production shot in CinemaScope, and was one of the biggest hits of 1956. It received four Academy Award nominations, with Harry Stradling nominated for his cinematography…. Read more »

Jayne Mansfield Switches on the Lights

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On 9th September 1959, Hollywood actress Jayne Mansfield had the honour of switching on Blackpool’s world-famous Illuminations. Pictured here at the event, Mansfield stands at the centre, flanked by Ted Hill, the leader of the boilermakers’ union (left), and W.J. Carron, the president of the engineers’ union. Behind them is Morgan Phillips, the secretary of the Socialist party. This glamorous moment was part of the Trades Union Congress celebration, and Mansfield, with her iconic image, was the perfect figure to mark the occasion. Mansfield and her husband went to enjoy themselves at Blackpool’s beach but caused a controversy. A ‘Baby… Read more »