Jasper Carrott

Robert Norman Davis Template:Post-nominals (born 14 March 1945), known by his stage name, Jasper Carrott, is an English comedian, writer, actor, singer and television presenter. His credits include An Audience With Jasper Carrott (1978), The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1982), Carrott's Lib (1982-1983), Jane and the Lost City (1987), Carrott's Commercial Breakdown (1989-1996), Canned Carrott (1990-1995), The Detectives (1993-1997), All About Me (2002–2004), and Golden Balls (2007–2009).

Early life

Born Robert Norman Davis on 14 March 1945, in Birmingham, England,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Carrott was educated at Acocks Green Primary School,<ref name="school">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Moseley Grammar School.<ref name="moseley">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He worked as a trainee buyer at a city centre department store the Beehive,<ref name="bev"/> with schoolmate and ELO member Bev Bevan, who would remain a lifelong friend.<ref name="bev">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He acquired the nickname Jasper aged nine, and added the surname Carrott when he was 17.<ref name="bob">Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

In February 1969, he started his own folk club, "The Boggery", in nearby Solihull with his friend Les Ward.<ref name="bog">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Carrott performed folk songs and as an MC. His banter overtook the songs and he became more a comedian than a singer.<ref name="bog"/> He also worked as a musical agent (with John Starkey, who was his manager from 1974 to 1992),<ref name="john">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> as Fingimigig, managing among others Harvey Andrews.<ref name="john"/> He toured UK rugby clubs.<ref name="john"/> He recorded an album in 1973 called Jasper Carrott – In the Club,<ref name="club"/> which he sold from his van. The album contained the original "Magic Roundabout", although mainly material used in his next three LPs (such as "Hare Krishna", "Car Insurance", "Bastity Chelt", and "Hava Nagila") plus the Fred Wedlock song "The Folker".<ref name="club">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He had a UK Top 5 chart hit in August 1975 for DJM Records, with the novelty double A-side record, "Funky Moped" / "Magic Roundabout", written by Chris Rohmann and produced by Jeff Lynne, with Bev Bevan on drums and backing vocals on the former track, recorded at Grosvenor Road Studios<ref name="Connecting">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

By the late 1970s, Carrott had developed anecdotal sketches which he still performs. Often they purport to be autobiographical;<ref name="bob"/> many celebrate the Birmingham accent and culture, including his support of Birmingham City.<ref name="bob"/>

His live performances were recorded as Jasper Carrott Rabbitts on and on and on...<ref name="discogs">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Carrott in Notts.<ref name="discogs"/> Notable tracks were "Bastity Chelt",<ref name="discogs"/> a song in Spoonerism,<ref name="discogs"/> "The Football Match" describing a visit to Old Trafford, "The Nutter on the Bus" (including the cry "Has anybody seen my camel?"),<ref name="discogs"/> "The Mole" ("There's only one way to get rid of a mole – blow its bloody head off!")<ref name="bob"/> and "Zits" – an explanation of American slang for spots that brought the word into use in Britain.<ref name="discogs"/>

In 1979, he published A Little Zit on the Side, a humorous autobiography.<ref name="zit">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The follow-up, Sweet and Sour Labrador, mixed sections of stand-up routines with similar autobiographical material, much of it related to his world travels.<ref name="sweet">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Carrott was the compere for the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986,<ref name="beat">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which featured local bands such as Electric Light Orchestra and the Moody Blues, with a finale that included George Harrison.<ref name="beat"/>

His first appearance on television was a half-hour show for BBC Midlands on 11 August 1975, in a programme about local football called "The Golden Game". In 1976, he appeared in A Half Hour Mislaid with Jasper Carrott.<ref name="comedy"/> He followed in 1978 with LWT's An Audience with Jasper Carrott,<ref name="comedy"/><ref>Ed Doolan interviews...Jasper Carrott (a.k.a. The Other Side of Jasper Carrott) (2005) Radio BBC7</ref> This partnership with LWT continued with The Unrecorded Jasper Carrott (1979),<ref name="comedy"/> and Beat the Carrott (1981).<ref name="comedy">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1982, Carrott moved to the BBC for Carrott's Lib (1982-1983),<ref name="comedy"/> Carrott's Commercial Breakdown (1989-1996),<ref name="comedy"/> which broadcast weird adverts from around the world, and the sketch and stand-up shows Carrott Confidential (1987-1989),<ref name="comedy"/> 24 Carrott Gold (1990),<ref name="comedy"/> The Jasper Carrott Trial (1996-1997),<ref name="comedy"/> and Canned Carrott (1990-1991).<ref name="comedy"/> One popular sketch involved Carrott reading out genuine, but bizarre motor insurance claim statements, such as "I drove out of my drive at 7am and drove straight into a bus. The bus was ten minutes early."<ref name="bob"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Carrott played Heinrich in the 1987 British comedy film Jane and the Lost City.<ref name="Official">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Canned Carrott also featured a spoof police drama called The Detectives,<ref name="comedy"/> co-starring Robert Powell, which later was made into a series.<ref name="comedy"/> From 2002 to 2004, he starred in the sitcom All About Me.<ref name="comedy"/> In a twelve-week run in the summer of 2002 he played the part of Ko-Ko in comic opera The Mikado, written by Gilbert and Sullivan at the Savoy Theatre in London.<ref name="Mikado">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He performed in several of the Secret Policeman's Ball charity concerts for Amnesty International, and returned to the stage in 2004 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham featuring classic routines from his career. He returned to singing for the musical Go Play Up Your Own End (written by Malcolm Stent, songs by Harvey Andrews) in 2005.<ref name="play">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Birmingham Walk of Stars Jasper Carrott.jpg

Birmingham Walk of Stars

In 2005, he staged and appeared in the first Jasper Carrott's Rock With Laughter Christmas concert at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) Birmingham, supported live by Jimmy Carr, Jethro, Roy Wood, and Lenny Henry.<ref name="rock">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In summer 2007, Carrott hosted the Endemol-produced game show Golden Balls for ITV1.<ref name="golden">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 15 September 2007, he was inducted into the Birmingham Walk of Stars at the Arts Fest 2007 celebrations.<ref name="walk">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The award was presented by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham.<ref name="walk"/> Carrott is the second inductee, following Ozzy Osbourne.<ref name="walk"/> Carrott was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the British Comedy Awards on 6 December 2008.<ref name="life">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In August 2017, Carrott underwent an operation to clear a blocked artery, followed by a quadruple heart bypass.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A 30-date tour was cancelled. He has since said the surgery gave him a new lease of life and he has no plans to retire, citing Ken Dodd's longevity as an example.<ref name=shrop/>

In 2023 Carrott played the character Sykesy in the BBC Radio 4 radio serial drama The Archers.<ref name="archers">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Literary work

Carrott has written the humorous paperbacks A Little Zit on the Side (1979),<ref name="zit"/> and Sweet and Sour Labrador (1982).<ref name="sweet"/> He also wrote a novel called Shop! or a Store is Born.<ref name="shop">Template:Cite book</ref>

Carrott's former manager, John Starkey, has written a book entitled Jasper and Me (1993; Etsiketsi Books), which included the line, "He once said, 'Ringo isn't the best drummer in the world. He isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles'". This quote was credited to John Lennon until Mark Lewisohn discovered, in 1983, that it was Carrott who said it.<ref>According to Daniel Finkelstein, writing in The Times in 2014</ref>

Business interests

Carrott was part-owner of the production company Celador, makers of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? In 2006, he and wife Hazel sold their shares for £10m when Dutch interactive television company 2waytraffic bought the group of companies behind Millionaire.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Carrott married journalist Hazel Jackson in 1972.<ref name=shrop>Template:Cite news</ref> Their daughter is the actress Lucy Davis.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He is a supporter, and was a director, of Birmingham City Football Club; a hospitality suite at their St Andrew's ground is named after him. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2003 New Year Honours "for charitable services".<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> The University of Birmingham awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2004,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> following a similar award from Aston University in 1995.

Filmography

Filmography
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	The One Show	Himself/guest presenter	11 December 2015
2012	The One Jasper Carrott	Himself	9 January 2012
2007–09	Golden Balls	Presenter	289 episodes
2004	24 Carrott Gold: The Best of Jasper Carrott	Himself	recorded live at the NEC in Birmingham
2002–04	All About Me	Colin Craddock
1999	Jasper Carrott – Back to the Front	Himself
1997	The Jasper Carrott Trial	Himself	based on the original BBC radio series
1994	Carrott-U-Like	Himself
1993–97	The Detectives	Bob Louis	31 episodes, 5 series & 1 Special
1992	One Jasper Carrott	Himself	recorded live at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
1990	24 Carrott Gold	Himself	recorded live at Stratford Upon Avon
1990–95	Canned Carrott	Himself
1989–96	Carrott's Commercial Breakdown	Himself
1987	Jane and the Lost City	Heinrich / Herman / Hans
1987	Stand-up America	Himself
1987–89	Carrott Confidential	Himself	this includes an election special broadcast on BBC2, and a special trailer for the 2nd series, broadcast on Friday 15 January 1988, which took the form of a mini sketch with Carrott dressed as Anne Robinson on 'Pointless Views'
1985	American Carrott	Himself
	Jasper Carrott – Learner Driver (Mother in Law)	Himself	short animated film, unknown TX date
1984	Jasper Carrott – I've Got This Mole	Himself	short animated film, LWT
1983	Look After My Horse When I'm Gone	Roy Strong & Martha The Horse	short animated film, LWT
1982–83	Carrott's Lib	Himself
1982	The Secret Policeman's Other Ball	Himself
1981	Beat the Carrott	Himself	live from the London Palladium
1981	Carrott Del Sol (Sago)	Himself
1980	Carrott Gets Rowdie	Himself
1979	The Unrecorded Jasper Carrott	Himself	live from the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
1978	An Audience With Jasper Carrott	Himself
1976	A Half Hour Mislaid with Jasper Carrott	Himself

Discography

Albums

• 1973 – In the Club (Criminal Records)
• 1975 – Rabbitts On and On and On... (DJM Records) UK No. 10
• 1976 – Carrott in Notts (DJM Records) UK No. 56
• 1977 – A Pain in the Arm (DJM Records)
• 1978 – The Best of Jasper Carrott (DJM Records) UK No. 38
• 1979 – The Un-Recorded Jasper Carrott (DJM Records) UK No. 19
• 1980 – Made in Australia (DJM/Festival (Australia))
• 1981 – Beat the Carrott (DJM Records) UK No. 13
• 1982 – Carrott's Lib (DJM Records) UK No. 80
• 1983 – The Stun (Carrott Tells All) (DJM Records) UK No. 57
• 1985 – In America (Rhino Records)
• 1986 – Cosmic Carrott (Portrait Records) UK No. 66
• 1991 – Condensed Classics (Chrysalis/Dover Records)
• 1991 – 24 Carrott Gold (EMI Records)
• 1994 – Canned Carrott for the Record (EMI Records)
• 2000 – Back to the Front volume 1 (Sound Entertainment)
• 2000 – Back to the Front volume 2 (Sound Entertainment
• 2004 – 24 Carrott Gold – The Best of Jasper Carrott (Sound Entertainment)<ref name="Chart"/>

Singles

• 1975 – "Funky Moped" / "Magic Roundabout" (DJM Records) UK No. 5<ref name="Chart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• 1976 – "Bickenhill Rovers Skin'ead Supporters Song" (DJM Records)
• 1977 – "12 Days of Christmas" (DJM Records)

External links

• Template:Official website
• BBC Comedy Guide
• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0141056

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