Talent quest led to fame

Press, 20 February 1988, Page 21

Talent quest led to fame

The actor-comedian Jim Davidson — star of the new sitcom series “Home James” — got his big break in show business in 1976 when he won Britain’s TV talent quest, “New Faces.”

Before then, he says, he was “running around doing stag shows and pub dates.” There was also a variety of other jobs, including window cleaner and fork-lift driver.

Davidson tells the story of life after his new-found television fame: “The day after I’d won ‘New Faces’ I strolled into the Dun Cow in Old Kent Road — mostly to see if anybody would ask for my autograph!

“But the lunch-time comic hadn’t turned up, so Kenny the guv’nor asked me if I wanted to go on instead. I said ‘Nah,’ He, said, ‘l’ll give you 50 quid.’ I said, ‘You what?’ “I was on stage in a flash. I couldn’t believe it.”

Things are different now for the 33-year-old comic with a few series of “Up the Elephant and Round the Castle” to his credit, plus a show or two of his own.

There is a 250,000 pound house in Wentworth, Surrey; and he has been known to own a Ferrari, a Mercedes, a Range Rover and a jeep all at the same time.

But he is still a cheeky cockney; still frequents some of his old haunts from the days when he shared a flat just a stone’s throw from the Elephant and Castle in South London.

“I’ve a lot of good memories from the time I lived there,” he says. “I like cockneys, their attitude and their way of life. Their humour’s brilliant too. There’s a certain pride about coming from around that way.”

What he likes most about his visits back is that' people know he is just one of them. “They just say, ‘Eh, ’allo Jim.’ They take you for granted. They don’t say, ‘Oh look, there’s that guy from the telly.’

“It’s a great part of town.”

“Home James” screens on Saturdays at 6 p.m. on One.