19 Facts About Josef Locke

Joseph McLaughlin, known professionally as Josef Locke, was an Irish tenor.

Josef Locke was successful in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s.

Josef Locke started singing in local churches in the Bogside at the age of seven, and as a teenager added two years to his age to enlist in the Irish Guards, later serving abroad with the Palestine Police Force, before returning in the late 1930s to join the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Josef Locke made an immediate impact when featured in "Starry Way," a twenty-week summer show at the Blackpool Opera House in 1946 and was rebooked for the following summer, then starring for three seasons at the Blackpool Hippodrome.

Josef Locke appeared in ten Blackpool seasons from 1946 to 1969, not the nineteen seasons he later claimed.

Josef Locke made his first radio broadcast in 1949, and subsequently appeared on television programmes such as Rooftop Rendezvous, Top of the Town, All-star Bill and The Frankie Howerd Show.

Josef Locke was signed to the Columbia label in 1947, and his first releases were the two Italian songs "Santa Lucia" and "Come Back to Sorrento".

In 1947, Locke released "Hear My Song, Violetta," which became forever associated with him.

Josef Locke plays himself in the film Holidays with Pay.

In 1958, after he had appeared in five Royal Variety Performances, and while he was still at the peak of his career, the British tax authorities began to make substantial demands that Josef Locke declined to meet.

When his differences with the taxman were eventually settled, Josef Locke relaunched his career in England with tours of the northern variety clubs and summer seasons at Blackpool's Queen's Theatre in 1968 and 1969, before retiring to County Kildare, emerging for the occasional concert in England.

Josef Locke later appeared on British and Irish television, and in November 1984 was given a lengthy 90-minute tribute in honour of the award he was to be receiving at the Olympia theatre commemorating his career in show business on Gay Byrne's The Late Late Show.

Josef Locke made many appearances on the BBC TV's long running variety show The Good Old Days.

Josef Locke is played by Ned Beatty, with the singing voice of Vernon Midgley.

Josef Locke performed in front of the Prince and Princess of Wales at the 1992 Royal Variety Show, singing "Goodbye", the final song performed by his character in the film.

Josef Locke had announced before the song that this would be his final public appearance.

Josef Locke died on 15 October 1999 aged 82, and was survived by his wife, Carmel, and a son.

On 22 March 2005, a bronze memorial to Josef Locke was unveiled outside the City Hotel on Queen's Quay in Derry by Phil Coulter and John Hume.

The book corrects many myths that the charismatic Josef Locke circulated about his career.