Golden days: Tommy with his late comedy partner Bobby Ball, right
Tommy Cannon, the comedian, actor and singer, is best known as one half of the double act Cannon and Ball, writes York Membery.
He first found fame on the television talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1968 with fellow Lancastrian Bobby Ball (catchphrase ‘Rock on, Tommy’, who died in 2020 aged 76).
The duo starred in the ITV show Cannon And Ball from 1979 to 1988, when they were reportedly earning £50,000 a week.
But Tommy, a father-of-five and former chairman of Rochdale Football Club, was declared bankrupt after receiving an £800,000 tax bill in 2017.
Hazel, 86, and his second wife live in Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, with their dogs Lola and Dexter.
What did your parents teach you about money?
Not much, because we didn’t have much money. I was born in 1938 and was one of five. I had two half-brothers and two half-sisters and grew up in a council house in Oldham. My father Tom was a miner before joining the army and becoming a regimental sergeant major, and my mother Edith looked after us children.
Our tin bathtub took a couple of hours to fill with hot water from a kettle on the stove and money was so tight that Mum used to buy a cow’s heart to eat and make it last a week. We were all uncles, and sometimes I would ask ‘Aunt Florrie’ down the street for a cup of sugar and tell her we would give her some back the following week.
Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
I left school at 15 with no qualifications and did everything from working in a bedding factory to delivering groceries. I married my first wife, Margaret, at the age of 21, and we had two daughters, Jeanette and Julie. Then I got a job as a welder, on £20 a week, and earned enough to put food on the table, but had nothing left for extravagances like holidays. Bobby and I were a double act when we were both welders.
Have you ever been paid silly money?
Not really, because Bobby and I always work hard. We started out as singers in the 1960s but switched to comedy after finding out that comics were earning an extra £3 a night.
After a couple of years we were getting paid £6 a night to play in working men’s clubs, but we had to split the money between us. When we had our own TV show, we had to learn and remember our scripts (there were no autocue boards), but we got paid enough to buy matching gold Rolls-Royces.
What was the best year of your financial life?
It was probably in the 1980s, when we were attracting 20 million viewers on a Saturday night and making a lot of money.
But the best years of my life were the almost 60 years that Bobby and I worked together. We were great friends for most of that time, although a lot of nonsense has been said about us ‘sticking’, but show me a married couple who’s been together for that long and hasn’t had any disagreements. I’m still working and I did three shows last weekend. Luckily I’m in good shape: I’ve always stayed in shape and still exercise three times a week.
Most expensive thing you bought for fun?
A beautiful four-door Mercedes from the 80s that I drove around the country. It cost a few quid but it was beautiful and never let me down. Back then driving was still a pleasure. The highways are now a nightmare.
What is your biggest money mistake?
A cabin cruiser I bought while spending a summer season with Bobby in Torquay in the 80s. Don’t ask me how much I paid for it, but it was too much. Every time I got on the boat I got sick, I had no choice but to dock and I didn’t even know how to anchor. I got rid of him before the end of the season.
How did it feel to be declared bankrupt in 2017?
It’s embarrassing, but it’s just one of those things.
Best money decision you’ve ever made?
Buying a dark gray suit when I started Bobby in the 1960s: audiences expected performers to dress reasonably smart in those days, if not to a ridiculous degree. I didn’t have much money and it was a bit over the top, but it was hard-earned money well spent. I made that first suit last a good couple of years.
Do you have a pension?
I have no private pension and I continue to work in show business, although I am old enough to receive the state pension. But the £1,700 or so I recently made selling some of my Cannon and Ball memorabilia on the Celebrity Yorkshire Auction House TV show will come in handy, especially with Christmas fast approaching.
Do you have any property?
Hazel and I left our family home and moved to the town of Boroughbridge, where we rented a nice two-story house.
If you were Chancellor, what would you do?
I’m the last person you’d want to name: I’m dyslexic, I’ve never been good with numbers, and my teacher put me at the bottom of my class at school.
What is your number one financial priority?
To make sure I’m not a financial burden on my family when I’m older.
- Celebrity Yorkshire Auction House series 4 is available to stream on Discovery+
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