Val Doonican
It would be a mistake to think that in 1968 everybody dressed
like a hippie,
smoked pot and listened to Cream. The
average person in the street still dressed quite conservatively
and had little interest in rock music.
Val was the other side of the coin - a crooner with a natty
line in colourful sweaters, and one of the most popular TV
entertainers of the sixties and seventies.
Michael Valentine Doonican was born on 3 February 1927 on the
South East Coast of Ireland - where, no doubt, Paddy McGinty had a
goat, and Delaney had the donkey that won the half-mile race.
Val learned to play the mandolin and guitar as a boy, and later
toured Ireland in various bands before travelling to England in
1951 to join an Irish vocal quartet called The Four Ramblers. He
wrote the group's vocal arrangements as well as singing and
playing guitar in their BBC radio series Riders Of The Range.
In the late 1950s he went solo and appeared on television in Beauty
Box, and on radio in Dreamy Afternoon, later to be
renamed A Date With Val. In 1963 he gained a spot on ITV's
top-rated television show Sunday
Night At The London Palladium and made such an impact with
his friendly, easy-going style that in 1964 he was given an annual
series for BBC television (which ran until the 1980s).
For many years he was the star of Saturday night television on
BBC1, attracting many millions of viewers every week, where you
could find him firmly ensconced in his rocking chair, wearing
cringe-worthy sweaters and surrounded by a troupe of adoring
female backing singers.
His first record hit was Walk Tall in 1964, followed by
a string of chart entries through to the early 70s, including The
Special Years, Elusive Butterfly, What Would I Be?,
Memories Are Made Of This, If The Whole World Stopped
Loving, If I Knew Then What I Know Now and Morning.
Equally popular were his novelty songs such as O'Rafferty's
Motor Car, Delaney's Donkey and Paddy McGinty's Goat.
Today, Val lives in retirement (mainly in Spain), and spends
much of his time painting watercolours. Who said it's all about
sex, drugs and rock & roll?!
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