ONE of Northern Ireland’s most respected and best loved comedians John Linehan MBE has been awarded with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement accolade at the Ulster Tatler Awards in association with Keens Belfast, which took place last night (Thursday) in the Crowne PlazaHotel, Shaw’s Bridge.
The north Belfast-born star picked up the award which in the past has been won by a host of local legends including Dame Mary Peters OBE, Sir James Galway, Brian Friel, Phil Coulter, Gloria Hunniford, Michael Longley, Gerry Armstrong, Barry McGuigan, Terri Hooley, Marie Jones, Hollywood actor Ciaran Hinds and sporting hero Pat Jennings who was honoured at the 2019 ceremony.
John Linehan was a car mechanic before he rose to fame in the guise of his plain-speaking, gap-toothed housewife character, May McFettridge.
Eamonn Holmes, his relative, had asked Linehan to phone his then radio show, to liven the programme up. Linehan pretended to be a Belfast housewife, and the banter between the two attracted an unprecedented number of positive phone calls to the studio, many asking for a return of the women as a regular on the show. Following the appearance, things really took off and his most famous best loved character was born.
He invented the name and the character by ad-libbing — the first name being that of his mother-in-law and the surname being that of an Antrim hurler by the name of Olcan McFettridge, whose exploits in a National Hurling League game had made headlines in the local newspaper which happened to be beside him when put on the spot. The character became a regular on Downtown Radio.
Since that time, John has topped the bill as May McFettridge in the annual Christmas Pantomime in the Grand Opera House in Belfast for a record thirty consecutive years.
Throughout his career, John has also been highly involved in charity work, appearing regularly on Children in Need broadcasts, as well as organising events to help raise money for various children’s charities. In 2006, he was awarded an MBE for charitable services in Northern Ireland.
On 2 December 2014, he was presented on stage with a bust of himself to mark his 25th consecutive year of performing at the Grand Opera House’s pantomime. The bust is now on view in the Grand Circle of the theatre opposite the bust of Frank Matcham, the architect of the building.
Over the years he has worked with the likes of Frank Bruno, George Best, Frank Carson, Joey Dunlop, Mo Moylan, Jack Charlton and Barry McGuigan to name but a few.
Ulster Tatler editor Chris Sherry said that Linehan was an extremely worthy winner of the evening’s pivotal award.
“The province has a huge admiration for John as a homegrown success,” said Chris. “After 30 years of bringing laughs and smiles to householdsthroughout Northern Ireland, he remains one of the most recognised and loved faces in the country. His successes reflects a truly extraordinary careerand the ongoing mark he continues to make in society with his work is nothing short of amazing.
“Most importantly, John is also a wonderful ambassador for Northern Ireland and someone who, in every way, represents the essence of what ourLifetime Achievement Award is all about,” he added.
Awards host Pamela Ballantine delivered the citation for the award to a full house of more than 400 guests at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, reliving the exciting and inspirational life to date of the legend John Linehan.
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