James Young (comedian)

These included "Orange Lily", "The Lady from Cherryvalley", and "Derek the Window Cleaner" from the BBC Radio Ulster series The McCooeys.

In the economic uncertainty following World War I, the Youngs moved to the industrial Belfast where Alexander found work as a stable hand for a local bakery.

At the age of 14, Young left school and found work as a rent collector for a local estate agent.

[3] After two years, Young tired of collecting rent and volunteered for the Savoy Players, an English company based at the Grand Opera House during World War II.

He joined the Youth Hostel Association Drama Group in 1943 and, in the first year, he won the award for best actor for his performance in A Story For Today by Jack Loudan.

[5] Due in part to the praise for his performance in A Story For Today, Young was offered a role in the Ulster Group Theatre's production of Joseph Tomelty's Right Again, Barnum.

He found work in a repertory company based at the Stockport Hippodrome near Manchester, appearing in over a hundred productions across different genres.

At the end of the tour, Young started to feel home sick for Northern Ireland and he, along with Hudson, returned to Belfast.

The series continued to raise Young's profile and, in 1954, he realised his dream of appearing in his own show at the Grand Opera House.

[1] Following the withdrawal of Sam Thompson's play Over The Bridge from Ulster Group Theatre, Young was invited to bring his unique comedy talents to the venue.

Young asked one of his popular sketch writers Sam Cree to adapt Glenn Melvyn's The Love Match for an Ulster audience.

[8] He was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for having the longest running one man show ever and it was also claimed that he sold more albums in Northern Ireland than The Beatles.

While driving home on the afternoon of 5 July 1974, Young suffered a massive heart attack and was pronounced dead at the scene.

In 2013, a biographical play about Young was shelved after the Sunday World, a sensationalist Belfast tabloid, published unsubstantiated allegations that he had been involved in child abuse.