Silly Billy

[1] The act included playing the part of a fool or idiot, impersonating a child and singing comic songs.

[6][7] The nickname was popularised in the 1970s by impressionist Mike Yarwood, putting it in the mouth of the chancellor, Denis Healey, who took the catchphrase up and used it as his own.

Multiple pairs of white trousers were needed because women liked to tease the clown by smearing gingerbread or sticking pins into his legs so that they bled.

[9] Comic songs included O'ive getten a Soft Pleace i' my Yead and Dolly and the Swill Tub.

[10] The wages of a Silly Billy at the time were about two or three half-crowns per day, averaging about a pound a week, over the year.