Lionel Blair

Henry Lionel Ogus was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His parents were Jewish: Myer Ogus (a barber) and Debora "Della" Greenbaum. His father emigrated from Russia to Canada to start a new life and his wife joined him shortly afterwards.[2]

Blair came to Britain when he was two years old. His first public performances were with his sister Joyce (1932–2006) in the Manor House[3] Underground station air raid shelters and on the trains of the Piccadilly line during the air raids of the Second World War.

He was singled out in several reviews for his performance as one of the children in a touring performance of the play Watch on the Rhine during 1943,[4][5] and attended the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford in 1944.[6] In 1946 he joined a touring company called the Savoy Players.[7]

Blair eventually rekindled his passion for musical theatre and began working in the West End. He gave up acting for dancing in 1947 although he subsequently appeared in the fringe production Out of the Blue (Chichester) and Who Killed Agatha Christie (national tour) among other acting credits. He took his stage name around this time, later changing it by deed poll just before he married in 1967 (his sister also decided to use the same surname professionally).

Blair came to the fore in the 1960s when, with his dance troupe, he appeared on television variety programmes. He also appeared in the films The Limping Man (1953), The World of Suzie Wong (1960), The Cool Mikado (1963), The Beauty Jungle (1964), A Hard Day's Night (1964), Maroc 7 (1967) and Absolute Beginners (1986), cameoed in an episode of The Persuaders!, and appeared in television comedy, including the short film, The Plank. In addition, he choreographed films such as Jazz Boat (1960), in which he made an uncredited appearance, and The Magic Christian (1969).[8] In addition, he appeared in Miss World 1969 and 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Lionel Blair's handprints in Bath, UK

In 1972, Blair wrote a musical based on the novel War and Peace. It toured around the UK for six months. Blair was one of the team captains on the game show Give Us a Clue from 1979 until the early 1990s, and was the second presenter of the British version of Name That Tune in the 1980s.[9]

In 1983, he appeared as the celebrity darter for charity on Bullseye. He published his autobiography Stagestruck in 1986. In 2005, he took part in the Channel Five reality series, The Farm. Until 2005 he appeared extensively in pantomime, for which he earned up to £15,000 a week.[10]

In 1988, Blair made an appearance in aid of charity on the British television game show Catchphrase, hosted by Irish comedian Roy Walker. Other celebrities also appeared alongside Blair, with big names at the time including radio DJ Chris Tarrant.

In 1993, Blair appeared as himself in an episode of Birds of a Feather. He took part in the 2007 Christmas special of the Ricky Gervais show Extras, as himself, portraying the end-stages of his showbiz career by trying to keep up his profile by appearing on Celebrity Big Brother.

In 2009, twenty-one years after Chris Rea's "Driving Home for Christmas" was first released, Blair starred in an original video for the song that was made in aid of Shelter; all proceeds from the digital download were donated to the charity.

In July 2010, Blair appeared in the "Great British Dog Walks" feature on ITV's This Morning with his dog Lola. The same year, he took part in the BBC's The Young Ones, in which six celebrities in their 70s and 80s attempt to overcome some of the problems of ageing by harking back to the 1970s.[11]

In December 2010, he appeared briefly in a sketch with Ronnie Corbett and Rob Brydon in BBC One's The One Ronnie. On 24 December 2011, he appeared on the ITV program Text Santa with Ant & Dec. In 2012, he was cast in the film version of Ray Cooney's farce Run for Your Wife. On 3 January 2014, he entered the Celebrity Big Brother house with Made in Chelsea media personality Ollie Locke, after being handcuffed together as part of a task set by Big Brother. He became the third housemate to be evicted on 17 January 2014.[12]

Blair continues to work as an actor, having filmed an episode of BBC One's medical soap opera Doctors in 2014.[13]

He appeared in the British short film Evil's Evil Cousin in 2016. On 14 December that year, he guested on the ITV panel show, Loose Women, to announce and celebrate his recent 88th birthday. The panellists presented him with a personalised cake. In 2017, Blair was one of the celebrities appearing in the BBC reality series The Real Marigold Hotel.[14]

In 2018, he joined 26 other celebrities at Metropolis Studios, to perform an original Christmas song called "Rock With Rudolph". The song was recorded in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital and was released digitally on independent record label Saga Entertainment on 30 November 2018. The music video debuted exclusively with The Sun on 29 November 2018, and had its first TV showing on Good Morning Britain on 30 November 2018. Blair appeared on Loose Women on 13 December to help promote the single and celebrate his 90th Birthday. The song peaked at number two on the iTunes pop chart.[15][16]

In 2019, he received the honour of being named 'Oldie of the Year' at the annual awards promoted by The Oldie magazine.[17][18]

Blair, and his (incorrectly) implied homosexuality, is a recurring joke on the long-running BBC Radio series I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, often as the punchline of a double-entendre.

On 21 September 2006, Blair and comedian Alan Carr helped save a man about to fall from a pier in Blackpool. The man was holding on by his fingers.[19]

Blair and wife Susan celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in March 2017. They have three children and three grandchildren.

• "Still clued-up after 60 years", The Post, 3 December 2008

• Blair chooses Sammy Davis Jr on BBC Radio 4's "Great Lives"
• Lionel Blair at IMDb
• Blair's appearance with dog Lola on ITV1's "This Morning" show