James Joseph "Jimmy" Tarbuck, OBE (born 6 February 1940), is an English comedian. He was a host of Sunday Night at the London Palladium in the early 1960s, and for his numerous hostings of game and quiz shows on ITV during the 1960s, and for leading ITV's Live From Her Majesty's and its subsequent incarnations during the 1980s. His daughter is the actress, television and radio presenter, Liza Tarbuck.
Biography
Growing up, Tarbuck attended Dovedale Primary School in Liverpool where he was a schoolmate of John Lennon. His first television show was It's Tarbuck '65! on ITV in 1964, and he was the last original host of Sunday Night at the London Palladium, from 1965. He has also hosted numerous quiz shows, including Winner Takes All, Full Swing, and Tarby's Frame Game.
In the 1980s, he hosted similar Sunday night variety shows, Live From Her Majesty's, Live from the Piccadilly and finally Live from the Palladium, which were produced by London Weekend Television for ITV. Nicknamed Tarby, he is a Conservative Party supporter, and at the height of his celebrity was a prominent supporter of Margaret Thatcher and her policies, once baking her a cake for her 60th birthday in October 1985.
"The Sheik of Araby" is a song that was written in 1921 by Harry B. Smith and Francis Wheeler, with music by Ted Snyder. It was composed in response to the popularity of the Rudolph Valentino feature film The Sheik. In 1926, to go with the film The Son of the Sheik, Ted Snyder worked parts of the melody into "That Night in Araby", a related song with words by Billy Rose.
"The Sheik of Araby" was a Tin Pan Alley hit, and was also adopted by early jazz bands, especially in New Orleans, making it a jazz standard. It was a well recognized part of popular culture. A verse also appears in the novel The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1926, Fleischer Studios released a cartoon with this song, recorded in Phonofilm, as part of their Song Car-Tunes series, and a live action short with this title was filmed in Phonofilm in the UK, directed by Miles Mander.
The "Araby" in the title refers to Arabia or the Arabian Peninsula. The appeal to New Orleans bands may have lain in "Araby" sharing the same pronunciation as Arabi, Louisiana, a town downriver from New Orleans' 9th Ward and a center for gambling just outside city limits until the early 1950s.
Podcasts:
Jimmy Tarbuck
ALBUMS
- You Are Awful... But We Like You! released:
You Are Awful... But We Like You!
- You're the One That I Want
- Prisencolinensinaincuisol (Freezin' Cold in 89 Twoso)
- Ecstasy
- Dance With Me
- I Like Birds
- Where Will You Be
- My Little Tune
- Get Me to the Church on Time
- Oh Cheryl
- If You Believe
- I've Never Been to Me
- Copacabana
- The Worzel Song
- Living Doll
- If a Hundred Million People
- I'll Never Fall in Love Again
- Wasting Time
- Once Upon a Time
- Stone the Crows
- Don't Cry for Me Argentina
- Rhubarb Tart Song (feat. 1948 Show)
- Hands Off, Stop Mucking About
- Georgy Girl
- We'll Be Together
- The Sheik of Araby
-
by Spike Jones
-
by Tommy Cooper
-
by Leon Redbone
-
by Domino Fats
-
by The Beatles
-
by Beatles
The Sheik Of Araby
by: Spike JonesI'm the Sheik of Araby,
Your love belongs to me.
At night when you're asleep
Into your tent I'll creep.
And the stars that shine above,
Will light our way to love.
You'll roam this land with me,
I'm the Sheik of Araby.
Oh, I'm the Sheik of Araby
And all the women worship me.
You should see them follow me around. Not bad.
Even wives of all the other sheiks,
They beg to kiss my rosy cheeks
And that ain't bad -- in fact, that's good, I've found. I'm a cad!
When I lay down to sleep
I'm counting girls instead of sheep
From my harem I can't scare 'em out. Why should I?
They're beauties from all races,
And some have pretty faces.