The comic spoke to the ECHO about his traumatic beginnings, his incredible life story and his love for Liverpool
Comedian Stan Boardman spoke to the ECHO in an exclusive interview about his life story(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
“If you were to light the candles, the house would go on fire. 88 of the b******s.” Stan Boardman is on good form as he jokes why there will only be one candle on his birthday cake today. The razor sharp wit could easily convince you otherwise, but the comedy legend is actually turning 88 today and he clearly has no plans of slowing down as he approaches the end of his ninth decade.
The ECHO visited his home in Merseyside this week ahead of the big day to talk about his incredible life story which he has poured into a new self-titled autobiography. Although Stan is synonymous with making people laugh, his beginnings are actually wrapped up in trauma as his first memory involves the death of his six-year-old brother who was killed by Nazi bombers during the Liverpool Blitz in May 1941.
Recounting the harrowing story, he said: “We were evacuated to Wrexham and we were there for about a year. My mum said we’ll go back because it doesn’t look like the bombs are coming. Three weeks after we got back, the Germans come and flattened parts of Liverpool.
“The shelter that we were in was blown up. It had a six inch bit of concrete at the top but the blast knocked it down. My brother, Tommy, was killed and my mother had bad injuries.”
Stan was just three years old at the time and would have died if it wasn’t for the heroic act of his 13-year-old babysitter, Mary Munro. The story is even more devastating as Mary died while saving Stan – and the comic struggles to hold back the tears as he reveals he has dedicated his autobiography to her memory. He added: “God bless her. She protected me and she was killed. She must have put her body over me as the shelter fell in and she saved my life.
“Even talking about it now, I get a lump in my throat, thinking about this young girl.” He added: “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her and I just wish she was here too.”
Traumatic events like this never leave you, even after 84 years, as Stan added: “I remember that day vividly sitting on the slate, seeing smoke, fire and finding I had a lot of grit in my mouth from being under the bricks. Even now when I get something in my mouth, I go back to those days.
“I was picked up out of the shelter by someone. Someone had got in there and pulled us out, separated the bricks to get the people who were lying under the rubble. Whoever it was got us to Stanley Road hospital.”
Due to the overcrowding at the hospital after the raid, Stan was placed in the morgue with his late brother, while his dad travelled home from army duty to find his family, and their home in Everton Valley, in tatters. He said: “That was very hard for our family to try and recuperate ourselves from that. It was a bad time. A lot of people in Liverpool have relations who all had the same problems as people were bombed, left with no homes and had to start again.”
Stan’s mum managed to save his sister, Ada, during the bombing and the four of them relocated to Dovecot where they rebuilt their lives as best they could. While Stan’s childhood took a happy turn after the end of the war, the void left by Tommy’s death was never filled, as he said: “I always wanted a brother because I lost Tommy. My mum was trying for a son but it was always a girl. My mum had six more girls in a two-up, two-down council house.” Stan added: “I didn’t know what it was like to sleep on my own until I got married.”
Stan has used comedy as a way of processing his own greatest trauma. He said: “[Why] I can come out of this and still tell jokes and be a comedian, I don’t know. Maybe a brick hit me on the head and I’ve gone a bit daft. I turn everything into a joke which gets on people’s nerves. I can’t stand there and just talk sense. I’ve got to talk s**t all the time.”
Stan Boardman spoke to the ECHO at his home in Merseyside(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Material on German bombers became his signature joke and the comic said laughing in the face of adversity is something that is part of the Scouse identity. He said: “Scousers are never serious, they’re always there with a gag and a joke.
“Everybody in my class at school was funn. Everybody in Liverpool is funny. If you go to a pub in Liverpool, everybody is telling you jokes and gags. They’ve got a funny knack with comedy.”
He added: “People just love the Scouse accent. When I started off being a comedian, I said, ‘The Germans bombed our chippies’, and they all laughed. Catchphrases are a funny thing because I would just say that as a kid. All the Scousers used to say it because the chip shops in Liverpool were getting bombed.
“Every time I said German [on stage], all the audience repeated it. So I threw more German jokes in.”
For a natural-born comic like Stan, it’s staggering to think how easily his life could have gone down an entirely different path. He was on Liverpool FC’s books for two years before national service derailed his professional football dreams. His time in the military saw him dispatched to Germany when he discovered a new side to the country he had previously considered his enemy.
He said: “I got to know them and the lads who I played football with didn’t know anything about the war. They were just ordinary people like us and they became friends of mine.”
After returning home, Stan worked as a lifeguard at Butlin’s Bognor Regis and it was here he fell in love with his wife Vivienne.
After the two married, they relocated to Vivienne’s native Tottenham, before moving back up north to Liverpool to start a family. Stan was living an ordinary life, supporting his wife and two children as a wagon driver when disaster struck during the economic downturn of the 1970s and he lost his job. He said: “I was on the dole for two years. That was tough.”
But, still wanting to treat the family to nice things, Stan and Vivienne pooled enough money together for a three -ay trip to Butlin’s in 1976 which changed the course of Stan’s life forever. The holiday park was hosting a comedy talent show and his young children put their dad forward to get up on stage. Stan laughs: “It’s their fault. I didn’t have a suit or nothing. The compere leant me his dickie bow. I went on and won it.”
Of course, the journey didn’t stop here as the contest was part of a wider national talent search that ended with a grand finale at the London Palladium. Stan’s humour, forged on the streets of Liverpool, meant he was a natural on stage – and he went on to win the whole thing.
He said: “I won it and I won a thousand pound. I went to my HSBC bank in Old Swan. I got the cheque and handed it in. The fella in the bank said, ‘Thanks Stan, you only owe us £2,500 now’. I never saw the cheque and that’s when I started going around the clubs.”
The financial gain may have been shortlived but Stan had already attractede the attention of influential figures within the entertainment industry. He soon had a manager and was offered spots on popular TV shows such as The Comedians and Opportunity Knocks which gave him the platform to become a household name in comedy.
Out of nowhere, Stan’s life had transformed in his late 30s as he now had an audience of millions. However, he insists this never fazed him and he never felt nervous, as he joked: “Maybe that’s because I never had a bloody brain. You never know how nerves take you. I used to get up there. If it didn’t go down well, it doesn’t matter, I’d go the bar and have a drink. There’ll be another night.”
It’s this positive attitude that continues to drive the comedian nearly 50 years later as he is still an active stand-up who has lost none of the buzz for making people laugh. True to form, he’s celebrating his 88th birthday today with a sold out show in Lytham St Anne’s where he will later celebrate with his family.
The scars of growing up through wartime Britain will never truly heal, but Stan couldn’t have been happier with how his life has panned out since, as he said the key to staying young is, simply, happiness.
He said: “I’ve no regrets at all. I’ve led a good life. I don’t know if anybody could have had it easier or happier than what I’ve had it. The kids and Viv have been great to me.
“It’s something inside you within. When things are going wrong for you, it doesn’t matter. Things might come right. Just keep going, don’t moan and forget about it. Enjoy life.” Stan Boardman: My Life Story is available on Amazon now