A History Of Liverpool Thespians - Keith Chegwin

Keith Chegwin was born on the 17th of January 1957 in the Walton district of Liverpool, to Margaret (nee Wells) and Colin Chegwin, and is the brother of Janice (Long), who became a DJ, and Jeffrey, his twin. His dad Colin worked in the timber trade and his mum Margaret was a former dinner lady. He sang in working men’s clubs in the North West with the Happy Wanderers concert party from the age of 11 after he had horrified his parents when he unexpectedly walked on stage after entering an end-of-the pier talent competition in Rhyl, North Wales. On appearing in the children’s TV variety show Junior Showtime, he was spotted by June Collins, the mother of the pop star Phil, who was an agent for the Barbara Speake Stage school in Acton, West London. She invited him to audition for the West End musical 'Mame' (1969), starring Ginger Rogers; he was hired but was unable to appear because of licensing laws for child performers, so he trained at the school instead. There, with his twin brother, Jeff, as part of a play he performed in at the school, Keith sang the first song that Phil Collins ever wrote.

After that he went on to make 7 films and was fortunate enough to work with Peter Sellers when he had a small role in the film 'The Optimists of Nine Elms' (1973). However it was while he was at school that he auditioned and gained roles on TV, film and stage. He firstly appeared in Children's Film Foundation productions as Egghead Wentworth in 'The Troublesome Double' (1967) and 'Egghead's Robot' (1970). Following a role in 'Armchair Theatre' (1971) came his most prestigious acting role as Fleance in Roman Polanski's film 'Macbeth'(1971). He then appeared as a child in episodes of 'The Liver Birds' (1972) and 'The Adventures of Black Beauty' (1972), as well as the 1973 pilot episode of 'Open All Hours'. Next was 3 episodes of 'My Old Man' (1974), playing Ron, the grandson of Sam Cobbett (Clive Dunn) in the Yorkshire TV comedy and as Kevin Casy in an episode of 'Z-Cars' (1974). In 1975 he began a regular role as Raymond Clarkson in the sitcom 'The Wackers' (1975-2013) and 'The Tomorrow People', 'Kim & Co.', 'Rule Brittania!' and the title role in 'Robin Hood Junior', which was to be his last major acting role. He was 17 when he met Rosemary Gill, editor of Swap Shop after he had written to the BBC suggesting a Michael Parkinson show for children; she offered him a job.

He did later have two small roles with Tom Courtenay in the 'Chester Mystery Circle' (1976) and some years later in the film 'Whatever happened to Harold Smith?' (1999) and has appeared in TV ads for products such as Pepsi, Cadbury's Creme Eggs, Ready Brek, Toffo and Tizer, Keith also performed in West End stage shows such as a musical version of 'Tom Brown's School Days' (1971) with Simon Le Bon, 'The Good Old Bad Old Days' (1972) with Anthony Newley, and 'Captain Pugwash' (1973) at the King's Road Theatre. He had a career as a singer, releasing singles on the Cherub and Pye record labels, such as 'I'll Never Fall in Love Again' (1977), but turned down an offer to front the band 'Kenny' (who had a No.3 UK hit with "The Bump"). He also worked as a disc jockey for Radio City in Liverpool and on Tony Blackburn's BBC Radio 1 show for four years. Working with Ricky Gervais was to be a later highlight in his career too. Keith said, "It's the biggest compliment when someone asks you to take part in one of their projects. I was amazed to be asked to take part in 'Extras' (2006) and then be phoned back for 'Life's Too Short' (2011-13) and then again for a one hour special. I was thinking "Oh my God, all of these people that don't trust me, but Ricky Gervais does, I don't give a damn about the others"

It was because of all of those various projects that he got into presenting, hosting Saturday morning TV, and fronting kids programmes, then somehow from that he moved on to knocking on doors giving money away to people for a living! He became a household name presenting programmes like 'Multi-Coloured Swap Shop', 'Cheggers Plays Pop' and 'Saturday Superstore' throughout the 1970s and 80s. 

Cheggers Plays Pop

Keith was a recovered alcoholic who had rebuilt his career against the odds and was sober for 20 years. In a 2001 interview he admitted that he had smoked 60 cigarettes a day throughout his adult life. Following a long-term battle with a progressive lung condition, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which rapidly worsened towards the end of the year, Keith sadly died peacefully at home shortly after midnight on the 11th of December, 2017. His wife Maria, his daughter Rose and his son Ted were by his side.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/02/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-gilly.html