Des O'Connor to be honoured on 80th birthday with TV special

Des O'Connor will be honoured in a television special to mark his 80th birthday.



The legendary presenter and singer, who launched his showbiz career in the 1950s, will host the 90-minute show on ITV later this year after celebrating the landmark birthday in January.

O'Connor's former chatshow co-host Melanie Sykes will make a special appearance in The One and Only Des O'Connor.

Other celebrity guests on the show will include Little Britain's Matt Lucas, comedian Paul O'Grady, former Coronation Street actress Katherine Kelly and My Family star Robert Lindsay.

O'Connor said of the one-off episode: "I am really looking forward to sharing a fun-filled 90 minutes with the viewers."

ITV's controller of entertainment John Kaye Cooper added: "He has a great history with the channel and, along with some special guests, it will be an unmissable show."

I saw Des at the Coventry Hippodrome before he became famous. He had the women in the audience in stitches but I didn't get the humour myself. My seat was next to the side entrance and part way through his act a 'tramp' sneaked-in by the side door and started watching the show. I couldn't understand at the time why the management didn't simply throw him out? Then Des called for a volunteer from the audience and the tramp stepped forward and mounted the stage. I thought "Oh my God, there'll be hell to pay now!"

Spoiler:

I had no idea the 'tramp' was in fact the actor Jack Douglas!