Don Maclean is starting to regret giving up his spot on Radio 2. “I gave up the Good Morning Sunday show in January - just as the Christian and Muslim issue really hit the media,” he says.“I no longer have a platform to talk about these very important issues. I believe that Christians need to explain why they follow their faith and hopefully the Muslims will listen.”
On Saturday, Don will be a special guest at Dudley Concert Hall when the Gentleman Songsters Male Voice Choir put on a performance.
He is also preparing to play the nurse in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre - and is switching on the city’s Christmas lights.
“The Grand Theatre is a fabulous venue and I’m looking forward to getting back there after 30 years away,” he says. “In 1977 I did Dick Whittington and it was a wonderful show. You always get such a good reaction from the audience in the Midlands and I love playing pantomime dames.
“When I was last at the Grand Theatre I was also starring on Crackerjack so all the children knew who I was. We are all professionals and so rehearsals for this year’s show don’t start until November 27. “There will be intense rehearsals from 10am to 7pm every day but the hours get even longer on the last few days before the opening night on December 9.”
A comedian by trade, Don has appeared in cabaret and theatre all over Great Britain, including London Palladium seasons, Royal Command Performances and pantomime. As well as Crackerjack he hosted The Black and White Minstrel Show, and TV game shows such as Mouthtrap and First Letter First. He also presented BBC Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday since 1990.
But Don, who lives in Solihull, says despite being 62-years-old, he is not prepared to pack up his showbiz life. He says: “I love the variety I get from doing a mixture of radio, theatre and TV work but I also love after-dinner speaking.
“I do miss Good Morning Sunday - but I don’t miss the 5am starts. My Saturday night would usually be spent travelling to Manchester for the show. I wouldn’t be able to do anything like the show at Dudley Concert Hall this Saturday.
“Crackerjack was a marvellous show and the BBC shouldn’t have scrapped it. If they had kept it going it would still be running today. If you think of Blue Peter, that format hasn’t changed much but it is still popular - children are still children.
Don, who was awarded an MBE in the 2001 New Year’s Honours List, is a qualified pilot and expert on aircraft of the First World War. He pilots his own Piper Tomahawk and flies regularly to Scotland, Ireland and the south coast.
Don says his two children, Rachel and Rory, will be taking his grandchildren to watch him at the Grand Theatre. He says: “My two eldest grandchildren are panto experts, and I love the reaction I get from the audience as a dame because they always love you - and laugh at you.
Produced
“Bob Monkhouse was the best stand-up comedian we’ve ever produced in this country. Ken Dodd is still filling theatres and I think he’s fantastic.
“People of my own generation who I’ve enjoyed working with include Bernie Clifton, Jimmy Cricket and Tom O’Connor. These are people who know how to do clean comedy and get a laugh.”
Don says he thinks political correctness has gone too far. He says: “I think it’s ridiculous. People have died over the years for freedom of speech and over the last 12 years it’s just been taken away from us.”
After growing up in Sparkbrook and spending time in the Black Country Don says he has a great fondness for the area. “All my cousins lived in Rowley Regis and Oldbury so I used to spend a lot of time in that area.”
l Tickets for the Gentleman Songsters Male Voice Choir show, priced at £11, are available from the ticket hotline on 01384 838863 or from Dudley Council Plus by calling 01384 812812.
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