Joe O'Gorman

Joseph George O'Gorman (24 July 1890 – 26 August 1974) was a British entertainer and cricketer. With his brother Dave (1894–1964) he formed a song, dance and comedy act called the O'Gorman Brothers. Starting by touring the variety halls of England, in the 1930s they also became popular in the United States and earned a fortune.

In 1907 Joe and Dave began appearing as the O'Gorman Brothers, their act including acrobatic dancing, singing and comedy. They had considerable success, and toured South Africa in 1913 and visited Berlin, Vienna and Budapest the following year. Eventually the format settled into that of a comedy double act. They toured their own shows Round the Town, Finnegan’s Follies and Fools in Paradise. In the 1920s they became noted for the so-called "Crazy" style of comedy. They frequently appeared at the Holborn Empire and toured their London Palladium shows. In 1936 they appeared in the film Variety Parade.

During World War II they made broadcasts on BBC radio, and toured in shows that included The Boys of the BBC and Hello Playmates with Arthur Askey. During this time they developed a very popular comedy ventriloquist routine. They also did much work entertaining the troops with ENSA, this including visiting Italy, India and Burma. Both brothers also played for the Surrey second eleven, where Joe in particular was very successful. As a result, in May 1927 he was selected to play two games at The Oval for the Surrey first team, making his debut at the relatively late age of 36. A leg-spinner described as having a "great repertoire of deliveries", he took four wickets, including one with his first ball in first-class cricket. Batting at number nine, he had three not out scores of 31, 20 and 42. His variety commitments meant that he was unable to play in the next - away - match. He made only one further appearance for the first team, the following month, when he was out for 13. This left him with the freakishly high career first-class batting average of 106.

His grandson Tim O'Gorman also played first-class cricket.