Talk:Les Dawson

Editing problem
I have tried to edit the page about Les dawson as there are some inaccuracies and I wanted to add details. I did add them but when I went back to the original page the edits had not changed and all my extra information had disappeared. Can you tell what I did wrong? J2TMR@aol.com Thank you in anticipation

You mean the addition of "2-2-1933 to 10-6-1993" ? It's there. Perhaps it's a caching problem at your end - try reloading the page.

Anyway, that info should be integrated into the article instead of floating at the top. I'll do that, but first tell me what dating format you're using.

Is it 10th June 1993 or 6th October 1993? Evercat 22:27 1 Jul 2003 (UTC)

No I imagine you don't mean that, sice I see that edit happened months ago. :-) Did you preview the page but forget to save it, maybe? Evercat 22:29 1 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Date of birth
The IMDb has the year of Dawson's death as 1931, not '33 or '34. Would it be correct to use that? TonyW 00:16, 26 May 2004 (UTC)
 * I think you meant "year of Dawson's birth"? Martinevans123 (talk) 20:57, 29 July 2019 (UTC)


 * Date and place of birth is confirmed in the DNB as 2 February 1931 in Thornton Street, Collyhurst. His first wife was Margaret Rose Plant and they married 25 June 1960, she died in 1987 not 1986.  His second wife was Tracy Roper and they married in 1989.  He died at St Joseph's Hospital, Manchester.  Those are all from the DNB which has been known to be wrong occasionally!  I will leave someone to merge the details into the main text.  --jmb 23:46, 7 November 2006 (UTC)


 * IMDB would appear to be wrong - other contemporary references from newspapers (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) from 1993 say he was 59 at the time of death, as does the current obituary referenced in the article. Also Encyclopedia Britannica lists as 59 (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Les-Dawson) Seajay (talk) 12 January 2019  —Preceding undated comment added 00:53, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

The current main source for 2 February 1934 if this one in The Independent. FreeBMD here, however gives 1931. Should it be removed and replaced with another? Martinevans123 (talk) 20:57, 29 July 2019 (UTC) p.s. his age at death, of 62 years, can be seen on his gravestone here

Ethnicity
Old Les wasn't a Jew by any chance was he? -Dr Haggis - Talk 01:48, 31 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Not so far as I know. Maybe that's why he was so terrified by the ghost of Sid James?

130.225.25.169 (talk) 12:54, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Me-moing
me-moing. In the listing on Les Dawson its said that the characters Cissy and Ada - played by Les and Roy Barraclough - would 'whisper' to avoid using certain words. What is far more likely is that they were me-moing. A silent form of speech using exageratted mouth movements so that the other person could lip-read at a distance. This is a form of communication that was commonplace in parts of the North West of England in towns such as Bolton, Bury and Rochdale where many women of that age would have worked in cotton and paper mills. The noise of the industrial process in these mills made normal conversation impossible. Me-moing would often be accompanied by visual 'mimes' - drinking, smoking, walking etc.

Peter Kay has made much of me-moing in his act ie. 'fancy a brew'

Second wedding
where did les dawson get married the second time and name of church —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.98.209.102 (talk) 16:13, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

should at least be some more info on second marriage - at the moment it's only implied by mention of his wife at the time of his death (assuming that's accurate, of course) Davidmcn1972 (talk) 21:24, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Poorly Written
This article is not well written. What do you mean "would have had a heart attack" when have heart attacks become predictable?

Unfunny
Les Dawson's "act" was fairly feeble and much based on plagiarism of older classic English acts.

Les Dawson was a genius who was loved by the public for his straightforward mother-in-law jokes, and by other entertainers due to the quality and intelligence of his writing and wordplay. Taking inspiration from others is how the world progresses, and shoudl be encouraged. Pollythewasp (talk) 10:20, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

"Nona"
Does anyone have any info about Dawson's role in the 1991 TV film of Roberto Cossa's play "Nona", in which Dawson played the title character, an old Argentinian lady? I seem to remember he played it straight, rather than for laughs. IMDB's page and the BFI's page on the film are both pretty sparse. I feel Dawson's part in it warrants inclusion on this page, given that it was quite a departure from his usual comedy roles ~dom Kaos~ (talk) 13:03, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Autobiography
According to the article his autobiography is "entertaining but factually unreliable" - surely a breach of WP:RS? Also, it's mainly cited to quote a joke. Autarch (talk) 19:19, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Well according to IMDb she was born on 3 October 1992. So that is about right. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:32, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

"who was only eight months old when he died"
That would make him 61 when she was born, which I find really difficult to believe.-- Laun  chba  ller  17:20, 11 May 2014 (UTC)