VETERAN funnyman Jimmy Jones returns to Clacton’s Princes Theatre with his irreverent brand of stand-up humour next week.

The legendary comedian celebrated his 80th birthday last month but is still firing on all cylinders with his unique style of adult humour.

The Essex boy got his first taste of showbiz aged just 11 when he won the Carol Lewis Discoveries Show and the original radio version of Opportunity Knocks.

He won many talent shows as a singer and whistler, but went on to become an amateur comedian around the London club circuit in between jobs as a plasterer, tiler, lorry driver, arc welder with Ford and docker at Dagenham Docks.

Jimmy’s first professional shows were in 1962 at the Royal Standard in Walthamstow and the legendary Montague Arms in Peckham, south London.

He was one of the originals when the early Seventies saw the birth of long-running TV series The Comedians, followed by regular spots on Battle of the Comics, The Freddie Star Show, The Chas and Dave Show and Six O’Clock Live.

His outrageous gags won over American audiences at a triumphant debut in Las Vegas in 1986.

Jim Davidson and the late Benny Hill were huge fans, along with rock bands Iron Maiden and Status Quo, Rolling Stone Bill Wyman and actor Tom Selleck.

And Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Princess Margaret are just some of the Royal Family that have enjoyed Jimmy’s humour at charity events.

In 1991 Jimmy achieved a life-long ambition by playing a sell-out one man show at the London Palladium.

His risque humour may have kept him off mainstream TV but it’s also made Jimmy a cult comedian, selling hundreds of thousands of videos and DVDs, and he continues to sell out theatres across the UK.

Jimmy is at the Princes Theatre on March 18 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £18, available from the box office on 01255 686633.

The day before the town’s West Cliff Theatre will be transformed into the Club Tropicana for a Wham! tribute show.

Young Guns of all ages can travel back in time to the Eighties when George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley ruled the airwaves - and the charts.

It’s 37 years since the lads first joined forces after going to school together.

Young Guns peaked at number three in 1982, followed by Wham Rap, Bad Boys and Club Tropicana, which all made the top ten.

There first chart-topper came in 1984 with Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. Careless Whisper and Freedom also sailed to number one in the same year. Last Christmas was only kept off the number one spot by Live Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas, but the boys were soon top of the heap again with I’m Your Man and The Edge of Heaven. They split in 1986 after selling a massive 28million records in just four short years.

Tribute show The Best of Wham! stars TV talent show Let It Shine quarter-finalist Craig Webb as the late George Michael, who died on Christmas Day 2016.

The show includes all the hits, with a few B side favourites thrown in for good musical measure and early George Michael bonus tracks thrown in for good measure.

Manager Julie Sweeney says of the tribute show: “This is a non-stop Wham! party that is sure to leave audiences singing and dancing the whole way home.”

The Best of Wham! is at the West Cliff in Tower Road on March 17 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £23.50 from the box office on 01255 433344.