Comedian Jimmy Cricket dies aged 80

Comedian Jimmy Cricket has died aged 80 after a short illness, his family said.

In a statement posted to social media they said Cricket spent his last few days surrounded by his family, love, laughter and songs.

"Forever our clown, he was cracking jokes to the wonderful NHS staff and to us all, right until the end. His courage, dignity and positivity through all he endured was inspirational," they added.

The comedian, from Northern Ireland, became a household name in the 1970s.

James Joseph Mulgrew was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone in 1945, Cricket left school at 16 and started the summer season of 1966 as a Redcoat for Butlins.

He worked the comedy club scene in the 1970s and 1980s, going on to win LWT's Search for a Star talent contest and eventually getting his own TV show on ITV and a radio series on BBC Radio 2.

Cricket's family said he had been a "force for joy" and the world was a "far less sillier place today".

"We were going to end by using his famous catchphrase and say: 'There's no More'.

"But Jimmy was a man of great faith and a Papal Knight of the Catholic Church.

"He believed that death is not the end and was looking forward to eternity, so really… And there's more."