George Formby, Jr., OBE (26 May, 1904 – 6 March, 1961) was an English ukulele player singer and comedian who became a major star of both cinema and music hall. Career George was born at 3 Westminster Street, Wigan, Lancashire, as George Hoy Booth, the eldest of seven surviving children (four girls and three boys). His father (James Booth) was George Formby, Sr. (1875-1921) one of the great music hall comedians of his day, fully the equal of his son's later success. His father, not wishing him even to watch his performances, moved the family to Atherton Road in Hindley (near Wigan) and it was from there that George was apprenticed as a jockey when he was seven and rode his first professional race at ten when he weighed under four stone (56 pounds, 25.4 kg). On the death of his father in 1921, Formby abandoned his career as a jockey and started his own music hall career using his father's material. He originally ca