By George, that ukulele sounds grand!
A TALENTED youngster is proving a hit with shoppers when he busks with his ukulele.
George Robinson’s love of George Formby led him to teach himself to play the ukulele.
Now, dressed as the old-time entertainer, the 11-year-old can be seen most weekends busking in Redcar.
Dad, Ernest Robinson, 46, said when the youngster first got interested in it his family thought it would be a passing phase, but now almost two years on George is just as keen. He takes his ukulele everywhere with him, even on a recent holiday to Spain.
George, who has just left John Emmerson Batty Primary School in the town, said he usually busks on a Sunday afternoon near the town’s Blue Lounge pub. He said people are very generous and enjoy listening to him.
Ernest, who lives in the town’s Roseberry Road, said: “It’s amazing the way he has picked it up. He is really good now and he has learned it all by himself.”
Deciding to learn to play the ukulele might seem unusual for a primary-aged youngster, but George said it was his interest in the events of the Second World War that led to it. He said: “I love anything to do with the Second World War and that’s how I came across George Formby. I heard the song ‘When I’m Cleaning Windows’ and I liked it. Then later I heard it again and I decided I was going to learn to play it.”
During the war, Formby worked for the Entertainments National Service Association and by 1946 it was estimated he had performed in front of three million service personnel.
“If there is ever a World War Three, that’s what I will do, I will be the next George Formby,” George added.
The youngster, who will join Rye Hills Academy in September, said he has collected a number of outfits to dress like the old-time entertainer and is hoping to get a helmet to go with his uniform.