Woolly Jim

James Patrick Dudley-Woolworth III CBE (born 14 May 1964) is an English singer-songwriter, media personality, politician and comedian most famous for his role as frontmanman of Dyspraxix during its peak years. "Woolly Jim" as he is more commonly known, is well respected around the St. Helens area and the wider world for his groundbreaking work with Dyspraxix and his outspoken media persona.

Early Life
James Patrick Dudley-Woolworth III was born on the 14th May 1964 at Whiston Hospital, to glassworker James Woolworth Jr. and farmer Jane Dudley. He spent his earliest years between his father's small terraced house in central St. Helens and the farm part-owned by his mother. At the age of 12, Jim's father was killed in an accident involving a large glass pane. Jim described this as a formative moment in his childhood, and one which gave him a deathly fear of windows for many years to come: "I just couldn't look out a window without seein' me own death! Shame they 'ad only glass an' steel buildings, I could barely look up in any town."

Jim attended St Edmund Campion Catholic Secondary School in the local Eccleston area, but was not an excellent student. He has often told of how the teachers would take off his hat and force him to eat it with eggs and toast. After leaving with four O-Levels and a spoon, Jim began work on his mother's farm. Jim had a special affinity for the sheep on the farm, one that he continues to extol to this day, and excelled in his work. It is working with the sheep's wool during market days in nearby Liverpool that Jim received his moniker "Woolly Jim", a name that spoke to his affinity for wool and his distinctive St. Helens accent.

The Comedy Years
Woolly Jim, as he had become known as, continued plying his trade as a sheep farmer for the next decade. On one night to the local pub in 1985 however, Woolly Jim struck it lucky. The comedian that was scheduled to appear was struck by a bout of having his head cut off by a falling piece of aeroplane. The stage was set for the comedy genius of the young Woolly Jim, as his friend Jimmy Johnston pressured him into taking the microphone. Legend has it that the people of that pub continue to laugh to this very day, delighted with the jokes and musical quips they heard that day.

With his foot firmly in the door of the comedy world, Woolly Jim and Jimmy Johnstone began to work the St. Helens-Wigan-Preston-Blackpool-Southport-Bootle-Liverpool-Huyton-Prescot-St. Helens comedy circuit, and in time would become legendary for their side-splitting double act. The Two Jims (Woolly and Prickly) maintained a varied regime of observational, slapstick and only slightly racist humour that propelled them to national fame by the beginning of the 1990s. They took their act to the Camden Circuit, but the London crowds did not appreciate the humour at their expense and the continual "COCKney" jokes. Partly as a result of this and of the influence of Woolly Jim's new girlfriend Lisa Charlesworth, The Two Jims (Woolly and Prickly) ended their joint enterprise in January 1991.

Music Career
Woolly Jim had incorporated music into his comedy routine throughout its duration, but he did not begin to solely focus on his musical talent until after the end of The Two Jims (Woolly and Prickly) in 1991. At the behest of his now fiancée Lisa, Woolly Jim withdrew from the world of comedy and returned to his farm and a quiet life. It was only during his own wedding reception in August 1991 did Woolly Jim rekindle his talent for performing, joining his former comedy partner Jimmy Johnston's band on stage.

Jimmy Johnston and His band of Idiots
The cameo on stage at his wedding whetted Woolly Jim's appetite for a new world of live performance, much to the distaste of his wife. He joined his old friend's band, Jimmy Johnston and His Band of Idiots, as a vocalist and keyboard player on his many tours of the pubs of Northern England. Luckily for Jim, former keyboard player and drummer Mikey "Butter" Buttersworth (who he would late work with during his time at Dyspraxix), was charged with and subsequently found guilty of manslaughter. Over the next 3 years, JJ&HBI changed their style significantly, departing from their origin as a cover band. Woolly Jim's growth as a writer and singer helped the band develop into one of the most premier comedy rock bands in all the former Whiston Rural District Area.

It wasn't long until JJ&HBI received their first record deal. The independent label St Helens Records would help the band propell their career to new heights, with their debut album I Don't Like Soap Operas (For F*ck's Sake Turn That Sh*te Off It's Driving Me Insane) reaching number 43 on the Official UK Charts in the summer of 1995.