Don Maclean KSS (born ) is an English actor and comedian, who appeared on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television series '' Crackerjack'' with

Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television presenter and newsreader. He hosted programmes such as '' Crackerjack!'', '' Ask Aspel'', ''Aspel & Company'', '' Give Us a Clue'', '' This Is Your Life'', '' Strange ...

, Peter Glaze and Jan Hunt in the 1970s. Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, he attended Clifton Road School, Balsall Heath and St. Philip's School, which was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

for boys in

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

. His first job was as a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

at the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

and he was an entertainer in pubs, clubs and holiday camps. Maclean's first television appearance was on the soap opera '' Crossroads'' and early in his career he was a comedy compère of the

television series ''

The Black and White Minstrel Show ''The Black and White Minstrel Show'' is a British light entertainment show on BBC prime-time television that ran from 1958 to 1978. The weekly variety show presented traditional American minstrel and country songs, as well as show tunes and m ...

''. On Crackerjack, Maclean usually performed a live routine or routines with Glaze in front of a studio audience of children and a filmed insert with Glaze, in the style of a silent comedy film. Live routines would almost always work in the 'joke' where an exasperated Glaze would exclaim 'Maclean!' to which Maclean would answer 'Yes, I had a bath this morning!'. Also notable was that when responding to Glaze's exasperation, Maclean would regularly give an alliterative reply, such as "Don't get your knickers in a knot" or "Don't get your tights in a twist". Maclean also appeared in the film '' Carry On Columbus''. A practising Roman Catholic, from 1990 Maclean presented

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

's religious show ''Good Morning Sunday'', until he was replaced by Aled Jones in 2006. He hosted the panel games ''The Clever Dick-Athlon'' (1988–90) and ''Are You Sitting Comfortably'' (1993–96), both for Radio 2, and '' First Letter First'' (1993) for BBC1. He also toured in the play ''There's No Place Like a Home'' with Gorden Kaye. In 2009, he claimed that the BBC is keen on programmes which attack churches and that there is a wider secularist campaign to get rid of Christianity."BBC is anti-Christian and pro-Muslim says ex host"
christian.org.uk; accessed 21 May 2015. In 2006 Maclean pleaded guilty to drink-driving and had his licence suspended for twelve months.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maclean, Don 1942 births Living people English male stage actors English male television actors English male comedians English television presenters British radio DJs Blackface minstrel performers BBC Radio 2 presenters Knights of the Order of St. Sylvester Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at St Philip's School Male actors from Birmingham, West Midlands English Roman Catholics Comedians from Birmingham, West Midlands