John Joseph Linehan, MBE (born 1952,

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

) is an Irish entertainer, most known for his

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...

character May McFettridge. Linehan has, in character, been a long-running feature on local radio and television, as well as a regular

pantomime dame A pantomime dame is a traditional role in British pantomime. It is part of the theatrical tradition of '' travesti'' portrayal of female characters by male actors in drag. Dame characters are often played either in an extremely camp style, or el ...

May McFettridge

John Linehan was a car mechanic before he rose to fame in the guise of his plain-speaking, gap-toothed housewife character, May McFettridge.

Eamonn Holmes Eamonn Holmes (; born 3 December 1959) is a Northern Irish broadcaster and journalist. He co-presented the breakfast television show ''GMTV'' (1993–2005) for ITV, before presenting ''Sunrise'' (2005–2016) for Sky News. Holmes co-presente ...

, a relative, had asked Linehan to phone his then radio show, to liven the programme up. Linehan pretended to be a Belfast housewife, and the banter between the two attracted an unprecedented number of positive phone calls to the radio studio, many asking for a return of the women as a regular on the show. Linehan invented the name and the character by

ad lib In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The roughly synonymous phrase ('in acc ...

bing — the first name being that of his

mother-in-law A parent-in-law is a person who has a legal affinity with another by being the parent of the other's spouse. Many cultures and legal systems impose duties and responsibilities on persons connected by this relationship. A person is a child-in-law ...

and the surname being that of an Antrim hurler by the name of Olcan McFettridge, whose exploits in a National Hurling League game had made headlines in the local newspaper,

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest-selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewp ...

, which happened to be beside Linehan when put on the spot. The character became a regular on

Downtown Radio Downtown Radio is a Hot Adult Contemporary music radio station based in Newtownards, County Down, that serves all of Northern Ireland using a network of FM and DAB transmitters. As of December 2024, the station has a weekly audience of 309, ...

. Since that time, Linehan has topped the bill as

his character His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...

in the Christmas

Pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

in the Grand Opera House in Belfast for thirty consecutive years (2019/20 season). On 2 December 2014, John was presented on stage with a bust of May McFettridge to mark his 25th consecutive year of performing at the Grand Opera House's pantomime. The bust will be kept permanently on view in the Grand Circle of the theatre opposite the bust of

Frank Matcham Francis Matcham (22 November 1854 – 17 May 1920)Mackintosh, Iain"Matcham, Frank" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, accessed 7 July 2019 was an English architect who specialised in the design of theatres and ...

, the architect of the building. They were described by John Daly as 'the face that sank a thousand ships' during a charity event at the Odyssey in Belfast.

Charity work

Linehan is also involved in charity work, appearing regularly in Northern Ireland's

Children in Need ''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...

broadcasts, and organising events such as golfing tournaments to help raise money for Children of the Crossfire. He was awarded the MBE in 2006 for charitable services in

Pantomime

Linehan performs annually as the pantomime dame at the Grand Opera House, Belfast. In 2019 Linehan celebrated 30 years as the pantomime dame at the Grand Opera House, Belfast. In 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic the Grand Opera House announced that their annual pantomime would not take place and was rescheduled to the 2021/22 season. 2025/26: The Adventures of Pinocchio as Mrs Geppetto 2024/25: The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan as Mrs Smee 2023/24: Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs as May of The Mirror 2022/23: Cinderella as The Fairy Godmother 2021/22: Goldilocks and The Three Bears as Dame May McVetty 2020/21: CANCELLED DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC 2019/20: Beauty and The Beast as Mrs Potty 2018/19: Jack and The Beanstalk as Dame Trot 2017/18: Peter Pan as Mrs Smee 2016/17: Cinderella as The Fairy Godmother 2015/16: Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs as May The Cook 2014/15: Aladdin as Widow Twankey 2013/14: Sleeping Beauty as Queen May 2012/13: Cinderella as The Fairy Godmother 2011/12: Jack and The Beanstalk as Dame Trot 2010/11: Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs as Nurse May 2009/10: Aladdin as Widow Twankey 2008/09: Mother Goose as Mother Goose 2007/08: Cinderella as The Fairy Godmother 2006/07: Peter Pan as Mrs Smee 2005/06: Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs as Nurse May 2004/05: Jack and The Beanstalk as Dame Trot 2003/04: Dick Whittington as Sarah The Cook 2002/03: Cinderella as The Baroness 2001/02: Aladdin as Widow Twankey 2000/01: Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs as Nurse May 1999/00: The Adventures of Peter Pan as The Nurse 1998/99: Cinderella as The Baroness 1997/98: Jack and The Beanstalk as Dame Trot 1996/97: Mother Goose as Mother Goose 1995/96: Aladdin as Widow Twankey 1994/95: Dick Whittington as The Cook 1993/94: Jack and The Beanstalk as Dame Trot 1992/93: Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs as Dame Doughnut 1991/92: Babes in The Wood as The Cook 1990/91: Robinson Crusoe

Other appearances

Linehan appeared in the film Divorcing Jack as the 'Announcer'. Later European versions of the 'Divorcing Jack' DVD had May McFettridge segments edited out due to social sensitivities in Eastern European countries such as the Czech Republic or Slovakia.

Personal life

Linehan is an

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

speaker. He is married to Brenda, and they have two daughters. Linehan has a long association with

Northern Amateur Football League The Northern Amateur Football League, also known as the Northern Amateur League and often simply as the Amateur League, is an association football league in Northern Ireland. It contains 13 divisions. These comprise four intermediate sections: ...

club Malachians F.C. and spent two seasons as manager of their reserve team. In the early 1980s, Linehan was diagnosed as having

syringomyelia Syringomyelia is a generic term referring to a disorder in which a cyst or cavity forms within the spinal cord. Often, syringomyelia is used as a generic term before an etiology is determined. This cyst, called a syrinx, can expand and elongate ...

and he had neurosurgery in 1983 following which he had

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

. The syringomyelia has caused muscle wastage and some loss of sensation on his left side. In 2013 John had a knee replacement at Kingsbridge Private Hospital, Belfast after years of crippling pain.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Linehan, John 1952 births Living people Male comedians from Northern Ireland Irish drag queens Pantomime dames Comedians from Belfast 20th-century comedians from Northern Ireland 21st-century comedians from Northern Ireland Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire