Grumbleweeds made huge impact when young talent was thrown in the mix of Blackpool bill-toppers

However, none had the impact of the Grumbleweeds, who today lead the A to Z page of Blackpool bill-toppers.

The five-man team from Leeds turned pro after coming to notice on TV's Opportunity Knocks and stepped up to large venues when they supported comedian Ken Dodd at the Blackpool Opera House on Spring Bank Holiday Sunday in 1970.

The original line-up was Maurice Lee, Graham Walker, Robin Colville and the brothers Carl and Albert Sutcliffe.

Blackpool producer Peter Webster starred them in his 1972 and 73 Laugh Inn summer seasons at the South Pier and the group headed eight

Sunday concerts at the Opera House in that decade.

A 1981 summer season at the North Pier was followed by Sunday shows at the pier, the Opera House and the Grand Theatre in the 80s and the 1989 season at the Grand, by which time the act had slimmed down to a trio (Graham, Robin and Maurice).

Three more Grand seasons ended with the act as a duo (Graham and Robin) and they shared Grand Theatre weekend shows with Cannon and Ball at the Grand in 2004.

After that, summer season shows were no more.

Some artists stay in the memory for a catch phrase and here we have a prime example.

"Shut that door!"

Who could forget Larry Grayson? And a remarkable thing is that all his Blackpool appearances were at the ABC Theatre, which is now the site of a car park at the corner of Church Street and King Street.

Larry was William White (1924-1995) and my mental picture of him is from his 1974 starring season at the ABC.

He sauntered on, pushing a bicycle and dressed as a French onion seller with his wares draped round his neck.

It got a ripple from the audience. He peered at them disdainfully and quipped: "Well, please yourself."

Larry's late stardom and his comic remarks about Slack Alice, Everard and Apricot Lil has been profiled in print and cine, so I will only add the details of his Blackpool appearances.

Building towards his TV fame in ITV's Saturday Variety, Larry was a supporting act at the ABC in a Sunday concert in September, 1970.

In 1972 he was in a three-day Spring Bank Holiday weekend show headed by Peter Noone (of Herman's Hermits fame) and Moira Anderson.

Two months later he was one of the stars in the annual CADS charity show at the ABC.

Larry's Saturday evening TV show made him a bill topper. And so it was The Larry Grayson Show on the ABC's marquee in 1974.

In the stars: I bet you didn't know that Gazette astrologer Russell Grant appeared in local stage shows. He was at the Winter Gardens in the Rupert Bear show in 1973 and was Dame in the Grand's 1992 panto. You've got it, Russ. I'm an Arian!

Next week we move to the letter H with comics Tony Hancock, Benny Hill (who left a fortune of £8m, 30 years ago) and Arthur Haynes who had his own summer show at the Winter Gardens Pavilion from 1962 and 1966 with his TV show partners Dermot Kelly and Rita Webb.

Honour for Grand Theatre when King Charles III re-opened the Blackpool treasure in 1981 after it was saved from demolition