Johnny Ball, 86, on his decision to write an autobiography and the spark that reignited his love for comedy: ‘I love talking again!’

From growing up in wartime Bristol and eventually studying in Bolton to a stint in the RAF and touring Blackpool’s club scene of the ’60s, it’s fair to say there’s plenty to get stuck into in Johnny Ball’s first of two autobiographies.

The 86-year-old has decided to chronicle his life for fans following a career on-stage and on-screen that has seen him become one of Britain’s best-known comics as well as best-loved children’s TV presenters.

In fact, there are so many tales to tell that Ball has had to split his life story between two books, the first of which, My Previous Life in Comedy, hit bookshelves everywhere last month.

With such a vast volume of stories to regale his fans with up his sleeve, it’s a wonder why it took Ball to 86 to deliver his life story to fans.

But it’s one that’s been worth the wait, as Ball told GBNews.com exactly why he left it to his eighties to put pen to paper – as well as sharing just one tale of hilarity they can expect in the second instalment in 2026.

“Well, about four years ago now, I was asked if I knew anybody who could do a talk on the history of Blackpool summer seasons,” Ball began when asked why he felt now was the right time to publish his memoir.

He continued: “Blackpool in the 1950s… 40,000 people went to the theatre every night in the summer and 42,000 people went every week to the opera house alone, where usually it was George Hornby or something like that.

“I couldn’t find anybody (to do the talk). All the people who talked about it had fallen off the perch. Blackpool had closed down by 2000 because people had discovered the Mediterranean and the sun, and it was no longer fashionable.

“So I did the talk myself, and it went so well that that’s built to other talks and other things and other shows. And I thought, ‘Why don’t talk about my own career?’ So I started talking about my own career.”

He went on to reference a programme he did with his daughter and BBC Radio 2 star Zoe Ball, citing it as a “tremendous” influence on his decision to start putting pen to paper.

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“I did a show with Zoe that was tremendous, and so I thought, I’m going to write this down. So I wrote it down.

“The second (book) will be out in about a year, and that’s called Stories That Must Be Told. This one ends in about 1982.”

But what did writing the book teach Ball? “I discovered that I love talking comedy again, and then suddenly I’m talking about my own shows, my own act and and realising things that hadn’t occurred to me,” he replied.

“Like when Roy Orbison did the one club he ever did in his life in the UK, they rang me and asked if I would warm up for him. So I warmed up for him.

“And the Bee Gees only did one when they opened up the Fiesta Sheffield, which was then the biggest club in Europe… and they got me in under the Bee Gees!

“I was really well thought of in the clubs, but I didn’t want to do it on television. I was not like Max Miller, but similar to Max Miller in that I would be saucy and cheeky because that’s what the audience wanted. But I couldn’t transfer that to television. Neither did I want to.”

And he didn’t. But that didn’t mean TV wouldn’t come calling as the opportunity of children’s TV presenter on Play School arose.

Ball reflected on the moment he knew TV laid ahead – and revealed a rather famous face helped guide him through.

“I talked to Bob Monkhouse, and he talked to me about television and how you have to insist on things; otherwise, they’ll shortcut you, and they won’t give you what you want,” Ball explained.

“For instance, they’ll frame you like that when you do a joke which involves your whole body and that kind of thing,” he said as he gestured a box around his head with his hands.

“I got into Play School and realised the integrity of the people was lovely, and it was a real contrast to the clubs, which were rough. The audiences weren’t tough, the audiences were fine if you were good at what you did. They’d love you.”

Ball’s unique writing style makes the first of his two autobiographies a hilarious and snappy page-turner, so when and what can fans expect from the second instalment?

“It’s written,” Ball said. “The publisher says we’ve got to wait about a year, so we haven’t agreed on a date yet, but it is written. The second one is called Stories That Must Be Told.

“I’ve got stories that, if I don’t tell them, nobody will believe them unless they hear from me; there are so many.”

He then treated GBNews.com to an exclusive regale: “I’ll do just one… I got a phone call. I moved into the corporate world by 1982-83. I’d finished television by ’93, but my corporate life was enormous, and I wrote five educational stage musicals – all sponsored by the Department of Education, by the government, by the engineering outfits, by National Grid – I wrote five education stage musicals.

“Toured them, three-handers, just three of us, and we were working 2,000-seat theaters and filling them twice a day. So we were averaging 3,500 people a day, all secondary, primary, late primary, and early secondary school kids and their teachers.

“I was doing more bums on seats than Ken Dodd! I was doing that, and then one day I get a call because they’d seen me work.

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“And I got a call… ‘Hello, I represent Dyson! Could you speak to our staff?’ I said, ‘I’d love to! When?’ They said, ‘This Friday. Talk at about 5:15pm for an hour. Is that okay?’ I said, ‘Yeah’. So I turned up, and when I turned up, they showed me around.

“The conveyor belts were still on, and there was rubbish on them, I couldn’t understand. The atmosphere was terrible.

“5:15pm, and I’m working to 80 people, and they’re the hardest audience I’ve ever had in my life.

“Slowly but surely, with my tried and tested stuff, because I’m talking about motivation, but I’ve got my comedy into it and my comedy training, and eventually I got them. By the end, after an hour and a quarter, I got them.

“And I went to the bar, and the two lads who were looking after me said, ‘That was brilliant, John. Absolutely brilliant’.

“I said, ‘Brilliant?! That’s the hardest audience I’ve ever had!’ He said, ‘Has nobody told you?’ I said, ‘Told me what?’

“Dyson announced at 10 o’clock this morning that they were closing this factory and moving all production to Malaysia. And they booked me to do that! And that is a true story!” Ball signed off with his trademark chuckle.

Johnny Ball – My Previous Life in Comedy is available to buy now.