Oldbury roots of First World War ditty It’s a Long Way to Tipperary

Jan 24 2012

IT’S a long time since the First World War ditty It’s a Long Way to Tipperary was penned.

The song was written by a fishmonger, Jack Judge, who was born in Low Town, Oldbury, in 1872.

But the battle to lay claim to where the melody was written continues to rage between the Black Country and Manchester.

And as its northern fans prepare to celebrate what they say is the song’s 100th birthday, a fresh row has broken out.

Jack became a music hall star who performed in venues across Britain, including the Grand Theatre, Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. And that is where it has been officially declared that Jackwrote his most famous ditty – on January 31, 1912.

The story goes that he composed it overnight to win a bet for five shillings with a fellow artiste.

But Jack was known for his ‘overnight song’ trick. He would write material in Oldbury and keep it in his pocket to produce as new work elsewhere, in order to dupe the unwary into making a bet.

Jack is said to have written Tipperary – then titled It’s a Long Way to Connemara – as early as 1909, in Oldbury.

It became a huge hit on the music hall circuit before being taken up by soldiers off to the trenches in the First World War.

In Stalybridge, plans are afoot for revellers to throng the town’s main square. There will be a brass band, a children’s choir, ‘soldiers’ in war uniforms and the unveiling of a plaque in his honour.