The South Tyneside comedian who cheated death - twice in 1970

It happened to South Shields comedian John Brownless 50 years ago this month but it was no joke.

Rusted grenade was found near Temple Memorial Park

John told the Shields Gazette how he had cheated death for the second time in two months after his nine-year-old son dropped a live hand grenade into his lap.

Mr Brownless, better known to nightclub audiences as Johnny Caesar, was sitting in his home in King George Road, South Shields, in May 1970.

His son Ian brought home the rusted grenade after finding it near Temple Memorial Park.

‘I thought it was a dummy at first’

“He just dropped it in my lap and I just looked at it immediately knew it was a grenade. I thought it was a dummy at first, then I saw the pin which detonates the grenade was still in and snapped off.”

Mr Brownless carried the grenade at arm’s length to his garden, buried it in a bucket of sand, then telephoned the police.

Bomb disposal experts from North Yorkshire’s Catterick Army camp cordoned off the park before exploding it.

Two months earlier, the comedian had narrowly escaped death when he collapsed after almost being electrocuted by a live microphone during his cabaret act.

Tell us if you have memories of Johnny Caesar on the stages of South Tyneside, by emailing [email protected]