COMEDIAN Frank Carson has died, his spokeswoman confirmed this evening.

The Northern Irish entertainer was 85 and passed away at his home in Blackpool, Lancashire.

He was best known for the catch phrases “It’s a cracker” and “It’s the way I tell ‘em” and had risen to fame in the 1970s on popular TV show Opportunity Knocks.

Carson, who served as a director at Colchester United for a number of years, had suffered from poor health in recent years and plans are now under way for his funeral to be held in Belfast, where he was born.