With his non-stop gags and catchphrases like "it's a cracker!", Frank Carson rose to fame in the 1960s after winning talent show Opportunity Knocks three times.

The Belfast-born comedian became a household name with the TV show The Comedians in the 1970s, alongside the likes of Charlie Williams, Bernard Manning and Jim Bowen.

On Friday, he will be honoured at the former St Patrick's National School, beside St Patrick's Church on Donegall Street in Belfast, on what would have been his 100th birthday.

Speaking ahead of the unveiling, his son Tony Carson said: "It's a great honour, a privilege, and something for us all to cherish."

"We'll all get together and celebrate pop's centenary and the blue plaque," he told BBC News NI.

"It brings him home."

Carson died at the age of 85 in 2012, having been seriously ill for a number of months.

The son of a binman, he was born in Belfast on 6 November 1926 to a family of Italian descent.

He grew up in the Little Italy area of the city and worked as a plasterer and electrician, and then joined the Parachute Regiment.

He served for three years in the Middle East in the 1950s, before his attention turned to show business.

Spotted for his stand-up work, he became a popular performer on Irish television before moving to England.

"Dad was a good family man, hard-working... he was just a happy man all the time," Tony Carson said.

The comedian appeared in the TV music hall revival show The Good Old Days, before his appearances on Opportunity Knocks propelled him into the mainstream.

He went on to appear in The Comedians and became known for his self-deprecating sense of humour.

A familiar face on British television for the next two decades, Carson's other shows included Who Do You Do? and variety show The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club.

Despite his show business career, the comedian also served as mayor of Balbriggan in north Dublin twice.

He appeared all over the world and said his aim was to be loved as a performer by all sides of the community and people of all politics.

In 1987, Pope John Paul II knighted Carson into the order of St Gregory at a private audience in Rome, in recognition of his charity work in Northern Ireland.

Carson supported integrated education in Northern Ireland and causes such as the children's cancer ward in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.

In 2008, along with his son Tony, he launched the Carson Awards to support art and creativity in the integrated schools.

Following the ascent of alternative comedy in the late 1980s, the performer largely returned to his roots in stand-up, and was performing hundreds of shows a year as recently as 2008.

Carson moved to Blackpool in later life, where he became involved with the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party.

Frank Carson is buried in Milltown Cemetery in Belfast.

He had joked more than once that the words inscribed on his headstone should be "Frank Carson, Rest in Peace." And underneath, "Quiet, isn't it?"

Dan Gordon, who wrote and performed his acclaimed one man show 'Frank Carson - A Rebel Without a Pause', said Carson has earned the plaque.

"Frank Carson was quintessentially Belfast. He was simultaneously soft, hard, joyous, exuberant, charitable, loyal, thoughtful and driven," Gordon said.

"A cornerstone of comedy for 50 years. His voice and presence were unmistakable and he was a determined pioneer in local broadcasting," he said.

Chris Spurr, chairman of the Ulster History Circle, said the organisation is "delighted to commemorate this cracker of a comedian with a blue plaque at the former school he attended".

"Any celebration's a great celebration, especially in these troubled times. But there's always trouble times and I think we all just need to look forward and find ways to make ourselves happy," Tony Carson added.

"I think that's what my dad did. He had that innate spirit in him that always looked for the happy notes that there are out there.

He'd always say: 'that was yesterday, look forward to today and tomorrow'."