Hooray Henryn.

1936 D. Runyon in Collier's 18 Apr. 8/2 He is without doubt strictly a Hoorah Henry, and he is generally figured as nothing but a lob as far as ever doing anything useful in this world is concerned.]

1959 C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 76 That garden-party's for the ooblies and the Hooray Henries, anyway.

1974 L. Deighton Spy Story vi. 59 No matter how slow you take the briefing, one of these hoorays is going to ask that very question.

1976 J. Godbolt All this & 10% iv. 45 [We] watched with mounting amusement the dancing dervish antics of the Guardees and their debutante ladies... Their movements on the floor were, without exception, wild, totally unrhythmic and it was physically dangerous to be in proximity when they were in full thrash. A description hit me as we gazed... I had then recently read a selection of Damon Runyon stories. In one of them, ‘Tight Shoes’, there was a rich layabout called Calvin Colby. Runyon described him as ‘Strictly a Hooray Henry’... Runyon's actual term was ‘Hurrah Henry’, which I misread as ‘Hooray Henry’, pronounced it as such and the phrase stuck.

1977 News of World 17 Apr. 4/8 I see that type of Hooray-Henry round London and I wince. They're a pain.

1979 New Statesman 30 Mar. 456/2 A gang of Hooray Henrys from Sotheby's travel round the country crying ‘Bring out your junk’.

1982 A. Barr & P. York Official Sloane Ranger Handbk. 118/1 Hooray Henrys are the tip of the Sloane iceberg, visible and audible for miles.

1983 Sunday Times 12 June 35/7 It got a thorough Hooray-Henry going-over and they never came back.

1985 P. Geddes State of Corruption iii. 26 She wrote off his companions as provincial Hooray Henrys, but he was quieter.

1986 Expression! July 31/2 A blanket or rug is also a good idea (tartans for hoorays; kilims for aesthetes).