What a Carry On!
My most recent Ebay buy was a collection of photographs of scenes from Carry On movies (which turned out to be a strange mix of PR pic and shots taken from the TV). This British comedy franchise brought music-hall humour to subjects ranging from the NHS, and the British Empire to cowboy movies and camping trips. Running from 1958 to 1992 it was a huge part of our popular culture. Its regular ensemble of idiosyncratic actors came from diverse backgrounds - and rarely privileged ones. And I started wondering about the places that nurtured and influenced them as well as the places they were drawn to once the money started rolling in.
Kenneth Williams (1926-1988): Bicester, Oxfordshire
Born in Kings Cross, North London as the son of hairdressers, Kenneth was evacuated to Bicester, Oxfordshire during WWII. Here, he lived with an elderly retired veterinarian in an antique-filled house in Sheep Street in. The elderly man was an eccentric character who recited poems such as Tennyson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade and sang centuries-old English ballads. Kenneth’s mother fetched him home before the end of the war, but he wasn’t the same boy. He returned speaking with clear diction in a nasal tone and drawling his vowels like a xxx these and determined to make the stage his career. The rest is history!
Photo of Sheep St, Bicester, Motacilla via Wikimedia Commons
Joan Sims
Take a minute to write an introduction that is short, sweet, and to the point. If you sell something, use this space to describe it in detail and tell us why we should make a purchase. Tap into your creativity. You’ve got this.
Barbara Windsor (1937-2020): The Caribbean
A tough life, Barbara Windsor in Caribbean
Photo of Sheep St, Bicester, Motacilla via Wikimedia Commons
Born Solomon Cohen in Johannesburg, South Africa and worked as a hairdresser before deciding he wanted to become an actor, aged 24. After the War he got his first major role in The Lavender Hill Mob 1951. lived at Delaford Park situated in Iver, Buckinghamshire