The Little Man Comedies of Charlie Drake and Their Relation to the Unconscious

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Little Man Comedies of Charlie Drake and Their Relation to the Unconscious THE LITTLE MAN COMEDIES OF CHARLIE DRAKE AND THEIR RELATION TO THE UNCONSCIOUS JOHN BANNISTER Ph.D. Thesis 2012 THE LITTLE MAN COMEDIES OF CHARLIE DRAKE AND THEIR RELATION TO THE UNCONSCIOUS John BANNISTER School of Media, Music and Performance College of Arts and Social Sciences University of Salford, Salford, UK Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, December 2012 THE LITTLE MAN COMEDIES OF CHARLIE DRAKE AND THEIR RELATION TO THE UNCONSCIOUS Portrait of Charlie Drake by the artist Gerard de Rose (c.1960s) Source: reproduced by kind permission of Theodore de Rose Contents Introduction i. Methodology………………………………………………………………………..13 ii. A critical review of psycho-analytic and comedy theory………………………….16 Chapter 1. Building up a psycho-biographical profile of Charlie Drake………………….29 Chapter 2. “Frood started it you know”…………………………………………………...58 Chapter 3. The Descent of the ‘Little Man’ in British Comedy………………………......91 Chapter 4. Psycho-analysis of the film Petticoat Pirates………………………………...132 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………......178 Appendix…………………………………………………………………….…………...188 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………...243 Television Index………………………………………………………………………….258 Film Index………………………………………………………………………………..262 List of Illustrations Frontispiece: Portrait of Charlie Drake by the artist Gerard de Rose (c.1960s) Charlie Drake self-portrait…………………………………………………………..page 28 Figure 1. The ‘little man’ rides the giant father-phallus through the amniotic sea in the Oedipus Stakes…………………………………………………………….……………...71 Figures 2-8. The ‘contraphallic’ Drake in his phallocentric pram….…………………….87 Figure 9. Admiral Charlie Drake whose comic sketches scuttled his own ship in the ABPC film Petticoat Pirates………………….……………….………………………………...132 Figure 10. Dream trial before a jury of Drakes/a league of Laius’……………………....155 Figure 11. Lieutenant Commander Drake/Charlie reading out the charges…………..…155 Figure 12. Admiral Sir Charles Drake/Charlie “’ang ‘im! ‘ang ‘im!”…………………...157 Figure 13. Admiral Nelson Drake/Charlie Blind to justice. “Has a defending council been appointed?”………………………………………………………………………….…...158 Figure 14. American psychiatrist/Charlie “He, he , he…”.……………………………...158 Figures 15-18. Jury of Drakes/Charlie “Guilty!” “Guilty!” “Guilty!” “Guilty”………..160 Figures 19-22. The look-to-camera invites the audience to look through Drake’s phallic periscope to see if they measure up……………………………………….……………..165 Figure 23. “Smile for the camera/men ladies”…………………………………………...165 Figure 24 & 25. Charlie recoils from the periscope shocked by/for looking…………....166 Figure 26. The “Black finger nail” unflanked – all men together…………………...…..168 Figure 27. Dragging Charlie to the dressing-up room to drag up?....................................170 Figure 28. Lieutenant. Pattinson “Ooh, steady!”………………………………………...170 Figure 29. Restraining Lieutenant Pattinson/phallus/arm/phallus………………………..171 Figure 30. Castration or “master”bation………………………………………….……...171 Figure 31. Castrated Charlie in skirts masquerading as a wren……………….………....172 Figure 32. Hengist: “I plead for my life, I plead for forgiveness, I plead for mercy!” Mark Antony: “You miserable little pleader.”…………..…………………....175 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my doctoral supervisor, Professor John Mundy, School of Media, Music and Performance at Salford University for his ‘fatherly’ guidance and unfailing encouragement. I owe a debt of gratitude to him for his guidance that helped me to realize what Cherie (Marilyn Monroe) in Bus Stop already knew, that “You gotta have direction”. He made sure I ran “straight as an arrow” each time I strayed off my direction. This thesis would not have been possible without the co-operation of many librarians and archivists. My thanks go to Rachel Lawson at the BBC Written Archives Centre who organised my two overnight visits in December 2008, and August 2009. I cannot overstate my appreciation to her for helping me to sift through the inevitable “dross” of BBC interdepartmental memos and financial contracts, which it turned out, revealed a lot about Drake’s tenacious personality and the BBC’s willingness to negotiate contracts with an artist they recognised had star quality. It was something the BBC never recognised in Kenneth Connor, who sent dozens of letters to the BBC begging for any kind of work he could get. Drake never sent one, or ever had to. My thanks also go to Rachel for putting me in touch with Kathleen Luckey, TV Curator at the BFI, who provided me with ‘viewing’ copies of some of the Charlie Drake In… television series. I was thus able to utilize the two sources and compare the television series with the scripts kept on microfiche at the Written Archive Centre. I am indebted to Carol Kenyon, secretary/PA to Peter Rogers (the producer of the Carry On films) at Pinewood Studios for putting me in touch with Jane Ashley at the BBC, who very kindly sent me copies of Radio 4 broadcasts, and for directing me to the British Film Institute Archive where the Carry On film scripts written by Norman Hudis are held in the Gerald Thomas Special Collection. These were a particularly useful source for comparing the ‘little man’ type characters played by Kenneth Connor with the type co-written by Hudis and Drake in Mister Ten Per Cent (1967). Carol Kenyon also brought my attention to two very important sources for making personal contacts with actors who had worked with Drake: International Artistes and the Spotlight database. I wish to thank Drake’s close friend and manager Laurie Mansfield at International Artistes, who not only provided me with a personal insight into Charlie Drake’s personality, but introduced me to his son, Chris Drake, who (after numerous phone conversations) invited me to visit him on February 5th 2009. Chris was not only candid about his famous father (his aide- mémoire proved invaluable to a psychological analysis of this kind) but he brought a treasure trove of previously unpublished photographs and working scripts to our first meeting; some of which are included in the thesis. I would like to thank Chris for his help and continued interest in the thesis and for his kind permission to reproduce material in his possession here. So too, my thanks go to Theodore de Rose for his permission to reproduce a photograph of a portrait painting of Drake by his father, Gerard de Rose, ‘painter to the stars’ in the 1960s. Laurie Mansfield very kindly forwarded a letter to another of his clients, the comedian, Jim Davidson, who worked with Drake in the adult panto SINderella (1995). I would like to thank Davidson for not just answering all the questions I asked him about his ‘fellow performer’, but for adding a post-script which clearly reflected his genuinely affectionate feelings for someone who had become a close friend too. Similarly, my appreciation extends to another of Drake’s friends, the comedian, Danny Blue (who appeared as one of The Oddballs in SINderella performing a comic Strip Show version of Drake’s balloon routine). His telephone conversations, full of anecdotes about Drake, were amusing and enlightening. The internet database Spotlight was a useful source because I was able to contact and correspond with actors who had worked with Drake in films. Wanda Ventham, in particular, wrote me a very endearing letter about working with Drake in Mr. Ten Per Cent. She describes what she thought he thought of himself and what she and the other actresses really thought of him on and off set, but she does it with so much grace that it is difficult to believe she is being unflattering. A seemingly unlikely source was the ‘user’ comments’ facility on YouTube, which brought me into contact with Simon Trewin who had an unhappy time working as a stage manager with Drake in the panto ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ at the Beck Theatre, Hayes. I am deeply indebted to Trewin and Ventham for not allowing my assessment of Drake’s personality to become erroneously one-sided. By way of contrast my correspondence with the nephew of Kenneth Connor on YouTube and the reactions of many users who rushed to defend Connor after I posted a provocative comment about the ‘little man’ character[s] he plays in the Carry On films confirmed my suspicions that the way the public relate psychologically to the characters they play is coloured as much by an intensely cosseted private life as by any sleaze that a star becomes identified with under the intense spotlight (cosseted or not) of the media gaze, and it is the public who cannot or do not want to separate persona from personality. I am grateful to Nicholas Parsons for the telephone interview he gave me in 2009 where he discussed working with Connor in Carry On Regardless. Parsons helped me to understand that there is a fundamental difference between an actor who plays the ‘little man’ type written for him by a scriptwriter and a comic like Drake who creates the ‘little man’ character he plays. Thanks go to Louisa Clifton at Diamond Management, London, for contacting Parsons on my behalf. A very warm thank you goes to Norman Hudis who corresponded with me on several occasions to discuss the ‘little man’ characters he created for the Carry On films and for providing me with a copy of his autopsychography, No Laughing Matter: How I Carried On (2008) which reveals his own ‘little man’ complex and the cathartic release he found for it in the films. Hudis talked frankly about his meagre contribution to the scriptwriting on Drake’s film Mister Ten Per Cent
Recommended publications
  • Folk Song in Cumbria: a Distinctive Regional
    FOLK SONG IN CUMBRIA: A DISTINCTIVE REGIONAL REPERTOIRE? A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Susan Margaret Allan, MA (Lancaster), BEd (London) University of Lancaster, November 2016 ABSTRACT One of the lacunae of traditional music scholarship in England has been the lack of systematic study of folk song and its performance in discrete geographical areas. This thesis endeavours to address this gap in knowledge for one region through a study of Cumbrian folk song and its performance over the past two hundred years. Although primarily a social history of popular culture, with some elements of ethnography and a little musicology, it is also a participant-observer study from the personal perspective of one who has performed and collected Cumbrian folk songs for some forty years. The principal task has been to research and present the folk songs known to have been published or performed in Cumbria since circa 1900, designated as the Cumbrian Folk Song Corpus: a body of 515 songs from 1010 different sources, including manuscripts, print, recordings and broadcasts. The thesis begins with the history of the best-known Cumbrian folk song, ‘D’Ye Ken John Peel’ from its date of composition around 1830 through to the late twentieth century. From this narrative the main themes of the thesis are drawn out: the problem of defining ‘folk song’, given its eclectic nature; the role of the various collectors, mediators and performers of folk songs over the years, including myself; the range of different contexts in which the songs have been performed, and by whom; the vexed questions of ‘authenticity’ and ‘invented tradition’, and the extent to which this repertoire is a distinctive regional one.
    [Show full text]
  • HATTIE JACQUES Born Josephine Edwina Jacques on February 7" 1922 She Went on to Become a Nationally Recognised Figure in the British Cinema of the 1950S and 60S
    Hattie Jacaues Born 127 High St 1922 Chapter Twelve HATTIE JACQUES Born Josephine Edwina Jacques on February 7" 1922 she went on to become a nationally recognised figure in the British cinema of the 1950s and 60s. Her father, Robin Jacques was in the army and stationed at Shorncliffe Camp at the time of her birth. The Register of Electors shows the Jacques family residing at a house called Channel View in Sunnyside Road. (The register shows the name spelled as JAQUES, without the C. Whether Hattie changed the spelling or whether it was an error on the part of those who printed the register I don’t know) Hattie, as she was known, made her entrance into the world in the pleasant seaside village of Sandgate, mid way between Folkestone to the east and Hythe to the west. Initially Hattie trained as a hairdresser but as with many people of her generation the war caused her life to take a different course. Mandatory work saw Hattie first undertaking nursing duties and then working in North London as a welder Even in her twenties she was of a generous size and maybe as defence she honed her sense of humour after finding she had a talent for making people laugh. She first became involved in show business through her brother who had a job as the lift operator at the premises of the Little Theatre located then on the top floor of 43 Kings Street in Covent Garden. At end of the war the Little Theatre found itself in new premises under the railway arches below Charing Cross Station.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nation's Matron: Hattie Jacques and British Post-War Popular Culture
    The Nation’s Matron: Hattie Jacques and British post-war popular culture Estella Tincknell Abstract: Hattie Jacques was a key figure in British post-war popular cinema and culture, condensing a range of contradictions around power, desire, femininity and class through her performances as a comedienne, primarily in the Carry On series of films between 1958 and 1973. Her recurrent casting as ‘Matron’ in five of the hospital-set films in the series has fixed Jacques within the British popular imagination as an archetypal figure. The contested discourses around nursing and the centrality of the NHS to British post-war politics, culture and identity, are explored here in relation to Jacques’s complex star meanings as a ‘fat woman’, ‘spinster’ and authority figure within British popular comedy broadly and the Carry On films specifically. The article argues that Jacques’s star meanings have contributed to nostalgia for a supposedly more equitable society symbolised by socialised medicine and the feminine authority of the matron. Keywords: Hattie Jacques; Matron; Carry On films; ITMA; Hancock’s Half Hour; Sykes; star persona; post-war British cinema; British popular culture; transgression; carnivalesque; comedy; femininity; nursing; class; spinster. 1 Hattie Jacques (1922 – 1980) was a gifted comedienne and actor who is now largely remembered for her roles as an overweight, strict and often lovelorn ‘battle-axe’ in the British Carry On series of low- budget comedy films between 1958 and 1973. A key figure in British post-war popular cinema and culture, Hattie Jacques’s star meanings are condensed around the contradictions she articulated between power, desire, femininity and class.
    [Show full text]
  • * Hc Omslag Film Architecture 22-05-2007 17:10 Pagina 1
    * hc omslag Film Architecture 22-05-2007 17:10 Pagina 1 Film Architecture and the Transnational Imagination: Set Design in 1930s European Cinema presents for the first time a comparative study of European film set design in HARRIS AND STREET BERGFELDER, IMAGINATION FILM ARCHITECTURE AND THE TRANSNATIONAL the late 1920s and 1930s. Based on a wealth of designers' drawings, film stills and archival documents, the book FILM FILM offers a new insight into the development and signifi- cance of transnational artistic collaboration during this CULTURE CULTURE period. IN TRANSITION IN TRANSITION European cinema from the late 1920s to the late 1930s was famous for its attention to detail in terms of set design and visual effect. Focusing on developments in Britain, France, and Germany, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the practices, styles, and function of cine- matic production design during this period, and its influence on subsequent filmmaking patterns. Tim Bergfelder is Professor of Film at the University of Southampton. He is the author of International Adventures (2005), and co- editor of The German Cinema Book (2002) and The Titanic in Myth and Memory (2004). Sarah Street is Professor of Film at the Uni- versity of Bristol. She is the author of British Cinema in Documents (2000), Transatlantic Crossings: British Feature Films in the USA (2002) and Black Narcis- sus (2004). Sue Harris is Reader in French cinema at Queen Mary, University of London. She is the author of Bertrand Blier (2001) and co-editor of France in Focus: Film
    [Show full text]
  • HANCOCK's HALF HOUR COLLECTIBLES Notes To
    HANCOCK’S HALF HOUR COLLECTIBLES Notes to Accompany Volume 3 All photographs copyright (C) BBC (unless otherwise stated) The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society is delighted to have given its support to the production of this new and unique series concerning the lost works of Tony Hancock. Tony Hancock: BBC Publicity Shot for Hancock’s Half Hour, November 1956 The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society (THAS) Since its creation in 1976, the THAS has dedicated itself to preserving and promoting the works of Tony Hancock and, more crucially, to finding his broadcasts that were missing from the archives. Over the decades, these efforts have yielded a wealth of material, most notably lost episodes of his most beloved work on Hancock’s Half Hour for both television and radio. Many of these have now been located and returned to the BBC; some feature in this special series of Collectibles, now into 1 its third volume. However, many still remain lost at this time. In addition, our efforts have found other material – shows recorded before Hancock became a household name – from series such as Calling All Forces, Variety Bandbox and Star Bill. Again, examples of these can be found in this series. In the previous volumes, there was an extensive analysis of missing recordings from Hancock’s radio career, and, as ever, we remain hopeful that some of these recordings will emerge from private collections or, perhaps, the archives of the BBC or other institutions. In these notes, we will focus on a number of missing recordings and shows outside the ‘core’ work Hancock did on his eponymous series and those that preceded it.
    [Show full text]
  • Directory to Western Printed Heritage Collections
    Directory to western printed heritage collections A. Background to the collections B. Major named Collections of rare books C. Surveys of Early and Rare Books by Place of Origin D. Surveys of Special Collections by Format A. Background to the Collections A1. Introduction. The Library was founded in 1973 (British Library Act 1972). A number of existing collections were transferred into its care at that time, the most extensive of which were those of the British Museum’s Department of Printed Books (including the National Reference Library of Science and Invention), Department of Mss, and Department Oriental Mss and Printed Books. Other collections of rare and special materials have been added subsequently, most notably the India Office Library & Records in 1982. The Library today holds over 150 million collection items, including books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers, printed music, maps, mss, archival records, sound recordings, postage stamps, electronic titles, and archived websites; this figure includes an estimated 4.1 million books, pamphlets and periodical titles printed in the West from the 15th cent to the 19th cent. The breadth of collecting in terms of subjects, dates, languages, and geographical provenance has always been a feature of collection building policies. A wide range of heritage materials continues to be acquired from Britain and overseas through purchase and donation. The Library’s early printed materials feature prominently in a range of digital facsimile products, e.g. Early English Books Online, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Early Music Online, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, and Google Books. Direct links to facsimiles are increasingly provided from the Library’s website, particularly from the main catalogues.
    [Show full text]
  • 2 April 2021 Page 1 of 10 SATURDAY 27 MARCH 2021 Robin Was a Furniture Designer Best Known for His Injection Nali
    Radio 4 Extra Listings for 27 March – 2 April 2021 Page 1 of 10 SATURDAY 27 MARCH 2021 Robin was a furniture designer best known for his injection Nali ...... Nina Conti moulded polypropylene stacking chair, of which over 20 million Libby ...... Sarah Kendall SAT 00:00 Dream Story by Arthur Schnitzler (m000tg86) have been manufactured. Joan ...... Sarah Thom Episode 5 The Days shared a vision of good, affordable design for all. Mrs Singh ...... Nina Wadia Having infiltrated a secret masked ball where the female Together they established themselves as Britain's most Cilla ...... Gbemisola Ikumelo revellers are naked, Fridolin is discovered and must face his celebrated post-war designer couple, often been compared to Zoanna ...... Gbemisola Ikumelo hosts. US contemporaries, Charles Eames and Ray Eames. Roland ...... Colin Hoult Read by Paul Rhys. But despite their growing fame in the 1950s and 60s they Producer: Alexandra Smith Published in 1926, Arthur Schnitzler’s ‘Dream Story’ was remained uncomfortable with the public attention they received. A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in alternately titled ‘Rhapsody’ and, in the original German, They shared a passion for nature and spent more and more time November 2016. ‘Traumnovelle’. outdoors. Lucienne drew much of her inspiration from plants SAT 05:30 Stand-Up Specials (m000tcl3) Credited as the novella that inspired Stanley Kubrick's last film. and flowers and Robin was a talented and obsessive mountain Jacob Hawley: Class Act Translated by JMQ Davies. climber. Stevenage soft lad Jacob Hawley left his hometown behind a Producer: Eugene Murphy Wayne reflects on the many layers to Robin and Lucienne and, decade ago and has ascended Britain's social class system, Made for BBC7 and first broadcast in September 2003.
    [Show full text]
  • Gb 1456 Thomas
    GERALD THOMAS COLLECTION GERALD THOMAS COLLECTION SCOPE AND CONTENT Documents relating to the career of director GERALD THOMAS (Born Hull 10/12/1920, died Beaconsfield 9/11/1993). When Gerald Thomas died, his producer partner of 40 years Peter Rogers said: ‘His epitaph will be that he directed all the Carry On films.’ Indeed, for an intense 20-year period Thomas directed the Carry On gang through their innuendo laden exploits, and became responsible, along with Rogers, for creating one of the most enduring and endearing British film series, earning him his place in British popular culture. Thomas originally studied to become a doctor, before war service with the Royal Sussex Regiment put paid to his medical career. When demobilised in 1946, he took a job as assistant in the cutting rooms of Two Cities Films at Denham Studios, where he took Assistant Editor credits on Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet (1948) and the John Mills thriller The October Man (1947). In 1949, he received his first full credit as editor, on the Margaret Lockwood melodrama Madness of the Heart (1949). During this time Peter Rogers had been working as associate producer with his wife, producer Betty Box, on such films as It’s Not Cricket (1949) and Don’t Ever Leave Me (1949). It was Venetian Bird in 1952 that first brought Thomas and Rogers together; Thomas employed as editor by director brother Ralph, and Rogers part of the producer team with Betty Box. Rogers was keen to form a director/producer pairing (following the successful example of Box and Ralph Thomas), and so gave Gerald his first directing credit on the Circus Friends (1956), a Children’s Film Foundation production.
    [Show full text]
  • Scout and Guide Stamps Club BULLETIN #302
    Scout and Guide Stamps Club BULLETIN 52 Volume 53/ No. 6 (Whole No. 302) NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 1 Editorial Well, this is it - I’ve made a year as the Editor - and a very interesting time it has been as well! Mostly it has gone very smoothly and I am very grateful to those of you who have supported me by sending in articles. I can always do with more - especially for the “My Favourite Scout Stamp” pieces. There have been one or two problems - like letters going astray and e-mails not getting through but overall I feel that it has been a success and from the letters and e-mails that I’ve received I think you do too. So now we approach 2009 and Scouting’s 102nd year. I don’t know about you all but here we are slowly getting a series of Scout Groups celebrating their own Centenaries, with many issuing commemorative badges but, so far, no stamps or postmarks. I’ve been asked by several people about the franking mark that we sue on the Bulletin distribution. I hope that you all notice it was different this time - Guiding instead of Scouting. These franks belong to a company which trades as both “One Stop Scouting” and “One Stop Guiding” and sells items to both Movements, such as scarves (neckers), badges, camping equipment, etc. etc. So whilst it is not strictly a Scouting or Guiding meter mark it is at least strongly related. By the time that you are reading this we will be only about 18 months away from EuroScout 2010, which as I seem to be constantly reminding you is being held in Chelmsford in the UK.
    [Show full text]
  • Shail, Robert, British Film Directors
    BRITISH FILM DIRECTORS INTERNATIONAL FILM DIRECTOrs Series Editor: Robert Shail This series of reference guides covers the key film directors of a particular nation or continent. Each volume introduces the work of 100 contemporary and historically important figures, with entries arranged in alphabetical order as an A–Z. The Introduction to each volume sets out the existing context in relation to the study of the national cinema in question, and the place of the film director within the given production/cultural context. Each entry includes both a select bibliography and a complete filmography, and an index of film titles is provided for easy cross-referencing. BRITISH FILM DIRECTORS A CRITI Robert Shail British national cinema has produced an exceptional track record of innovative, ca creative and internationally recognised filmmakers, amongst them Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and David Lean. This tradition continues today with L GUIDE the work of directors as diverse as Neil Jordan, Stephen Frears, Mike Leigh and Ken Loach. This concise, authoritative volume analyses critically the work of 100 British directors, from the innovators of the silent period to contemporary auteurs. An introduction places the individual entries in context and examines the role and status of the director within British film production. Balancing academic rigour ROBE with accessibility, British Film Directors provides an indispensable reference source for film students at all levels, as well as for the general cinema enthusiast. R Key Features T SHAIL • A complete list of each director’s British feature films • Suggested further reading on each filmmaker • A comprehensive career overview, including biographical information and an assessment of the director’s current critical standing Robert Shail is a Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Wales Lampeter.
    [Show full text]
  • BCN Spring 2015 Website.P65
    No. 245 Spring 2015 Registered as The Surrey & Hampshire Canal Society Ltd A Non-profit Distributing Company, Limited by Guarantee, Registered in England No. 126598. Registered as a Charity No. 273085. Affiliated to the Inland Waterways Association. Presidents: Tim & Elizabeth Dodwell Vice:Presidents: John Humphries, OBE. Paul Vine. David Gerry. Robin Higgs, OBE. David Millett. Dieter Jebens. Alan Rice, TD. Rt Hon James Arbuthnot, MP. Rt Hon Michael Gove, MP. Rt Hon Philip Hammond, MP. Rt Hon Maria Miller, MP. Gerald Howarth, MP. Jonathan Lord, MP. Anne Milton, MP Apologies for the late arrival of this newsletter, The big unknown is the outcome of the study but I wanted to include a report from the Joint that has been done by JBA Consulting on the Management Committee meeting on 26th possibilities for the future of the canal, and February. where this will lead. The study started with an assessment of the canal’s economic, social and The meeting was an odd mixture of environmental value and we understand that disappointments, good news and a vague local residents were found to value it very sense that something big might be lurking in highly. At the moment we do not know what the wings. the options are that are being considered for the future, although it is not hard to guess. It was disappointing, but not very surprising, to hear that the work Assuming that the Counties are not to complete the repair of the contempating filling the canal in, which seems Dogmersfield slip would not take unlikely given the amount of money they are ork Party ork place until next winter.
    [Show full text]
  • Autograph Auction Saturday 14 December 2013 11:00
    Autograph Auction Saturday 14 December 2013 11:00 International Autograph Auctions (IAA) Radisson Edwardian Heathrow Hotel 140 Bath Road Heathrow UB3 5AW International Autograph Auctions (IAA) (Autograph Auction) Catalogue - Downloaded from UKAuctioneers.com Lot: 1 Lot: 4 GULLY JOHN: (1783-1863) CARNERA PRIMO: (1906-1967) English Boxer, Sportsman and Italian Boxer, World Heavyweight Politician. Signed Free Front Champion 1933-34. Bold blue envelope panel, addressed in his fountain pen ink signature ('Primo hand to Thomas Clift at the Carnera') on a page removed Magpie & Stumps, Fetter Lane, from an autograph album. One London and dated Pontefract, very slight smudge at the very 27th September 1835 in his conclusion of the signature and hand. Signed ('J Gully') in the some slight show through from lower left corner. Very slightly the signature to the verso. VG irregularly neatly trimmed and Estimate: £60.00 - £80.00 with light age wear, G. The Magpie & Stumps public house is situated opposite the Old Bailey Lot: 5 and was famous for serving BOXING: Small selection of execution breakfasts up until vintage signed postcard 1868 when mass public hangings photographs by the boxers Gene were stopped. Tunney (World Heavyweight Estimate: £80.00 - £100.00 Champion 1926-28), Max Baer (World Heavyweight Champion 1934-35) and Ken Overlin (World Lot: 2 Middleweight Champion 1940-41; WILLARD JESS: (1881-1968) signed to verso). Each of the American World Heavyweight images depict the subjects in full Boxing Champion 1915-19. Blue length boxing poses and all are fountain pen ink signature ('Yours signed in fountain pen inks. truly, Jess Willard') on a slim Some slight corner creasing, G to oblong 8vo piece.
    [Show full text]