Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A professional entertainer who began his career as a redcoat at Butlins holiday camps after winning a talent contest while in the Air Force.
On the island
Eight records
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:08What was your first job when you left school?
I, the only thing I did fairly well at school I enjoyed English … and writing … And so I thought that when I got a job it would have to be something where I could use that words, you know … I took the apprentice job, but I found that I was delivering errands, delivering boxes on a bicycle. And I didn't like that idea, so I packed that up after the long term of three days. Then I went and got a job as a clerk in a boot and shoe factory in Northampton.
Presenter asks
0:49If you had stayed in the boot and shoe business, would you have made a success of it?
Thing I would have stayed anyway, they used to come in and catch me standing on the desk doing impressions of the directors and things like that and I don't think they'd have kept me too long.
Presenter asks
1:03What got you out of it [the boot and shoe job]?
Well, the Air Force — I was conscription, national service — I was sent after the Air Force … Not much … Wasting the country's money I think … I think if there was a conscription today, it would help the younger members of the community quite a lot. It did me the world of good. I was always a mummy's little boy until I went into the air force and it really taught me to stand on my own two feet.
Presenter asks
1:56What was your first appearance as a fully professional entertainer?
Well, I can remember that. It's indelibly in my mind. It was October 12, 1953, at the Newcastle Ponte Palace Theatre … Ten past six. Myself, the orchestra, eight assherettes … I was diabolical. I tell you something, on the Monday morning I arrived at 10 to 8 for Bandcall … I rushed in the moment it opened … I said, 'Where's the rehearsal?' They said, 'Well, the band doesn't get here till 11.' … I heard someone rehearse till eventually I went on at ten past one … He said, 'Where's your music?' I gave him, I said, 'Well, that's it.' He said, 'No, where's the rest?' I said, 'Well, I only do those two.' … He said, 'No, no, you don't understand, all we've got are two piano copies. Where's the rest of the [parts]?' … It suddenly struck me that I needed trumpets, trombones, violins, and I ended up singing two of the songs that the band were going to play in the interval because they had the parts.
“I was always a mummy's little boy until I went into the air force and it really taught me to stand on my own two feet.”
“It was October 12, 1953, at the Newcastle Ponte Palace Theatre … Ten past six. Myself, the orchestra, eight assherettes … I was diabolical.”
“I ended up singing two of the songs that the band were going to play in the interval because they had the parts. So that was the first week, but luckily I got some nice dates after that.”