Hi Neal, Thank you for the offer so difficult to refuse. My interest in the British Theatre is purely one of nostalgia of what I can remember. Recently I have purchased a 'Living Era' CD. One track has Jack Hodges performing with orchestra, " Everything is Fresh Today". It was originally recorded in 1933 and the very small write up says it was his best selling record. He was known as the Raspberry King and to me the discovery of a piece that was hilariously used by Spike Milligan at times, has been a delight. But who was Jack Hodges? Could I ask you to "lookup" Jack Hodges in your 1930 Who's Who and tell me a little about this very original individual. Should you ever come across a mention of a concert group "Dr Mark and his Little Men" I would be delighted to hear. This group toured mostly England and Scotland from around 1850 to 1867 giving concerts in aid of their Royal College of Music at Manchester which was their "home". My grandfather was a member of this boy orchestra and choir of "Little Men" ages 5 to 16, and although I have found a great deal of information from "The Era" newspaper for example, I am always searching for more. They gave a concert for Queen V and Prince A on their wedding aniversary at Buckingham Palace in 1858 so the group was obviously well known. Thank you, John Favill, Brookfield, Wisconsin, USA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Neal Dench" <ndench@tinyworld.co.uk> To: <THEATRE-UK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 12:05 AM Subject: [THEATRE-UK] Lookups > Hi everyone, > > It's been a quiet list lately. > > I've just managed to pick up a 1930 edition of Who's Who in the Theatre (6th > Ed) by John Parker, published by Pitman. I know someone else on the list has > offered to do lookups from another old edition, but different editions of > books like these can vary quite a bit with new and updated information. So > if anyone would like me to do lookups for them, I'm more than happy to -- > just drop me a line. > > I have also borrowed, and am busily scanning, a whole bunch of theatrical > pictures from my Mum. As well as including pictures of my own family > (primarily my Dad, but also my Mum and her father), this obviously includes > dozens of pictures of other people in the theatre. Sadly, many are > unidentified at the moment, but I know the names of just as many. > > Once I've finished scanning (there's a lot to go!), I'll catalogue all the > names I have, and I'm happy to pass on photos to anyone that's interested. I > also hope to put up a sort of rogues gallery of unidentified faces on the > web at some point. All this might take a long time, so in the meantime, if > anyone has a relative that they know worked with either Bertram DENCH, > Stella DIXON, or Paul DIXON (or possibly Paul HEATON -- same person, > different stage name), drop me a line. > > All the best everyone > > -- > Neal Dench >

Hi John Nothing for Jack Hodges, I'm afraid. Your story of your grandfather, though, is fascinating. I'll certainly let you know if I hear of anything, though the area I'm looking into is slightly later than that (first half of the 20th century, basically). Cheers -- Neal ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Favill" <jfavill@wi.rr.com> To: <THEATRE-UK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 12:02 PM Subject: Re: [THEATRE-UK] Lookups > Hi Neal, > Thank you for the offer so difficult to refuse. My interest in > the British Theatre is purely one of nostalgia of what I can remember. > Recently I have purchased a 'Living Era' CD. One track has Jack > Hodges performing with orchestra, " Everything is Fresh Today". It was > originally recorded in 1933 and the very small write up says it was his best > selling record. He was known as the Raspberry King and to me the discovery > of a piece that was hilariously used by Spike Milligan at times, has been a > delight. But who was Jack Hodges? > Could I ask you to "lookup" Jack Hodges in your 1930 Who's Who and > tell me a little about this very original individual. > Should you ever come across a mention of a concert group "Dr Mark > and his Little Men" I would be delighted to hear. This group toured mostly > England and Scotland from around 1850 to 1867 giving concerts in aid of > their Royal College of Music at Manchester which was their "home". My > grandfather was a member of this boy orchestra and choir of "Little Men" > ages 5 to 16, and although I have found a great deal of information from > "The Era" newspaper for example, I am always searching for more. They gave a > concert for Queen V and Prince A on their wedding aniversary at Buckingham > Palace in 1858 so the group was obviously well known. > > Thank you, > > John Favill, > Brookfield, Wisconsin, USA >