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Prime Minister Winston Churchill drops in for a show!
On 18th August 1952, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister, made a surprise visit to the Theatre to see D’Oyly Carte’s The Yeomen of the Guard. Despite the secrecy, the stationing of two policemen outside soon aroused curiosity and there was a crowd waiting as first Christopher Soames arrived, and then Mr and Mrs Churchill.
They were greeted by James Perry and Frederic Lloyd, the general manager of the D’Oyly Carte Company. The party’s seats were in the front stalls, and as they entered the audience rose and clapped. In the interval they went to the Theatre Board Room where they were entertained. They signed the Theatre autograph book which also contained signatures of many famous stars.
I wonder what happened to that autograph book?
Here’s where an earlier autograph book was in 2017…
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/chaucer-auctions/catalogue-id-srchau10089/lot-ec34f208-67f3-4059-9fa7-a7ac009fa34f
1938 Streatham Hill Theatre book signed by a huge array of 340+ 1938/41 stars of stage and screen. Pages are 10 x 8 inches and are annotated with the Play title to the top and then signed below by cast members. There are scores we cannot identify so this may well yield some very good names with some research. There are 66+ pages with approx. 345 autographs. Names include Yvonne Arnaud, Ronald Squire, Robert Atkins, Jack La Rue, Louis Calhoun, Anne Zeigler, Jimmy Young, Leonard Henry, Alfred Drayton, Ben Travers, Robertson Hare, Leslie Henson, Roy Ralston, Raymond Huntley, Lloyd Pearson, Muriel George, J B Priestley, Peter Blackmore, Viola Lyel, Peggy Bryan, Herbert Lomas, Sarah Churchill, Polly ward, Barry Sinclair, Claude Hulbert, Hilda Campbell Russell, Hugh Dempster, Sarah Erskine, Stanley Lupino, Elizabeth French, Frank Leighton, Terry Kendall, Derek Oldham, Betty Anderson, Harry Welchman, Doris Francis, Fay Compton, Victoria Hopper, Mackenzie Ward, Basil Langton, Mary Marvin, Beatrice Rowe, Clive Morton, Luise Ranier, Godfrey & Barbara Tearle, Leslie Banks, Ann Todd, Ann Casson, George Gee, Frances Drake, Sybil Thorndyke, Emlyn Williams, Vera Pearce, Jack Barty, Bernard Clifton, Riat Davies, David Tomlinson, Sir Henry Wood, Peggy Rawlins, Eric Cole, George Welford, George Ricande, Sydney Granville, Gordon Harker, Merwyn Johns, Will Fyffe, Mark Lester, Sidney Pointer, Bruce Carfax, Charles Heath, Ralph Lynne, Doris Hare, Barry Barnes, Diane Churchill, Mary Clare, Hugh Wakefield, Godrey Tearle, Wilfred Hyde White, Hermione Baddeley, Veronica Rose, Tom Walls. In Green bound volume, some pages have been neatly removed. Forms a superb piece of Theatre memorabilia from early War years. Good Condition.