Askey, Arthur Bowden (1900–1982), actor and entertainer, was born on 6 June 1900 at 29 Moses Street, Liverpool, the elder child and only son of Samuel Askey (d. 1958), secretary of the firm Sugar Products of Liverpool, and his wife, Betsy Bowden (...
Article
Askey, Arthur Bowden (1900–1982), actor and entertainer
Richard Murdoch
revised
Image
Askey, Arthur Bowden (1900–1982)
Maker: Anthony Buckley
Arthur Bowden Askey (1900–1982) by Anthony Buckley, 1939 © Kenneth Hughes / National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Beckman, Sir Martin (1634/5–1702), pyrotechnist and military engineer
Piers Wauchope
Beckman, Sir Martin (1634/5–1702), pyrotechnist and military engineer, was born in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of Melcher Beckman and his wife, Christiana van Benningen. Their names and his profession suggest a Dutch origin.
By his own account Beckman left his native Sweden about 1645 in order to serve the English crown. His brother served as a royalist captain in the civil war and was royal engineer to the exiled ...
Article
Bellew [formerly Higgin], John Chippendall Montesquieu (1823–1874), popular preacher and public reader
Rosemary Mitchell
Bellew [formerly Higgin], John Chippendall Montesquieu (1823–1874), popular preacher and public reader, was born at Lancaster on 3 August 1823. He was the only child of an infantry officer, Captain Robert Higgin (1792–1853) of the 12th regiment, who had married in ...
Image
Belzoni, Giovanni Battista (1778–1823)
Maker: Maxim Gauci
Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778–1823) by Maxim Gauci, pubd 1821 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Belzoni, Giovanni Battista (1778–1823), performing artist and Egyptologist
Peta Rée
Belzoni, Giovanni Battista (1778–1823), performing artist and Egyptologist, was born on 5 November 1778 in Padua, the son of a barber, Giacomo Belzoni, and his wife, Teresa. He went to Rome aged sixteen to prepare himself for monastic orders; he claimed also to have studied hydraulics. The French invasion of ...
Article
Boruwlaski, Joseph [formerly Józef Boruslawski], styled Count Boruwlaski (1739–1837), travelling performer and memoirist
Margot Johnson
Boruwlaski, Joseph [formerly Józef Boruslawski], styled Count Boruwlaski (1739–1837), travelling performer and memoirist, was born in November 1739 near Halicz, Galicia, Poland, the third son of a lower gentry family. The principal source for his life is his own memoirs, published in several editions between 1788 and 1820. When he was nine his father died, leaving a widow with five sons and one daughter. Three sons were very tall, but three children suffered from achondroplasia, an inherited condition in which the cartilage in the bones fails to grow. ...
Article
Brandram, Samuel (1824–1892), reciter
G. Le G. Norgate
revised by Nilanjana Banerji
Brandram, Samuel (1824–1892), reciter, born in London on 8 October 1824, was the only son of William Caldwell Brandram (d. 1839) and his wife, Anne. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' and King's College schools in London and Trinity College, Oxford, from where he graduated with a BA in 1846 and received an MA three years later. At the university he was best known as an athlete. After leaving ...
Article
Bygraves, Walter William [Max] (1922–2012), singer and entertainer
Patrick Humphries
Bygraves, Walter William [Max] (1922–2012), singer and entertainer, was born on 16 October 1922 at 7 Rye Buildings, Rotherhithe, London, the son of Henry Bygraves, dock labourer and professional boxer, and his wife, Lilian May, née McDonnell. He was brought up in a part of ...
Article
Carey, George Saville (1743–1807), entertainer and writer
Jennett Humphreys
revised by K. D. Reynolds
Carey, George Saville (1743–1807), entertainer and writer, the son of Henry Carey (1687–1743), poet, and his wife, Sarah, who had been a country schoolmistress, was born a short time after his father's suicide on 5 October 1743. Kitty Clive led a benefit performance for the destitute widow and her four small children at ...
Article
Carson, Hugh Francis [Frank] (1926–2012), comedian
Oliver Double
Carson, Hugh Francis [Frank] (1926–2012), comedian, was born at 46 Great Georges Street, Belfast, on 6 November 1926, the son of John Carson, a dustman and newspaper seller, and his wife, Josephine, née Augusta. He was of part Italian descent, his grandmother having emigrated from ...
Article
Castle, Roy (1932–1994), entertainer and charity campaigner
Graham McCann
Castle, Roy (1932–1994), entertainer and charity campaigner, was born on 31 August 1932 in Holme Valley Memorial Hospital, Holmfirth, West Riding of Yorkshire, the only child of Hubert Castle, an insurance agent, and his wife, Eliza Alice Swallow, a mill worker. His childhood was spent in ...
Article
Clark, Joseph (d. in or before 1697), contortionist
Gordon Goodwin
revised by Stuart Handley
Clark, Joseph (d. in or before 1697), contortionist, of unknown origins, established a reputation as a curiosity in late seventeenth-century London, where he was a resident of Pall Mall. Although a well-grown man he owed his fame as a 'posture-maker' to his ability to '...
Article
Cook, Peter Edward (1937–1995), humorist and entertainer
John Bird
Cook, Peter Edward (1937–1995), humorist and entertainer, was born on 17 November 1937 at Shearbridge, Middle Warberry Road, Torquay, Devon, the only son and eldest of the three children of Alexander Edward (Alec) Cook (d. 1984), colonial civil servant, and his wife, ...
Image
Cook, Peter Edward (1937–1995)
Maker: Sir Cecil Beaton
In
Peter Edward Cook (1937–1995) by Sir Cecil Beaton, 1962 © Cecil Beaton Archive, Sotheby's; collection National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Corvan, Edward [Ned] (1830–1865), entertainer and songwriter
Roy Palmer
Corvan, Edward [Ned] (1830–1865), entertainer and songwriter, was born in Liverpool of Irish parents, but was brought up from the age of four in Newcastle upon Tyne. Three years after the move his father, Matthew Corvan, a mason, died, and the young Corvan...
Article
Daniels, Newton Edward (Paul) (1938–2016), magician and entertainer
Barry Murray
Daniels, Newton Edward (Paul) (1938–2016), magician and entertainer, was born at 51 North Street, South Bank, Eston, Yorkshire, on 6 April 1938, the elder son of Handel Newton (Hughie) Daniels (1914–1991), cinema projectionist, and his wife, Nancy, née Lloyd...
Image
Devant, David (1868–1941)
Maker: unknown photographer
In
David Devant (1868–1941) by unknown photographer [detail] V&A Images, The Victoria and Albert Museum
Article
Devant, David [real name David Wighton] (1868–1941), conjuror and illusionist
Edwin A. Dawes
Devant, David [real name David Wighton] (1868–1941), conjuror and illusionist, was born on 22 February 1868 at 4 Boston Terrace, Holloway, London, eldest of the eight children (five daughters and three sons) of James Wighton (1835/6–1901), a Scottish artist, and his wife, ...
Article
Du Val, Charles Henry (1846–1889), entertainer
Vivien Allen
Du Val, Charles Henry (1846–1889), entertainer, was born at Platt Terrace, Rusholme, Manchester, on 27 October 1846, the youngest child and only son of Irish parents, John Du Val, a schoolmaster, and his wife, Eliza Ann, née Murray. He was educated in Manchester...
