Ivor Cutler (1923–2006) by Angela Deane-Drummond, 1974 Getty Images
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Mark Espiner
Cutler, Ivor (1923–2006), humorist and singer, was born Isadore Cutler on 15 January 1923 at 3 Ralston Drive, Govan, Glasgow, the second son and third of five children of Jack Morris Cutler, draper and jeweller, and his wife, Paulina (Polly), née Goldberg. Both his parents were Jewish, and had arrived in ...
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Spencer Leigh
Geldray, Max (1916–2004), harmonica player, was born Max Leon van Gelder in Amsterdam on 12 February 1916, the first child of Leon van Gelder, commercial traveller, and his wife, Margarite, née Baillosterky. His father was a hard-working perfume salesman for a Spanish company, but political upheavals caused his earnings to fluctuate wildly. The young ...
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Bernard Green (1927–1998) by Doug McKenzie, c. 1990 Getty Images – Doug McKenzie
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Green, Bernard [Benny] (1927–1998), jazz saxophonist, writer, and broadcaster, was born at 260 Meanwood Road, Leeds, on 9 December 1927. His father, David Green, was a tailor and saxophonist and had met his mother, Fanny Fryer, while he was playing with a band in ...
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Maker: Peter Keen
Gerard Hoffnung (1925–1959) by Peter Keen, late 1950s © Peter Keen; collection National Portrait Gallery, London
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Richard Ingrams
revised
Hoffnung, Gerard [formerly Gerhardt] (1925–1959), cartoonist and musical humorist, was born in Grünewald, Berlin, on 22 March 1925, the only child of German-Jewish parents, Ludwig Hoffnung, a wealthy grain merchant, and his wife, Hilde, a widow, whose first husband, Schnabel, was killed in the First World War. His mother was a keen amateur musician and artist who encouraged his artistic talents. From his earliest years he was interested in the macabre—fairy tales, practical jokes, and the comic drawings of the famous German illustrators and caricaturists....
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Hans Heinrich Keller (1919–1985) by George Newson, 1984 © George Newson; National Portrait Gallery, London
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Christopher Wintle
Keller, Hans Heinrich (1919–1985), broadcaster and writer on music, was born at Nusswaldgasse 13, Döbling, Vienna, Austria, on 11 March 1919, the son of the architect Fritz Keller (d. 1939) and his wife, Grete Grotte (1883–1959); he had one half-sister, Gertrud Franey (...
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Kiralfy [formerly Königsbaum], Imre (1845–1919), dancer and impresario, was born in Pest in the Austro-Hungarian empire, the first of the seven children of Jacob Königsbaum, a clothing manufacturer, and his wife, Anna (Rosa) Weisberger. The Königsbaums were a prosperous family of Jewish descent. However, their family business was ruined in the Hungarian revolution of 1848, after which they suffered temporary poverty and ...
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Olive Baldwin and Thelma Wilson
Norsa, Hannah (d. 1784), singer and actress, was the daughter of Issachar Norsa (d. 1748?), a Jewish tavern keeper. She made her stage début as Polly in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera on 16 December 1732 in the newly opened Covent Garden Theatre...
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Henry Russell (1812?–1900) by Claude Jacquand, 1841 private collection; photograph National Portrait Gallery, London
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Russell, Henry (1812
