Thanet Gazette November 1954
Turning Pro
During the next three years I was semi-pro playing hotel cabaret & private functions in Kent. Then, at age 18 years, I did my National Service. Luckily I was still able to do several shows during this time. By 1954 I decided to turn pro which meant many auditions. I played a week in Variety at the Hippodrome Margate, followed by a week in Barrow-in-Furness, a booking at the Panama Cabaret Club in Piccadilly, and a show at the Nuffield Centre London, where I was seen by Jimmy & Babs Retford who signed me up within a couple of weeks. The Buckmaster Puppets played Hackney Empire and many other Moss & Stoll Theatres with top variety stars like Max Millar, Jimmy Young, David Whitfield, Max Wall & Ken Platt, plus the up and coming names like Shirley Bassey and Des O’ Connor. I was also the speciality act for the Palace Theatre Reading Pantomime, Cinderella.
