HAODS - For the best entertainment in live theatre, together with top quality drama - amdram at its best, Henley Operatic & Dramatic Society has it all. Performing at the Kenton Theatre, Henley-on-Thames, NODA award winning HAODS musicals and plays are renowned for excellence.

Thomas Morton was probably the most prolific playwright of his day. He is credited with no fewer than 33 plays but 7 of them were not successful and he denied writing them so his official count is 26. He was born in the village of Whickham, Co Durham, the son of John and Grace Morton. His parents died when he was just four years old and he was sent to London to live with his uncle, John Maddison, a stockbroker, who brought him up as his own son. He attended the Soho Square School where amateur acting was very much in vogue and it was here that he acquired his love of the theatre. One of his closest school friends was Joseph George Holman who later became a well-known actor.

He entered Lincoln's Inn on 2nd July 1784 to study law but there is no evidence that he ever qualified, although he did occupy chambers in the city. It would seem that he abandoned his studies in favour of playwriting. His first play, Columbus, opened at Covent Garden on 1st December 1792 and this was the beginning of a very successful career. It is known that he was paid £1,000 for one of his plays performed at Covent Garden - no mean sum in those days.

Morton was responsible for the introduction of a word into the English language. One of the characters in his play Speed the Plough, Mrs Grundy, has become a synonym for a prudish, narrow-minded and over-conventional attitude. Mrs Grundy was also the forerunner of a dramatic trick which has since been used by many playwrights - she does not appear in the play! Her name is mentioned often and her moralistic attitude is frequently alluded to, but she never actually appears.

Morton was the subject of much abuse and criticism when he accepted the position of 'Reader of Plays' at Covent Garden in 1828. His duties were to read all plays submitted and choose those most suitable for production. In 1831 he transferred to a similar position at the Drury Lane Theatre. He was, nevertheless, a very likeable man according to other reports and was one of the very few people to be invited to join the MCC without having to go through the usual procedure of being elected.

Morton wrote the first play to be performed at the Kenton (or the New Theatre as it was then known). It was School of Reform or How to Rule a Husband. He wrote the play in 1805 and it was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on January 15th of that year. It opened at the Kenton on 7th November and it is very likely that Morton, who lived nearby in Pangbourne, would have come to Henley to see his play opening this new and elegant theatre. School of Reform or How to Rule a Husband, had a repeat performance on November 7th 2005 in celebration of the theatre's bicentenary.

Bill Port

No.15 David Kossoff  Variety Performer (1919 - 2005)

David Kossoff was born in the East End of London the son of Russian
parents. He made his first appearance on stage in 1942 and was invited to join
the BBC Repertory Company in 1945. After taking part in, literally, hundreds
of radio plays he began a stage and film career which won him a BAFTA award
for "A Kid for Two Farthings" and great success as the Jewish tailor in "
The Bespoke Overcoat". The warmth and sincerity of his voice made him a
huge hit reading Bible stories on radio which led to a Sunday evening series
and a number of bestselling books.

He was best known in the 1960s as Alf Larkin the henpecked husband in the
television series "The Larkins" after which he moved into another
successful series "A Little Big Business"

In his later years he toured the halls with several one-man shows with
titles like "One Eyebrow Slightly Up" and "A Funny Kind of Evening with David Kossoff". It was this show he performed at the Kenton on April 27th - 29th 1967. The Henley Standard critic wrote  "David Kossoff had the ideal situation " an intimate atmosphere and a packed house at his mercy. His one-man show is not, in effect, one man at all as he seems to fill the stage with his characters so that he almost loses his own identity".

His shows remained "outrageously funny" despite the tragedy of the death
of his son Paul from drug induced heart failure in 1976 and of his wife,
Margaret in 1993.

David died in 2005 aged 85.

Kenneth Macmillan - Ballet Dancer/Choreographer (1929 ? 1992) Kenneth Macmillan was born in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1929. He was born of a very poor family. His father, an ex-miner and failed chicken farmer was unable to pay his debts and the family fled to Great Yarmouth in the middle of the night. Here Kenneth won a scholarship to the local grammar school where he learned, amongst other things, tap dancing and Scottish country dancing.

During the war the school was evacuated to Retford and it was here that he had his first ballet lessons from Jean Thomas, a local teacher. He was soon totally obsessed with ballet and by the time he was 23 he was already a member of the Royal Ballet. One of the artists who designed scenes and sets for the Royal Ballet was John Piper, the Henley artist, who, in 1951, took over the lease of the local theatre. After much reconstruction (including the building of a new magnificent proscenium arch) Piper and his partner Dr Adams renamed the building ?Kenton Theatre? and set about providing entertainment for the citizens of Henley. Piper approached his colleagues at the Royal Ballet, John Cranko and Kenneth Macmillan to perform at his new theatre. At this time Macmillan was suffering very badly from stage fright and was on the point of giving up his career as a dancer. John Piper was very persuasive and convinced them to form a small company and come to the Kenton.

The company consisted of ? Kenneth Macmillan, John Cranko, Geoffry Wise, Peter Wright, Yvonne Carter, Sonya Hana and Margaret Scott. John Piper and his friend Osbert Lancaster designed and painted the scenery. Osbert Lancaster was also responsible for the Box Office and for operating the curtain!

The season lasted from July 21st to August 2nd 1952. Included in the programme were THE PAS DE TOUS FROM PINEAPPLE POLL, THE FORGOTTEN ROOM and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, During rehearsals many alterations had to be made to the choreography in order to suit the small stage and it was here that Macmillan found his talent as a choreographer which he developed with the help of John Cranko and finally became known as the top choreographer of his era. Bill Port

No.11 - Melvyn Hayes - Actor

Melvyn Hayes was elected King Rat, Head of the Grand Order of Water Rats, in 2005, the highest honour paid by the members of this charitable music hall society to one of their colleagues.

He was born on January 1st 1935 and got his first job in show business at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1950 taking part in "Maskelyne's Magic". His small stature made him perfect for the part of the boy in the Indian Rope trick who climbs to the top and disappears. He was paid £4 per week. Even now he is only 5'3".

He spent the next ten years doing small parts in films and in theatre and television dramas. His appearances in television include playing the Artful Dodger in "Oliver Twist", Edik in "The Silver Sword" and the lead role in the award-winning documentary "The Unloved". During this time he also completed over one thousand performances in the West End in Bill Naughton's "Spring and Port Wine".

His big break came in 1960 when he signed a seven year contract with Associated British Pictures and played leading roles in several films including the Cliff Richard movies "The Young Ones", "Summer Holiday" and "Wonderful Life". He has appeared, in total, in more than fifty films. In the late  1960s he married the actress and theatrical agent Wendy Padbury. They were  later divorced and he married Jayne Male, a theatrical costumier, in 1987. They have one child.

In the 1970s it seemed that he was never off television thanks to his role in "It Ain't Half Hot, Mum". As Bombardier "Gloria" Beaumont he appeared in all 56 episodes of the BBC sitcom which was first shown in 1974. The plot followed the fortunes of a concert party entertaining the troops in Burma during the Second World War. He seemed to spend most of his time in drag and succeeded in creating one of the most memorable of all television characters. When the series finished in 1981 he was the subject of "This is Your Life" on Thames Television and was also in the Royal Variety Show. Since then he has made 27 appearances in "Countdown" as the expert. He also made several appearances in "Drop the Dead Donkey", and, most recently, he has joined the cast of "Eastenders" as Michael Rawlins the driving instructor. He has also made many non-appearances as the voice of "Superted" and "Budgie - the Helicopter".

His one and only foray to the Edinburgh Festival was in a play entitled "Saved by Sex" which was an outstanding failure.

Melvyn continues to make regular appearances in pantomime and has toured in many plays including "Run for your Wife" which played at the Hexagon in Reading. He is also in demand as a cabaret artist and as an after-dinner speaker.

He performed at the Kenton from April 26th to May 1st 1982 in a play called "Stage Struck".

Bill Port 

No.9. - Diana Dors (1931 - 1984)  Actress

When Diana Dors was very young, under school age in fact, she and her mother spent a lot of time at the cinema. They would go as often as four times a week and as a result, Diana soon became hooked on Hollywood style movies.

She was born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon on October 23rd 1931. It was a difficult birth and both mother and child almost lost their lives. By the time she was fourteen she had convinced her parents that she wanted to be an actress and succeeded in becoming the youngest ever student at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She excelled at LAMDA in her first year and, when a change of name was suggested she adopted Dors, her grandmother's maiden name. She dyed her hair blonde and, almost immediately, was offered small film roles. The first of these was as Mildred in "The Shop at Sly Corner" and, by the time she joined the J Arthur Rank School for young actors, she was already an established name. Her first major role came in the 1948 film "Here Come the Huggets" in which she played Diana Hopkins and, a year later, she had the leading role of Dora in "Diamond City". The film which launched her as a sex symbol in 1951 was "Lady Godiva Rides Again", in which she played the bikini babe Dolores August.

By 1956 Diana had become Britain's highest paid film star and was probably ready to make the trip to Hollywood. Bad press, however, concerning what was described as "a scandalous affair" with Rod Steiger, did not improve her popularity and a further article about her stormy marriage caused her to be denounced by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Her career went into decline. Offers of worthwhile film roles dried up and she was forced into bankruptcy. A marriage and divorce from her second husband, comedian Dickie Dawson, did nothing to improve the situation. A third marriage, to actor Alan Lake was more successful and she appeared with him on the West End stage in " hree Months Gone". This seemed to revive her career but she began to accept roles as the typical busty blonde in low-budget comedy and horror films which were a long way from the heady days of being the highest paid actress. In 1974 she suffered from an attack of meningitis which put her into a coma. Her recovery surprised her doctors but it put paid to any hope of continuing with a film career. She made several appearances on television in chat shows and panel games and as an "agony aunt" on the breakfast programme. One or two character roles in films came her way and in 1984 she had a part in "Steaming". This proved to be her last film and she died of stomach cancer on 4th May. She appeared at the Kenton from August 7th - 14th 1950 in the play "Born Yesterday".

 I can hear you scoffing right now. "How can someone who died in the eighteenth century appear at the Kenton?" Well, Mary Blandy was undoubtedly a celebrity in her time and she DID appear at the Kenton. The fact that these incidents are almost 250 years apart makes it all the more interesting. Mary Blandy was born in Henley in 1721, the daughter of Francis Blandy, a well-known Oxfordshire lawyer and Town Clerk of Henley. The family lived a comfortable life style in their house in Hart Street next to St Mary?s Church. In the late 1740s, Francis Blandy became concerned that his daughter seemed destined to remain a spinster and he let it be known that Mary would have a dowry of £10,000 ( a tremendous sum in those days!) when she married but this did not attract any suitors until she met Captain the Honourable William Henry Cranstoun at a garden party at Paradise House, the home of his uncle, Lord Mark Ker. Mary's father was delighted at the prospect of a son-in-law from the Scottish aristocracy and invited Cranstoun to reside with them when he was demobilized from the army. Francis Blandy's delight was overturned when Lord Mark Ker informed him that his nephew was already married. He forbade Cranstoun ever to see Mary again. It is obvious that Cranstoun?s main interest was the £10,000 and he sent Mary a "love philtre" suggesting that she gave it to her father to overcome his dislike. As instructed, Mary gave her father the powders with his meals and he died. Tests showed that the powders contained arsenic. Cranstoun fled, first of all to Scotland and a few weeks later to France. Mary was arrested and came to trial at the Oxford Assizes (held in the Hall of Divinity School, the normal venue being under repair) on March 3rd 1752. The trial lasted thirteen hours at the end of which Mary was found guilty and sentenced to death. She was hanged on April 6th and her body was transported to Henley where it was buried in the chancel of St Mary's Church between the bodies of her parents. The service was conducted by the Rev. William Stockwood. In November of the same year, Cranstoun was found dead in a hotel room in Northern France. Mary Blandy appeared at the Kenton on the night of Saturday 10th April 2004. A party from the Ghost Club Society accompanied by Bryan Villars and myself spent the night in the complete dark of the auditorium. At around 2.45am we all saw a mysterious light about four feet in height moving up and down the aisle. A photograph was taken by the GCS secretary. Later a questioning session was held and the 'ghost' claimed to be Mary Blandy. Asked why she had come to the theatre the reply was that she had come to see a play about herself which she did not like. Later checking revealed that a play called "The Hanging Wood" by Joan Morgan about Mary Blandy had been performed in the theatre in 1969 and was not well received. Despite several other overnight visits to the theatre Mary Blandy has not made a return appearance, Perhaps she will oblige in November when another " ghost hunt" has been arranged. I have an adapted copy of the play "The Hanging Wood" if any company would like to perform it.

Bill Port