PANTO TIME - OH YES IT IS!

January is the month of pantomime. Every town has one, either professional or amateur. I must admit that I'm a big panto fan - it was a big part in my upbringing. Before moving to Nottingham I performed in many amateur pantos in my home village of Misterton between the ages of 7 and 37, donning dame costume twice.

The panto dame has attracted more than its fair share of gay performers. Perhaps the best of these is Nottingham's own Douglas Byng from the 1920s onwards. He's quite well-known in LGBT circles, so I'd like to write about an unknown performer, who was equally at home playing panto dame and demon.

Last November I mentioned my Uncle Bill - Will Hayes - the war-time companion of my grandfather, who was a real showman. In Winter he would take a few months off from his job at the village engineering works to appear in panto around the country. The photo here shows him in one of his dame costumes taken in the 1920s. He died just before I was born, but thanks to my mother I feel I knew him.

My mother told many stories about Uncle Bill. My favourites were about his magic act and how the Magic Circle would ask him to test new tricks from the US before letting them be performed in the UK. One was a new "cutting a lady in half" trick. My mother, as usual, was the guinea pig - I mean, magician's assistant. Uncle Bill would often read the instructions, inspect the apparatus, and do things his way! This time he had trouble with the blades. Pulling and pushing them they just wouldn't "go through". My mother was in agony. The blades were actually cutting into her and she pleaded with Uncle Bill to read the instructions again. One slight adjustment, and the trick worked, and my mother literally lived to tell the tale.

During World War II Uncle Bill and my mother's Aunt Emily, a dance teacher, produced fund-raising concerts and pantos for the war effort. As well as my mother's family many local people were "recruited" to the concert parties. My mother often laughed uncontrollably when she told the story about marionette sketches. Uncle Bill was a strict professional, and often during rehearsal would shout at my mother and aunts, "Stop buggering about! The puppets feet are supposed to touch the bloody floor, not float in mid-air!"

Thanks to my mother's stories about Uncle Bill's magic I leant how to amaze my little nephews and niece with just 10 playing cards. And I can still remember the stunned look on the faces of the bar staff at Broadway when I performed my "Impossible Miracle" trick several years ago (didn't get me a free drink though!).

To return to Notinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage click on http://www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk/