Sir NORMAN WISDOM OBE (1915-2010)
an Epsom resident for many years
Norman Wisdom in a typical pose
on a J Arthur Rank Organisation postcard,
with thanks to Truus, Bob & Jan too! on Flickr.
This popular comedian/singer/songwriter and star of stage and screen had a “home from home” in Epsom from 1983 to 2007 – and, for that period, was arguably the Borough’s most famous occasional resident.
Norman’s parents were Frederick (a chauffeur) and Maud (née Targett – a dressmaker who often worked for West End theatres). They had married in the church of St Matthew, St Marylebone, London on 15 July 1912, the register entry for which records that they were both living at 15 Little Exeter Street. Norman was their second (and last child), born on 4 February 1915. (Their first child, Fred, had been born on 13 December 1912.) Both boys – “Frederick Thomas” and “Norman Joseph” – were baptised on 14 March 1914 also in St Matthew’s with the register listing the family address still as 15 Little Exeter Street.
The less than well-off family fell on even harder times. They moved to 91 Fernhead Road, Maida Vale, London W9, where they slept in one room. Norman reported that he and his brother were were frequently hit by their father. His mother later left home and the brothers were sent to a children’s home in Deal, on Kent’s east coast. On leaving school at age 13, Norman became an errand boy – followed by a spell as a cabin boy in the Merchant Navy and work as a waiter.
He then enlisted as a drummer boy in the 10th Royal Hussars and, in 1930, was posted to Lucknow in British India as a bandsman. As well as learning to play the trumpet and clarinet, he became the flyweight boxing champion of British Army in India. On coming back to the UK, Norman became a night telephone operator: he is listed in this capacity in the September 1939 Register which records him living with his now-widowed 50 year old mother (a “Dress Cutter & Fitter”) at 43 Sherrick Green Road, Willesden.
He was then formally assigned to the Royal Corps of Signals and was a telephone operator at the unit’s headquarters in Cheltenham. While there, he discovered his talent for comedy – particularly physical comedy – in NAAFI concerts, during which he perfected his persona as the “Gump” – a “successful failure” with the trademark tweed flat cap (askew, with peak turned up), a suit two sizes too tight, a crumpled collar and mangled tie. Shortly after demobilisation in 1945, he appeared in a charity concert at Cheltenham Town Hall, immediately after which the well-established actor Rex Harrison came backstage and urged Norman to become a professional entertainer.
Norman took this advice was fortunate to get work as the foil (in his “Gump” character) to the well-established magician David Nixon. Thanks to his comedic skills, he progressed rapidly in the profession, becoming a West End theatre and revue star.
Some mention should be made of Norman’s personal life. In Q1 1941, Norman had married Doreen M Brett in Willesden. The marriage failed when, in 1944, she gave birth to another man’s child. Norman got married again in Q4 1947, registered in the Croydon District, to Freda Isobel Simpson. They had two children: Nicholas, whose Q2 1953 birth was registered in the Edmonton District; and Jacqueline, whose Q4 1954 birth was registered in the Paddington District. The couple divorced in 1969.
To return to his public career, Norman made his TV debut in 1948, a year in which he also had his first screen role, a small non-speaking part in A Date with a Dream, a film about a group of musical entertainers who meet up a year after being demobbed and decide to reform their act. However, Norman’s breakthrough came with the lead role in the 1954 J Arthur Rank film Trouble in Store – which earned him a BAFTA as “Most Promising Newcomer”.
A poster for “Trouble in Store” (1954)
Image with thanks to Alchetron.com
The success of this led to a string of comedies for the Rank Organisation, almost all with the same basic formula (which owed a lot to George Formby‘s films of the 1930/40s) of the less than competent “Gump” character somehow getting the better of a stuffed-shirt manager. Along the way, full rein was given to his gift for physical comedy (Charlie Chaplin referred to Norman as his “favourite clown) – and he’d also win the heart of a dream girl with his shyness and innocent incompetence plus, in best (but dying) music hall tradition, a song. Norman wrote some of these songs himself – the best known perhaps being “Don’t laugh at me ‘cos I’m a fool” from “Trouble in Store”.
While these films were not rated by the critics, they were wildly popular with the public. They also enjoyed some success internationally. That was particularly so in Albania where he was one of the few Western actors whose films were allowed in the country. The hard-line Stalinist head of state, Enver Hoxha, saw proletarian Norman’s ultimately victorious struggles as a Communist parable on the class war.
He had other international success in film and on stage in the USA, Australia and South Africa but times were changing and his career was somewhat stalling by the 1980s. He did, however, win critical acclaim in 1981 for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the television play Going Gently. He spent much time relaxing in seclusion on the Isle of Man, where he had bought a house in Andreas. (This was named Ballalough – “lake farm” in the Manx language, but also a humorous corruption of the English “belly laugh”).
Aiming to reinvigorate his career, he decided to establish a base within easy reach of London and in 1983 purchased a three-bedroom top-floor flat in Downs Lodge Court, Church Street, Epsom. (This was a 1970s development on the site of the former Down Lodge.)
The central block of Downs Lodge Court, Epsom.
Norman’s flat (No 11) was on the left of the top floor.
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2020.
Norman did, indeed, enjoy renewed success – not least from 1995 until 2004 in the recurring role of Billy Ingleton in the long-running BBC comedy Last of the Summer Wine. At the same time, he was quite happy pottering about his homes in the Isle of Man and in Epsom. He would often be seen locally driving round in his favourite 1987 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit, or just walking round the Epsom shops (and in his favourite fish & chip shop in Ewell).
In the mid-1995 Birthday Honours, Norman was awarded the OBE “for services to entertainment and for charitable services.” In the 2000 New Year Honours, he was awarded a knighthood “for services to entertainment”. At the investiture on 6 June 2000, he made the Queen laugh with his trademark “trip and stumble” routine as he walked away.
In early 2005, it was learned that Norman was giving up his “home from home” flat in Epsom. To mark his long association with the Borough, the then Mayor (Cllr Brian Angus) and Mayoress gave him a lunch at the RAC Club, all being chauffeured there in a classic Bentley identical to one that Norman had owned. The 90 year old Norman was in good humour throughout – and on good form: he ordered just “greens” with his main course (and the Club rose to the challenge). As a memento of the occasion, Norman was – as pictured below – presented with a Borough shield. (For another photograph, Norman grasped the medal on the Mayoral Chain and made as if he was taking a great bite out of it!)
2005 presentation to Norman by the then Mayor of Epsom & Ewell, Cllr Brian Angus.
Photograph with thanks to Bourne Hall Museum.
Norman retired to his home in the Isle of Man. In declining health, he later moved into the Abbotswood nursing home in Ballasalla where, aged 95, he died on 4 October 2010. His funeral took place on 22 October 2010 in Douglas, to which all of Isle of Man were invited. (It was also attended by a large number of show-business personalities.) His coffin was topped by his trademark cap. Norman was then buried in the Kirk Bride churchyard – near his Andreas home – where, as shown below, his headstone also features his cap and touchingly notes that he is “remembered with a laugh”.
Norman’s headstone in Kirk Bride Churchyard, Bride, Isle of Man.
Photograph with thanks to Edan Gallacher via findagrave.com
Other memorials to this much-loved comedian are the “Sir Norman’s Bar” in the Douglas IoM Sefton Hotel, outside which is the Douglas Council’s “sit by me” memorial statue . . .
The “sit by me” statue of Norman outside the Sefton Hotel, Douglas IoM.
Photograph with thanks to “Maths Teacher” on waymarking.com
. . . and, as a nod to his early years in a children’s home, the Deal Wetherspoon pub being named “The Sir Norman Wisdom“.
“The Sir Norman Wisdom” in Deal, Kent.
Photograph with thanks to J D Wetherspoon.
Roger Morgan © 2020