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Charles Hawtry in Littlewoods, High St.

Barr_Beacon

Barr_Beacon

The Prodigal Brummie
I have a request to make. In December 1974 I was working in Littlewood's in the city centre. In the run up to New Year, Charles Hawtrey (from the Carry On films) entered the store. He was accompanied by two burley 'body guards' and was wearing a poncho and dark John Lennon type glasses. To be honest, to a sixteen year old Saturday Boy like me, he was quite a creepy, unnerving looking man. Over the years, I've often wondered what he was doing in Birmingham. He wasn't in pantomime and I can't remember any newspaper articles about his visit. Does anyone remember seeing him or can explain why he was in Birmingham?
 
If fans asked him for an autograph, Hawtrey would often swear at them and rip their paper in half. Kenneth Williams recounted a visit to Deal in Kent where Hawtrey owned a house full of old brass bedsteads that the eccentric actor had hoarded, believing that "one day he would make a great deal of money from them"
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Dan Dann 1725121922439.jpeg​

 
A peculiar man, he had a longer career than I realised and was excellent in the Carry On films he appeared in though it seems he felt he never got the billing he thought he deserved. His latter years were spent in a manner that many would deem rather sad, though he didn’t give a damn what other people thought.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Maybe it was when he was appearing at the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton. Maybe just visiting Brum ?

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Source : British Newspaper Archive
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It was definitely 1974, I'd left Littlewood's in September, 1975. My own theory was that he was visiting someone in Birmingham. My only other claim to fame in Littlewood's was when Peter Moore, whose family owned Littlewood's Stores (he was later to become chairman of Littlewood's in 1977), Pools and Catalogue visited the store in 1975. He saw me on the shop floor with my large V-shaped broom, walked over to me and snatched it out my hands. He then demonstrated how I should use it properly and walked off. He might have been late for an appointment in The Red Lion over the road.
 
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