Byron, Lord of Panto

Forget the poet – his kinsman created Buttons and Widow Twankey!

Back in the mid-1960s, when Harold Wilson was Prime Minister, Harry Corbett (1918-89), the Bradford-born magician, puppeteer and creator of Sooty, was awarded the OBE intended for the Labour-supporting actor Harry H Corbett (1925-82), the creator of the sitcom character Harold Steptoe. Mistakes can happen, I regularly wonder if it isn't the wrong Byron who has been honoured with a memorial stone in Westminster Abbey. The Byron immortalised in Poets' Corner, next to the memorials for Lewis Carroll, D H Lawrence and Dylan Thomas, is George, 6th Baron Byron (1788-1824). Is this as it should be? Who reads Lord Byron now? Seriously. Who in 2024 is reading Childe Harold's Pilgrimage? Nobody I know. Be honest: nobody you know, either. IMHO (see below), the Byron who should be remembered is not…

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The Oldie (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 2025

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