Hero's of My Career

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Richard James

Many of the people who have impacted upon my life, and helped it on it's way, have been people, who at their time, I thought had little baring upon my ambitions.  

Richard James and I came into contact whilst he and I were engaged to entertain elderly and mental patients in a, huge, old, hospital in Surrey, England.  He had a puppet show, of marionettes, which performed in an elaborate theatre with lights and music. They mimicked classical ballet and theatre, using music from great orchestras and telling the traditional, classic, fairy tales. 

He must have been in his late fifties when I met him. He had a one track life, puppets were his reason for living, they were only puppets but they took him around the world and into situations that most mortals will never even hear about. Life around him had the feel of the 1930's, it was of a grander style, where opera capes, hats and sticks were in fashion, and the spoken word was rounder and more precise. He could be so 'British British' in an old fashion way.  Many times, on our travels around Europe,  we were in shops together,  if the assistant did not speak English, Richard would speak louder and leave. 

There are many qualities in Richard and above them all was is sharp ability to get things done, no messing, see the opportunity and grab it.  

I was a young kid, I had been messing around in the entertainment business for a year or two when Richard telephoned an asked me if I would go to Germany with him to work the puppets in his show. First I had to write the show, Sleeping Beauty, then we had to record it.  We went to a young mans house to do this, by coincidence I had met this man whilst working at the BBC in Shepherds  Bush, he was a camera man. The tape was very good.  So we set off with a large group of people to visit Germany as part of a town twining event. Richard was the coordinator for this operation for the area in which he lived.  We had a wonderful time and made many lasting friendships.  When the festival was over Richard and I travelled off in his old car.  It was an old Post Office Morris 1000 van, re-sprayed blue,  it seemed very strange to many motorists who over took us on the Motorways/Autobahns, they would toot their horns, and some would laugh. Richard loved to use the back streets and would navigate whilst I drove. We would be 'poodling' happily down the road when suddenly he would let out a yell as we passed a turning he thought we should have taken. More than once he frightened the day lights from me !

So we came to do a show in a fine art museum.  After the first show a man and woman, and some younger people, came up to us. The man said "We are from a group of puppet players, may we look at your puppets ?"  Without a blink Richard said "Would you like to come to England ?" The man said "How would we fund this idea ?" The next thing I knew we were eating a wonderful Sunday lunch in the woman's house and finalising the arrangements for the first of a number of visits they made to England.  The woman and her daughter became two of my closest and best friends and although they have now passed on I am still great friends with the woman's son.

Richard had a cheeky side, which could lead to trouble.  We we visiting some British Forces Military bases in Germany at a time when the IRA had been planting bombs. We arrived late one evening and, with the help of the schools headmaster, set up the puppet theatre in the school in the barracks.  We did not realise that an army lorry, full of heavily armed soldiers, followed us up the road to the town and our hotel.  As I drove into the car park the lorry followed, as we got out of the car we were surrounded by soldiers who were shouting at us and pointing guns. We were frisked and pushed against the wall,  then one of the soldiers said "What have you got in your van ?" Richard said "Not much we have just unloaded most of the contents into your barracks !"  I consider myself lucky to be alive now and it took some smart talking to get the story straight with the soldiers,  but we did live to tell the tale !

We had adventures which took us to France and Switzerland and Italy.  We watched Donkey races in a little Italian town and ate pig which had been roasted on a spit. The ice cream was fabulous and the dancing went on all through the hot summer night. We met a man who had been an Italian ambassador, he invited us back to his home and we were given Sherry with ice in it as we sat on his veranda and looked over acres of sun drenched vineyards. His wife immaculately dressed in white. Beautiful tapestries hung over stone walls and ornamented the fabulous wooden stair case. He invited me to handle some fine pottery objects which were, he said, made before the birth of Christ.

Richard took in a lodger, a mentally handicapped man,  called David.  In the beginning Richard cared for him but after 25 years the tables were turned and David, despite his disabilities, uses his many abilities to care for Richard, now 85. Still as sharp as a black note on a piano, Richard told me that it was now impossible for him to stay in his own home without David's assistance.

Richard took the blinkers from my eyes and helped me see the big wide world and so I travelled into it.

He died 7 April 2007.

Richard

Tavernelle

David

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