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A note from Penny
Hello My Friends I thought it a nice idea to have a page on the web site from myself. I will change it every few months and tell you about what I did and what I'll do now. Starting with what I did - this is a short story about my life. Let me know what you think. |
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As a child I had performed on stage as a ventriloquist with puppets Johnny and
Sally Ann.
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I start my story in 1971- I was 20 just finished summer season as a dancer in
the Melody Inn Revue New Brighton.
It was then that I decided to have another go with my ventriloquist act, working social clubs and really enjoying it. I was very funny and had created a wonderful scouse duck puppet then called Gloria. I entered a talent contest and to cut a long story short I ended up in a final at The London Palladium and guess what .......... I won! |
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My family and friends all
travelled from Wallasey (my home town) to see me. This was the most exciting
night I had ever experienced, I was presented with a £1000 by "The Bachelors"
andI was treated like a star the only sad part was my family all went home and
I would of loved to of got on that bus with them. However I was wined and dines
and felt like royalty. My family finally got home about 4am. The following morning. I obviously was still in London. My mum answered the phone at 9am, no teeth, no glasses and still half a sleep. It was SIR LOU GRADE. My mum not having a clue who he was, explained that her Daughter had been on the Palladium and had won £1000. Which of course he already knew. I rang home about 11am and my mum said "hey Beaut" (family nick name I think it was because we didn't have a dog) anyway, she said "this man called his name was something like Grape" she didn't catch his first name she said it sounded like Loop!. I finally spoke to Sir Lou Grade, only to be offered a 14 week pantomime season at the London Palladium. With Frankie Howard, Dora Bryan and Alfie Bass. |
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The following Sunday The front of the Sunday People showed a photo of GOOGI (my puppet) with the caption - The Birth of a
Star - WOW, I didn't know if I was on my head or my heels. Life was as good as it gets or maybe a touch better. I managed to get home for a week before pantomime rehearsals started and my welcome home was unbelievable. |
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The time at the
Palladium was wonderful.l I also did a couple of appearances at the Savoy Hotel
but the sad side was I was lonely, missing my family and friends back home.
So in March 1972 I returned home and gave up my chance of London management I knew by then that working away and travelling the country alone was not for me. |
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I continued to work and was very successful in the northwest and north Wales
this was great I could get home every night. With the £1000 that I had won, I bought my mum and dad a three-piece suit and put a deposit on my first home, which I loved. My brother in law Rob and I went into partnership in a night club, The Tavern - what wonderful memories I have from these days. I had trained as a hairdresser and so opened my own shop. This was followed by two boutiques. My feet didn't touch the floor, I was busy and so happy. I was doing great work with Googi, Jersey, Isle of Man, Pontins, Played the queen in Panto with Tom O'conner and Davie Jones from The Monkeys. I Worked and met with lots of Starrs. I Did "Opportunity Knocks" followed by many TV apparances Rising Stars,Guys and Dolls, Saturday Night Express,Mary parkinson Show, a Pot noodle advert.................... But then !!! |
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In 1976 I met the man who I knew I wanted to spend the rest of
my life with "David Alexander, a Welshman with an incredible voice. We worked together but more importantly we played together too and in 1981 we were married a big white fairy tail wedding. I was the luckiest person alive. David had two daughters, Alexandra and Bronwen, they lived with their mum in Sheffield. David visited them every Saturday that he could. The children and I get on famously, we holidayed together and they stayed at Christmas, summer & Easter holidays. We had a great family. I never had children of my own but now I have two wonderful daughters, what more could I ask for. |
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David made many
records, all of which were very successful. Myself and Googi also had a few records "Googi The Liverpool Duck" being her most successful sold over 20.000 copies in the northwest. David being from south Wales meant we went down there often for David to work. Finally I started working there too, and so a lot of our time was spent on the road. We were a great team David with his wonderful voice and me doing comedy, made a good balanced show. I remember a delivery of LPs arriving at the Farm where we used to stay in Neath, Swansea. All the records were warped and not sellable, so with two sheets of glass the record in between them, laying in the sun for five minutes, then dipped in a bath of cold water we managed to flatten them. Would you believe we sold them. |
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David found
it difficult
to break into TV - he was a cross between Tom Jones and Engleburt Humpadink, and
so the only way to promote himself was to get out there and do it, and he did. In the early eighties we travelled the length of the country, doing live performances in Woolworth stores. It was hard and very tiring. working in stores to coincide, with the club we would be working that night. He never complained he loved his work and it paid off. Soon David's Cassettes and LPs where to be found in shops and markets throughout the British Isles.We advanced to working theatres this was fantastic as most of our performances were sell outs and still David did not get the recognition he deserved. |
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By 1986, David
had six LPs/Cassettes on sale, we sold them at the end of every gig. When we
would get home I would make supper and David would tell me how many records we
had sold it never stopped being exciting, life was wonderful and I had
everything I ever wanted. Our home was fabulous twenty-two rooms including David's snooker room, which he loved, thought he was the bees knees. We had our nieces wedding and goodness knows how many parties in that room, any excuse and the family would all be there. Fancy dress parties at Christmas barbecues in the summer we certainly enjoyed life. What vivid memories I have of that beautiful house. |
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Back in 1991 we had a frightening time, David was diagnosed with pollops on
his throat, we were really worried. But then after the operation we did a concert at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. It was fantastic a Complete sell out. It was an emotional performance and the audience stood and cheered him. I was so very proud to be married to this exceptional man with an enormous talent could anything get better than this? |
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We had been holidaying in Tenerife for several years David myself and the
children loved it. David would sing at the drop of a hat and never needed asking twice. He very quickly became known on the island. We stayed at "Palm Beach" and finally David started working there. In September 1991 we bought a lovely villa in a small town called "Callao Salvaje" this was the icing on the cake. He was a golfer and so Tenerife was heaven to him he played three times a week which was good exercise. David was starting to relax. We went as often as we could and finally had a couple of three-month visits. |
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November 1994 David was rushed into hospital with a heart problem. I was at home entertaining our friends wondering where he was. When I got the news I was frozen, the out come was David had an enlarged heart there was nothing they could do for it, so he would have to slow down. No alcohol, no jogging and not too much work, of any sort. I knew this was going to be a very difficult time, as David did not know how to slow down. A month after his scare he was feeling much better, had lost a little weight and so he was back doing what he loved to do, singing and golfing. Without telling me, on the 23rd January 1995 he went into the solicitor's office and made his will four days later we went to Tenerife it should have been for three months. On Friday 3rd February he walked into the villa and said, "I have just had the best game of golf of my life " That night we went to Amanda's Bar, David sang, we went home. On the 4th February 9.10am David had a massive heart attack and died. |
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I sometimes wonder what made him draw up his will ten days before he died, did
he know something or was it just a feeling he had. It was the shortest will on
record only three lines, he knew what he wanted. I don't know how to describe the months and years that followed I was completely lost. Googi went in her case to stay. In 2002 I did a Charity Show, back at The Liverpool Empire. The hardest performance I have ever done .I doubt I will do it again. My time is now taken up with the record company. It is busier to day than ever. |
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The video had a lot of work done on it, and was released
in 1996 - the sales have been staggering. Now on DVD with A Portrait of David, telling his life story I never cease to be amazed at the amount we sell, it goes beyond my wildest dreams and proves to me I must go on - I think I get my strength and determination from above. Shortly after David died I wrote a song entitled IF HEAVEN HAD A PHONE. I was inspired by my Mum, who said so many times, if only there was a phone to heaven. I have now recorded it. It is the last track on David's album IF I ONLY HAD TIME Penny Page |