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 On This Day 28 July 1906 the Lido opened on Tooting Bec Common "Bathing Ponds, Tooting Bec Common, Streatham" The idea for the lido was initiated by the rector of St Nicholas, Tooting and Wandsworth borough mayor Rev John Hendry Anderson.   
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 On This Day 27 January 1913 Rosemary Brown was born. She was a pupil at Rosa Bassett School, Streatham and lived in Balham Rosemary Isabel Brown (27 July 1916 – 16 November 2001) was an English composer, pianist and spirit medium who claimed that dead composers dictated new musical works to her. She created a small media sensation in the 1970s by presenting works purportedly dictated to her by Claude Debussy, Edvard Grieg, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Igor Stravinsky, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann and Sergei Rachmaninoff Born in Stockwell, Rosemary Dickeson was the daughter of an electrician and a catering manageress. Though her great love was dancing, when she left Rosa Bassett school, Streatham, at the age of 15, her father saw to it that she went to work for the Post Office. Professor of psychology John Sloboda wrote that Brown's music offers "the most convincing case of unconscious composition on a large scale." Was she a fraud? The late composer and former Streatham-resident Ian Parrott argued not. He believed she wasn’t clever enough to fake what she transcribed, he told the BBC documentary. “In my view,” Parrot wrote in her Guardian obituary in 2001, “the limitations of her training [she took a few piano lessons] left her unfettered by too much formal apparatus, and so better placed to receive music from others.”  On This Day 27 July 1932 Bobbie Irvine was born. With husband Billy Irvine the couple lived in Abbotswood Road and owned the Starlight dance studio which still exists in Streatham The young Bobbie Barwell was spotted by Bill Irvine, a competitive dancer from a Scottish mining family from Low Craigends in Kilsyth. He brought her to Britain from South Africa and together they dominated the dance scene for the second half of the 20th century, first in competitions and then in teaching and adjudicating from their school at the "world famous" Starlight in Streatham. Winning 13 world titles between 1960 and 1968, Bobbie transcended the decline of ballroom dancing in Britain (The Times Obituary) Commemorative plaque on Tooting Bec Common    On This Day 26 July 1938 The Lambeth Walk, new dance, was officially recognised and made in Streatham
The manager of the Locarno Dance Hall at Streatham went to see 'Me and My Girl' and decided that 'The Lambeth Walk' might be turned into a ballroom diversion. Miss England, the chief of his dancing staff, then evolved the knee-slapping, the stamps, the turns and the shout of "Oi". Success was instantaneous at the Locarno and subsequently in the main dance-halls of England and of Scotland (where "Hoch oi" is shouted instead of "Oi"). Source Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/.../archive-1938-lambeth-walk... Image Streatham's Kate Carney, London's coster queen of the music halls, practising the Lambeth Walk with her daughter Dolly, 5 October 1938. Photograph: JA Hampton/Getty Images  On This Day 25 July 1901 Prince Frank Littler CBE born Prince Frank Richeux. Theatre proprietor, impresario and television executive. At the age of 25 Littler (1st image) started his theatrical career with small companies touring provincial towns. 5 years later he became an independent theatre owner. His empire began to build following the opening of theatres in Leicester, Manchester and Norwich before putting on his first London production at the Coleseum in St Martin's Lane followed by the New Prince's Theatre (now the Shaftesbury Theatre) and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Littler's West End shows included Carousel, Guys and Dolls and Fiddler on the Roof. In 1936 Prince Littler became pantomime producer at Streatham, opening his tenure with “Humpty Dumpty” followed in 1937 with “Jack and the Beanstalk”, starring Ted Ray, Shaun Glenville as Dame, with Marie Burke (mother of Patricia Burke) and “Baby Terry” as Fairy. The 1938 panto was “Sleeping Beauty”, and the first wartime panto saw Barry Lupino as Widow Twankey in “Aladdin”. This pantomime featured Wilson, Keppel and Betty. When he was approached by Streatham resident Lew Grade (2ndimage) to become a major shareholder in Associated Television he was already the managing director of three major theatre groups and the chairman of Moss Empires. Littler was appointed CBE in 1957 and retired in 1966. He passed away at his Sussex home in 1973, aged 72 years. (Nigelthedame and Teletronic)   On This Day 24 July 1965 Boxer Freddie Mills died. A light-heavyweight boxer, with European titles, world titles and championships. He had a Boxing club in Streatham and taught boxing at the Youth Club   This appeared in the Illustrated London News on 24th July 1858 Image © Illustrated London News Group The obituary of Sir John Key of Manor House who was twice Lord Mayor Portrait Print by Charles Turner © The Trustees of the British Museum   On This Day 23 July 1857 Norman Cole Bailey was born Norman Cole Bailey (23 July 1857 – 13 January 1923) was an English footballer from the late 19th century, who made 19 appearances for England playing at half back. Bailey was born in Streatham and was educated at Westminster School, whom he represented at football. He subsequently played for the Old Westminsters, Clapham Rovers, Wanderers, Swifts and Corinthian, as well as earning representative honours for Surrey and London. At his peak he was described as "a very safe half-back, with plenty of dash and judgement; he has both strength and pace and never misses his kick". He was a member of the Clapham Rovers team that reached the FA Cup final twice losing 1-0 to Old Etonians in 1879, going on to win the cup in 1880 with a 1-0 win over Oxford University at The Kennington Oval. He made 19 appearances (scoring once) for the England national football team between 1878 and 1887 (and was thus the first player to make more than ten appearances for his country) and captained England fifteen times. He was a solicitor by profession, qualifying in 1880, and served on The FA Committee between 1882 and 1884, becoming vice-president from 1887 to 1890. The census reports of 1861-1871 and 1891 show he lived at "Springfield" St Julians Road and "Bernia" Leigham Court Rd. (Photos Kevin Kelly)  |
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