Dan Leno

I went to talk to funeral directors this afternoon (as I did with my mother's arrangements, I went with the wonderful Poppy's Funerals, who are the women you would want to have running your entire life, kindly and efficiently).  They're situated in the gatehouse of Lambeth Cemetery, and arriving a bit early, I went for a walk round it, final resting place of a million plastic dahlias and roses.

And final resting place, too, to Dan Leno!  Leno was a star of the late C19th music hall and musical theater; a boy clog dancer; then a solo comedian - monologues and comic songs about very everyday subjects; and a pantomime dame at Drury Lane.  He was, apparently, brilliant at all the comedy he did - but hated the fact that he couldn't break in to serious theater, and increasingly drank, as his father had done - indeed, he probably drank himself to death, at the age of 43.  But he lived long enough to have made recordings - listening to them makes one realize quite how the nature of humor shifts from generation to generation ... Also, I'm intrigued by how posh his voice sounds - he didn't come from that kind of background, at all.  Who knew I'd find him here, on a grey, wet day?