Michael Farran-Lee (1976-79) It is often said in the profession that ‘Tenors never meet’. This must also apply to the other voices as usually one never has to work with another of the same voice in concert. I have worked with Michael on a very few occasions and that only in G&S chorus work with G&S A La Carte. What he is doing now ???
Pamela Field (1972-75, 1975, 1981-82) Pamela was a popular principal soprano who went on to sing in shows, broadcasts and concerts. She is married to David Porter and lives, as far as I know in Aberdare, S.Wales. Pamela endeared herself to all in the boys dressing room one night after she had changed and was waiting to go home. David meanwhile was getting changed and generally having a bit of banter with the lads, and consequently dawdling a bit. Pamela must have got fed up with having to wait for David so came up to the dressing room. She didn’t come in, she simply knocked on the door and shouted, “For God’s sake David, come on!” which caused a huge uproar from the boys and a spurt in David’s energy levels. From then on “For God’s sake, David” became something of a catch phrase every time anybody needed to speak to David Porter.
Patricia Garnham (1974-75) Pat was only with the company for a year but it was the year we went to Rome. With Jackie Burnett, Gareth Jones and myself we formed a small coterie of like-minded tourists going everywhere we could together. Apart from the usual sights in Rome itself, the Coliseum, Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica etc we also went on two bus tours to Sorrento, which took in the marvellously preserved ruins of Pompei, and to Hadrian’s Villa with it’s wonderful water gardens. Pat is married and went into a career of concert and oratorio and became a singing teacher.
Julia Goss (1967-79) Julia took over from Valerie Masterson when she left. She was a fine principal and when she left also went into concerts, oratorios and stage shows appearing most notably as Carlotta in The Phantom of the Opera. As far as I know she is still singing and living in South London.
Fraser Goulding (m.d., 1979-81/a.m.d., 1981-82) I first met Fraser when he conducted me in a production of Mikado for World Of Gilbert and Sullivan (I think). He became musical director of the Carte and has since gone on to a career conducting many companies and orchestras throughout Europe. He last conducted me in the 2003 concerts given by G&S A La Carte in Birmingham and Manchester. He still has that quiet air of authority and humour which is his hallmark.
Bruce Graham (1979-82) Brucie Baby has become a good pal and a great man to have around when you need a laugh. We have sung together in many concerts and I have to say his voice gets better and better. He served a term in Cats and Phantom, is married to Caroline, formerly Madelein Hudson, whom he met in the Carte and who is fondly known as 'Mrs Woman'. They live in Walthamstow.
Frances Gregory (1968-71) Frances was a very pretty girl who joined the company at the same time as me. She covered several soprano parts and played small parts. She continued singing when she left, married and had a daughter. I worked with her a few times in a small touring opera and concert company, The Apollo Group of London, and she had lost none of her humour and the voice was in good trim. Sadly, I heard that she was recently widowed. She still resides I believe in South London.
Neville Griffiths (1949-58), one time principal tenor with the Carte, was married to mezzo Elizabeth Howarth and both went into the ENO chorus where I met them both. Neville had been a coal miner in South Wales and his stocky physique and enormous strength gave him a very powerful sound indeed. He was a very friendly man with a twinkle in the eye and he told me some of the stories written in D'Oyly Days. They must have both retired some time ago and their present circumstances are unknown to me.
Rosalind Griffiths (1972-75) One of my pals. Ros. was and still is a vivacious girl with lots of fun in her and many are the laughs we have shared. Soprano understudy and small part player Ros always brought her own brand of humour to her work. We have worked quite a lot in concert together especially when she and husband John Broad lived in Melton Mowbray but since they moved to South Petherton the opportunities for working together have been few and far between, more’s the pity.
Glenys Groves (1968-70) Glenys joined the company at the same time as me and left after two years to join the cast of The Great Waltz at Drury Lane. Since then she has been a long serving member of Covent Garden chorus, a concert artiste and corporate entertainer. I have worked with Glenys on some of her corporate evenings and she is a pleasure and a joy to work with. She married Tony, an executive Banker and lives happily in Buckinghamshire.
Anne Guthrie (1968-70) Anne is another who began in the chorus and was promoted to principal status where she acquitted herself very well. Hers was a voice with a ‘strong vibrato’ but of good tone and musicality nevertheless. She left the Carte and went into the Covent Garden chorus where she remained until she married and retired from singing a couple of years later. The last I heard of Anne she was living in North London, but that was some years ago.
Abby Hadfield (1963-70, 1971) Abby was an already established member of the company when I joined and was one of the 'Royal Family' - a small group of long-serving ladies of the chorus who seemed to form a little coterie into which aspiring members had to be invited. I think this select group was more in the imagination of the outsiders than in reality but Abby and Beti Lloyd Jones seemd to be the grand dames of the company at the time of my joining. She was a splendidly good looking woman, married at the time to Peter Riley. After she left she went into TV and concerts and I saw her a few times on the telly, most notably in Colin Welland's 'Jack Point ' a play about an amateur operatic company doing Yeomen Of The Guard. I think she still lives in the north of England.
Glyn Hale (a.m.d., 1974-76) Glyn became assistant musical director of the company and married Gillian Burrows a soprano in the chorus. He left to take on several conducting jobs on tour and in the West End most notably in ‘42nd Street’. For further details on his life and career, see his web site halefamily.net/glyn .
Alexandra Hann (1979-82) I worked with Alex in a few concerts with Magic Of D’Oyly Carte. She was married to Alan Rice for a short time and continues to sing in concert. More than this I do not know.
Clive Harré (1979-82) Clive and I have worked together in concert. He is a very pleasant man and a professional on stage. I have no idea of his circumstances at present.
Richard Hazell (1962-64) A former Bass with the Carte has appeared in several West End Shows, following the trend of others by playing M. Firmin in Phantom. He has also played many small roles at Covent Garden and can be seen on some of their Videos, notably as Ivan, Prince Orlovsky's valet in Die Fledermaus. He retired several years ago.
Joan Hedley (1970) This was one of the shortest contracts ever, but not the shortest - see Stephen Tudor! I think Joan was only with us for one month and the reason for her leaving so abruptly is unknown to me at present.
Melvyn Higgs (1971-73) Melvyn was a quiet sort of chap, a bit unassuming but could have fun when he wanted. I think he enjoyed his work but he kept himself to himself most of the time. He was married to fellow chorister Chrystal Martin and they left to go into the ENO chorus. Where they are now I don’t know.
Josephine Hinchley (1973-76) Jo was a mezzo of robust, though not enormous stature. Pre Carte I think she had been a PE teacher and she approached her work with professionalism. Sadly she succumbed to cancer in 1994.
Jean Hindmarsh (1956-60, 1961-62, 1962-63, 1963, 1963-64, 1969) I remember Jean coming back to the company to play Princess Ida in 1969. Her voice was a lovely clear soprano and she seemed to be a very personable and approachable woman. I know very little else about her.
Kathryn Holding (1970-73) “Miss Shake of 1969” is a title Katy would probably wish to forget by now but that is how she was heralded into the Company by the Savoyard owing to her winning a dancing competition while on holiday the previous year. Katy was a popular member of the company and played several of the mezzo small roles and covered some of the principal parts too. When she left she married and had, I think, two sons though she is now divorced. She lived in Cambridgeshire for a number of years but has since returned to her native Cheshire.
Lyndsie Holland (1970-77) Lyndsie took over the Contralto parts from Christine Palmer and had a strong, resonant, if somewhat plummy tone which served her well in the roles she had to sing. My only anecdote concerning Lyndsie was when we were in the same digs once. We were in rooms next to each other and, as usual, when I awoke around 8.00am I put on the radio, very low, and held it close to my ear so that I would not disturb the neighbours. Five minutes later a loud knock came on my door. I opened it to be faced with a ravening Demon in curlers. It was Lyndsie. “Switch that bloody noise off!” she demanded through closed teeth. She was angry and it turned out that she was such a light sleeper that the tiniest sounds of the radio had disturbed her. An hour later, at breakfast she was the epitome of apology but I made sure I was never in an adjacent room to her again. After she left the company she did some concert work but the last I heard was that she was working in an office as the singing work was never enough. I know the feeling!
Ann Hood (1963-67, 1970) Anne was another of the ex-principal sopranos drafted in to sing Princess Ida, which she did extremely well as I recall. She also sang roles at the Coliseum with English National Opera though she retrained her voice to sing Mezzo roles. She was a superb Ortrud in Lohengrin. She also sang some of the mezzo G&S roles but not with the Carte. She went back to live in Lancashire and taught singing. Sadly she passed away in 2000.
Eileen Hough (1971-72) A northern lass from Manchester, Eileen had a great sense of humour and was always ready for a laugh. She had a quiet wit Derek Booth, no mean wit himself, was fond of and indeed he gave her the fond, if not cheeky nickname of ‘Bartlet’ because she had such a lovely pair. For those of you not au fait with Bartlet’s canned fruit this is a pun on the word ‘Pear’! Eileen married I think and raised a family while teaching singing and running her own operatic company in which she took the principal soprano roles. I don’t blame her. She had a lovely soprano voice and deserved to do well.
Elizabeth Howarth (1952-58), married to Neville Griffiths went with him into the ENO chorus where I met them both. They recently retired.
Madeleine Hudson (1976-81) I know MadeleineHudson as CarolineGraham as she is married to one of my favourite people Bruce Graham. I first met her when she was dressing for the Phantom Of The Opera company when she was between singing engagements and Bruce was still in the Phantom company. He referred to her then as Mrs Woman, and she has been Mrs Woman to me ever since. She is a musical and talented lady and has a
Linda Anne Hutchison (1969-73)Linda was and still is an elegant and beautiful woman who graced the stage with her performances. For all of this she had a wicked sense of humour and was not averse to having a joke onstage, but never at the cost of her professionalism. She left the company to marry Gordon Stuart the music critic and broadcaster and is a very successful singing teacher, though still performing occasionally.
This addendum lists all the later choristers and a few previous I either know little of or have some bearing on my Tales. Further information on these, or any of the others would be welcome.
Addendum
Alexander Faris (m.d., 1981-82) Sandy Farris, whom I met only once, is a superb musician and an expert on Offenbach, among others. He wrote a fascinating biography of Offenbach and spent many seasons conducting musicals in the West End. He also has many film scores to his credit, but his love of G&S stems from his schooldays in Northern Ireland. He was the last Musical Director of The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Christine George (1980-82) A fun-loving Welsh woman with a marvellous voice. We sang together in concert occasionally. She married and went to live in Caerleon, S. Wales.
Clicking on the blue links above and below will open pages in one of several G&S sites (listed below) which you can browse at leisure. They are
Memories Of The D'Oyly Carte
Who Was Who In The D'Oyly Carte
The G & S Archive
Savoynet