OH Ted Loveday (L 57) has recently published Variety is the Spice of Life, an autobiography which tells how the son of a theatrical scenery designer not only followed the career of his father but also included spells in the greengrocery and printing businesses. Variety indeed!
Variety is the Spice of Life is in fact dedicated to Ted’s father, also called Ted , whose unfortunate and suspicious death in 1958 occurred when young Ted was just 14. During these early years, his father’s work with scenery-building firm Brunskill & Loveday formed a significant backdrop to Ted’s boyhood learning and, almost subconsciously, conveyed a vast amount of knowledge to him about the theatre business.
Learning about theatre
“Because my father was responsible for building the scenery for many thousands of stage shows, including several thousand West End shows”, says Ted, “I learned a vast amount about the theatre, and in particular about theatrical scenery and how to design and build it.
Via my father’s work with Brunskill & Loveday and its constituent businesses, I was not only introduced to the mechanics of many West End and provincial theatres but also to a vast number of my father’s theatrical friends and acquaintances.”
A life of contrasts
This exposure forms a key part of the book, but the story runs deeper. Ted doesn’t shy away from telling us about his mother’s poverty-stricken childhood in the early 20th century Scottish coalfields and its contrast to the affluent childhood of his father in London’s Theatreland.
Ted’s time at Haileybury is of course also covered – a period given extra flavour by time spent during school holidays selling nylon stockings at Petticoat Lane’s street market in London’s East End.
After Haileybury, we learn of Ted’s own career with BBC Television in London, later as the owner of a Grocery/Greengrocery business in Kent, and also his time as the owner of a printing works in Surrey.
A book of true variety
As Ted says, “it took me well over ten years to write this book – as well as the events surrounding the murder of my father, it covers everything from UK theatre and TV to Britain’s public school system and the little known role played by the Royal Earlswood Hospital in Epsom as the Royal Family’s secret psychiatric dumping ground. In my humble opinion, it is well worth reading!”
About the book
Variety is the Spice of Life by Ted Loveday is published by Brunskill & Loveday Ltd.
ISBN: 978-1915662514
RRP: £20.00
Variety is the Spice of Life is available through Amazon here
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