How it all started.

The summer season of 1969 came with a lovely surprise. Dora Bryan was announced to top the bill at The Britannia Pier Theatre Great Yarmouth in a show called "Hello Dora", following her West End run as Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly, a role Dora took over from Mary Martin. Dora had long been a favourite of mine and I was fortunate to secure a seat on the front row on her closing night. The formats to these variety shows were usually the same and Dora did not disappoint, appearing in sketches with her co-stars Mark Wynter and Johnny Hackett as well as doing her own act before the final curtain. I was to meet Dora on a couple of occasions and although she would not have remembered me as the young lad asking for her autograph when she opened a summer fete that season, she was as charming and delightful as she was when performing. I made several attempts at writing a novel in my teens and eventually came back to it in 2012 when I decided to pull my finger out and do what I had always promised myself. Placing my debut novel "Twice Nightly" in my hometown of Great Yarmouth, I changed the name of the pier theatre to one my sister and I came up with - The Golden Sands. Repeating the formula used in Hello Dora and creating some show business characters my novel became a reality and with the sequel "To Catch a Falling Star" and my third novel "Curtains" out now.

Goodbye Dora - you will be remembered with love and great affection by all those that appreciated your wonderful talent. Tony x

25 July 2014