Alton
Douglas, born 22 Jan 1938 in Birmingham, was registered as Douglas John
Price , the son of Sidney Neville Price (died 19 Aug 1948), a motor pressing
inspector, 6th child of Tom Price and Lucy Crutchley, both of Shrewsbury,
who had 16 children, and of Dorothy Margaret Price, nee Pipe, (born 17 Dec
1900 in Wolverhampton), daughter of Richard Pipe and Emily Withington.
Alton is a broadcaster and author who has appeared in virtually every
major theatre in the U.K. and was responsible for hundreds of television
warm-ups. He is the voice behind several cartoons and children's toys etc.
He was educated at Saltley Grammer School.
Alton Douglas has been well known
in the Midlands for many years as a radio entertainer and a television
presenter of such shows as "Know Your Place". In recent years his carefully
planned researched pictorial books on Midland themes have generated sales of
over 300,000 copies, and earned him a loyal following. Each book contains
between 350 and 400 illustrations, carefully captioned, and presented in a
standard A4 format.
After spending his National Service as a
trombonist, with the band of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, he
played in local bands for some time before forming his own group. In order
to present something different from the average dance band he began to break
up the sets by telling the occasional joke. In time it became a natural
progression for him to become a full-time comedian. Over the years he played
Dame in panto, Principal Boy opposite Helen Shapiro, appeared in summer
shows (including a spell as Principal Comic with the world famous 'Fol de
Rols') and played most of the major cabaret venues and theatres in the U.K.
(appearing with Paul Daniels, Vera Lynn, Roy Hudd, Frankie Vaughan, Edmund
Hockridge and many more). He also acted as warm-up comic for over 1,000 TV
shows including 'The Golden Shot', 'The Peggy Lee Show', 'Some Mothers Do
'Ave Em', 'Terry and June', 'New Faces', 'Lunchtime with Wogan', 'Up the
workers' and "Are you being served?". Over the years he has acted in
training videos, recorded voice-overs for hundreds of radio commercials,
been the voice behind several cartoons and children's toys, written showbiz
columns and reviewed jazz records and shows and appeared in such TV
programmes as 'Angels', 'Seconds Out', 'Crossroads', 'A Soft Touch', 'Muck
and Brass', 'The Golden Shot', 'The Knockers', 'The Original Alton Douglas',
'Nights at the Swan', 'Watch This Space', 'The Barmaid's Arms', 'Open
University', 'Property Rites', 'Big Deal', 'Newshound', 'Murder of a
Moderate Man' and 'The Bretts'.
In 1979 he was asked to host the BBC
Midlands TV inter-town quiz series 'Know Your Place' and, as writer and
quizmaster. By the time the third series had ended, he had discovered a hole
in the market - there did not appear to be any books concentrating on the
Midlands during the 2nd World War.
'Birmingham at War Vol 1'
(published by the Evening Mail) came out in 1982 and was an immediate
success.This was followed by another three war books and the idea was then
developed to cover a longer span of time. Most of the following books show
events over a 100 years or more and they are mainly pictorial, with lots of
ads, newspaper cuttings and posters.
Alton, working with his wife of
35 years, Jo, nee Ward, along with Dennis Moore, (ex-RAF/retired Bank
Manager) do all the distribution. In fact, they have carried so many boxes
of books into shops - over 450,000 to date - that Jo and Alton have had to
have osteopathic treatment for neck and back injuries!
He suggests I read more in his biog,
The
Original Alton Douglas! --- Which I have now done, and it is a good
read!
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