I’ve decided that the next novel is going to be set in my home town of Blackpool. Consequently, I’ve been taking a handful of snaps for inspiration and ideas. Here, you can see, I’ve been walking through Blackpool illuminations.
The images of Sooty, Sweep and Soo were vibrant and colourful, although I have a couple of issues with these. First, Sooty is holding his wand as though he’s desperately trying to compensate for something. Admittedly, if I owned a wand, this is also how I would hold mine: but I’m not 100% sure this is acceptable for kids’ entertainment. However, I do have fond memories of being entertained by this trio whilst I was growing up in the 60s and 70s.
Interestingly, Harry Corbett first started presenting The Sooty Show in the 1950s and, just to give a local connection to this information, according to The Sooty Fandom website:
In order to entertain his children whilst on holiday in Blackpool in 1948, he [Harry Corbett] bought the original glove puppet, then called Teddy, in a novelty shop on the end of the resort’s North Pier for seven shillings and six pence. His first appearance with the silent Sooty was in a 1952 BBC TV show called Talent Night.
Not that Sooty, Sweep or Soo will be appearing in the next novel, although I’m thinking there will be references to the illuminations.
ashleylister.com 