Storytelling Sunday: first trip to London.

Hello and welcome to November's edition of Storytelling Sunday in association with Sian of From High in the Sky.

I would like to take you back, way back to the late 70s, in fact 1979 when my parents took me and lil sis to London for the very first time. We lived in West Sussex in those day and the company my dad worked for had a small flat near Green Park and so we went by train and stayed there.
It was around this time of year, as The Lord Mayors show was on and we got caught up in the excitement of watching all the carriages going by while we fought through the crowds with our luggage.

The main reason for us going was because we were going to the theatre to see this.........

 The shows star was of course Yul Brynner who had made the role of The King famous in the film of the musical with Deborah Kerr. For this production another famous English was chosen, Miss Virginia McKenna..................
Here are the two stars with some of the Royal children..............

Now I have a newish friend here in Wells who has an amazing work history. He went to fashion college and then worked at Bermans and Nathans, one of the most famous British costumiers of TV and film. So it was great interest that he told me how he had actually worked on some of those costumes.

Although he never worked directly with the stars, he was one of the people responsible for hand stitching the intricate embroidered gold pieces onto the children's jackets and also working on the special trousers worn by Yul Brynner himself. He also worked on a number of other productions in his time. 

My family and I sometimes talk about going to see this show and how Yul Brynner got a 10 minute non-stop standing ovation. It was a truly spectacular show and even though I have seen many show since then it remains one of my favourites.
I found this video of the children marching in to meet Anna for the first time and it shows the costumes my friend worked on really well.....................