1951 to 1960

They had their first child Harvey in '51 whilst at the Playhouse in St Helier, Jersey. The fable that he was named after the white rabbit is I suspect apocryphal, more likely that Jack's mother's maiden name was Harvey and Liz's maiden name Mann - hence Harvey Mann Woolgar.

The company in Jersey included 'Smudge' Elkam, Aline Libert, Terry Denville, Ron Hemming, Greta Ward, Dodo Watts and Treena van Doorne (who married Graham Kerr who became The Galloping Gourmet - mum and dad always loved watching that programme so I imagine they knew that - I have only just found out )

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After Jersey I think they toured a little more but based themselves at Grandpa Mann's house in Bedford. Chris was born there in 1953. Shortly after that they moved to Huddersfield  to join the theatre there. They settled in Huddersfield as the boys were due to go to school and both Jack and Liz were full of the romance of Yorkshire, they had after all met in 'Jane Eyre' and loved the wildness of the moors; Huddersfield is where they would raise their growing family and spend the rest of their lives.

They lived in a rented house in Berry Brow (often pointed out years later when visiting Castle Hill), a flat in a larger house called Grafton Place (where the university now stands) this place was by all accounts pretty grim and then to a council house in Fernside Avenue, Waterloo. Here Sarah and I were born.

They had originally arrived in Huddersfield with the Denville players and over the years there put on many many productions with Jack producing and acting. The company included Kate Cameron, David Courtnay, Olive Simpson, Kenneth Waller, Fred Ferris Nita Valerie, Rita Davis, Peter Thorpe and Judith Spivey.

The Theatre Royal was eventually demolished - vandalism some would say - and that was probably the catalyst for Jack to seek work in TV. Granada TV was only just over the Pennines in Manchester and the early days of TV were very similar to rep - a company of players and live.

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Early TV and Granada

Granada TV which started in 1956, was close to where we lived in Huddersfield, an easy train journey, as Jack had never learnt to drive nor ever would. Liz was the driver, always.

Not sure how the work began at 'Manch', as it was referred to, probably an old theatre colleague got him in, but he began on a live magazine show called People and Places playing a madcap yorkshire inventor, Albert Sowerby  and from there into other TV work. Here's Harry and The Trouble with Harry for the BBC with Harry Worth. An early episode (52) of Coronation Street - which he was in three times as different characters over the years.

Plays were still very much a part of TV schedules then and he began to clock up parts in many different productions for both ITV and the BBC.

I remember as a pre-school kid sitting on the sink drainer looking out of the window waving him goodbye as he went 'off to Manch' with his little canvas and leather strapped case, a sea of musty but cologned corduroy about his slight frame.

Life was quite tough for him and his family but things were getting better. Some well paid job must have happened about 1962 as a Brenell Mk. 5M reel to reel tape recorder arrived in the house, not sure why, possibly an aid to rehearsal or just a big fun toy. We all got recorded.

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