Stan would regularly return to Liverpool during school
holidays and bring John and their cousin Leila, Harriet's daughter, back with him to
Fleetwood for part of their holidays. They would visit the stars who performed in the
shows at Fleetwood and Blackpool.
John, Stan and Leila would go up to Blackpool on the tram
two or three times a week during their summer holidays to see separate shows. They would
visit the Blackpool Tower Circus and see artists such as Dickie Valentine, Arthur Askey,
Max Bygraves and Joe Loss and his big band. It was George Formby who John
particularly liked.
Stan says, "Formby was a big influence on John's mother, Judy, and
myself. Of course, it was our grandfather, George Stanley that could play the banjo and
the ukulele. It was he that taught Judy the basic chords of the two instruments. When
George Formby came on the scene, with his stage acts and then his comedy films, we were
all thrilled because members of the family were able to play the same instruments. John
would come out of the George Formby films saying, 'My mother can play the banjo and
ukulele just like him!'"
"Before I went to live in Fleetwood, I used to travel
from Preston to Fleetwood by a Ribble Double Decker bus. John often traveled with me on
the top deck and we used to pass by George Formby's house, between Preston and Fleetwood.
He and his wife Beryl would be sitting in deck chairs in their garden at the front of the
house, and they would wave to us on the bus, and we would wave back. Of course John,
Leila and I went to all his shows in Blackpool whenever we got the chance. We felt we knew
him personally."
Incidentally, in the video of John's song "Free As a
Bird", released posthumously, there is a tribute to George Formby. The video ends as
the curtains come down in a theatre where a performer (Formby) is playing a
Banjo-uke. George was known for the saying "it's turned out nice again",
and that is the message heard backwards at the end of the song.
John and Stan were also fans of the speedway riders at the
Fleetwood Flyers Speedway Club. They attended all the local meetings and collected the
autographs of some of the famous champions. They also supported the Fleetwood
football team.
Elizabeth had been a champion swimmer at her Liverpool
school, and taught John, Stan and Leila how to swim at the famous derby baths in
Blackpool, and the open-air baths at Fleetwood.
In a photograph of John taken at the time, he wrote,
"the year I lost my swimming trunks at Mr. Shipway's." This was a reference to
Mr. Shipway's house, the second home in Fleetwood for Stan and his mother.
Stan said, "When at the Derby baths, we would sneak up
to the top of the roof to try and get a peek at some of the famous stars who were
sunbathing. They were hoping to get a tan before going on stage that night."
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