THE PRICE of fame seems to have shot through the roof; just ask Michael Barrymore or Gazza. Say sorry? In 1959, Stanley realised the writing was on the wall for variety theatre in Scotland and moved to London. Its hard to know if the invigorating sea air or simply timing resulted in Moiras declaration, but she announced she wished to have a full-blown sexual relationship with her leading man. paul coronation street nose rheagen smith mother hope wilson greg kerfoot whistler house mary crandall hales the hive server ip and port how to know if a sagittarius man is interested wotlk hit rating calculator semillas de lichi propiedades lamesa, texas obituaries what was the explosion at the end of tomorrow man pescience cake pop protein recipes can you drive to blue lagoon cyprus mission . And she never knew of the window ledge incident. A loved one. A PAIR of drug dealing Glasgow grans who were caught with over 24,000 worth of cocaine have been jailed. So: a legend. Yet there is one celebrity who has bucked the trend. The lavish, multi-layered dresses worn by classic pantomime dames are built on a bodysuit of gripping Lycra whose fierce constriction can leave the body raw and bruised by the end of each performance. His heart raced as he rushed towards her and pulled her back. Writer and broadcaster, Interviewer of the Year for the Mail, winner of Radio Academy gold with BBC Radio 4. I sat on the edge of the bed and sobbed my heart out, he admits. It was all very selfish of me and a bit macho. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. ' Friends suddenly shunned him, fearful of guilt by association. The Real Stanley Baxter by Brian Beacom is published by Luath Press Ltd, 20. It said, words to the effect of, 'I'll let you off if you don't want to marry me'. A public face is no longer enough if youre a public figure. 'I'm too afraid of what people will think of me,' he said. Nostrils flaring. The origins of the company stretch back to the mid-nineteenth century, when William Robertson founded the Robertson & Baxter company in Glasgow. '. Published by Luath Press Ltd, 20. The tracks had long been covered by this time last year, when Ian Jack, then editor of the Independent on Sunday and (being a Scot) a Stanley Baxter fan, issued his decree. Baxter recalls how he would be allowed by his wife to bring men home, at a time when homosexuality was illegal in Britain. Just when it was looking hopeless, I discovered a quote from Don Black, the lyricist of Sunset Boulevard, about keeping himself fit at the RAC Club: I take a Turkish bath at the club every Saturday. From beyond the grave, Williams talked about him more frankly and perhaps imaginatively than any living friend would. But she did mention several times there was something wrong with Moira, that her emotional balance wasn't quite right. Comments have been closed on this article. Once stardom had been achieved, he limited his television appearances and won an unusual amount of power over how they were made. Baxter had done Shakespeare, and in 1969 he appeared alongside Sir Ralph Richardson in the original cast of Joe Ortons last play, What The Butler Saw. As one critic wrote: The joke is not that Stanley Baxter is dressed up as a woman. A Gannett Company. heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment. Everythings being raked around in here ready for Christmas. He returned to the BBC but, after a one-off in 1986 in which he played 37 roles (including Mae West, whom he first impersonated aged six), that contract also ended. And, meanwhile, my deadline had passed, and there were other things to do. He says now that he'd known for years that he found men more attractive than women, because at the Saturday morning cinema club he could not take his eyes off the half-naked Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan, rather than Maureen O'Sullivan's Jane. Yes. The STANDS4 Network. They werent interested in doing another take just because Stanley felt there was a whisker of it that wasnt right. So: Mr White hadnt been having me on Baxter did live in London, then. One of them might be him, I thought. Wearing a calf-length tweed coat with a smart scarf folded across the throat. And he reads the Independent. moira robertson baxter. tyson jost dad; sean penn parkinson's disease; mockingbirds attacking my cat Since our merger with Granada theres nobody higher up who would have been involved either. No other intimate had ever talked about him in public. (this was eventually broadcast on Radio 2 earlier this week). The changing weather had given me a cold, so the stout went straight to my head, and the meal was tasteless. It was partly a feeling of I'll show them, that I could be as heterosexual as the rest of them.. If there was one place where he could still feel at home, it was the world of Scottish pantomime. PMC New Covid hospital admissions are now at the fourth-highest rate of the pandemic, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They went on a trip to Amsterdam together in 1964, although Williams who described their sitting in clubs with a load of poofs returned to Britain early. Calls went unreturned, faxes unanswered. Add new skills with these courses Word: Mail Merge in Depth Cert Prep: Word Associate - Microsoft Office Specialist for Office 2019 . Now that personal publicists are de rigueur for everyone from ministers mistresses to rugby players wives, we may even catch ourselves feeling faintly disapproving at the thought that he might want to do without the oxygen of publicity. Theres a great move afoot for them to be repeated, to have a compilation made of them for the States and Canada, and all that, but thats still being worked on. No. Baxter himself often spoke of wanting to die. ', Until, inevitably, it did. The dark, often highly dramatic script of their life together began when he joined the Citz in 1948, shortly after being demobbed. Ive often wondered how her life would have turned out had she married a devoted heterosexual husband., He adds, his voice breaking: I will never know why she loved me so much. Meanwhile, on January 15, 1951, the engagement became national news, yet this didnt really register with Stanley. When he returned, he decided to seek medical treatment for his sexual urges. His sketch shows were months in the making and the talk of the nation spectacular, controversial, unlike anything ever seen. His agent was still stonewalling, and his old television company had forgotten him. His act was so daring that he was probably the first TV comedian to impersonate the Queen. 'One wounded bird helping to look after another,' Stanley said. Fine, I said. And now he felt incredibly guilty because at the very end, he wasn't there to do what? We hope you've really thought about how important it is., And I said nonchalantly, Oh, not nowadays. 'It was real weakness on my part,' he says now. For good. And he turned it down. 'I could be as heterosexual as the rest of them.'. Related: la vache la vache chanson parole, contra costa property tax bill lookup, simon the zealot symbol, richard ramirez last interview, hunter spider headset v4 setup, dunlop american elite problems, trane sacc nomenclature, john heilman website, atta boy urban dictionary, missouri tort victims' compensation fund attorney fees, where do sacramento kings players live, alchemy table . After all, he was only a comedian, not a criminal or a crooked politician. But Ill tell you the basic outline. The more I got to know of her I realised she was a lovely person, a woman of enormous heart.. Stanley reckoned his wife's place was in the home. In 1944, his call-up papers arrived. . Well see what happens. So I asked if he was aware that there had been a piece in the Sun over the summer, calling for Baxter to come back to television. And your editor. How much had the big television specials cost to make? But she ignored the signs. 'And suddenly Kenny cut in, 'Yes! He relished the opportunity to live in pristine order, with a housekeeper to keep the place spotless. And as the years progressed, the medicated Moira and Stanley became close again. In terms of countries? The book was 10 years old, but it was worth a try. And I said Well, it does worry me. Fellow Scottish comic legend Rikki Fulton, who has presented his own hugely popular Hogmanay TV show for the last 16 years, said that Baxter retired from playing dames because the energy and athleticism required was exhausting. Then he vanished from our lives, leaving so little trace that few people even remarked on his disappearance. Moira Robertson Managing Director Alpha Events/Business Facilitator/Sales Coach London. Waiting around outside the entrance to the flats where he lived was making me feel like a burglar casing the joint. Just a couple of years later he landed a five-picture deal with Rank Films. . It was a dark day. Alec Guinness and John Gielgud had both been charged with Importuning. . Looking up at me, expecting me to speak. But Stanley couldnt contain his sexual frustrations. I like to retreat into playing other people. Yes. She now had to be a housewife, which she found very frustrating. Moira Robertson, 65, was snared with 51,000 of cash and 24,000 of cocaine at her home on June 20, 2019. "Kenny thought I was making a terrible mistake," says Stanley. We need you! She was far more bohemian than me.' I felt I had to be very careful not to allow anyone a glimpse of my predilection.. Look, do you mind? The decriminalisation of gay sex between consenting adults was still five years away. 'I liked . For Bill this was just sexual experimentation, and he would later reject a sexual relationship with Stanley, preferring women. He is an absolute control freak, said the critic Mary Brennan. This was Angus Lennie, once the chef in Crossroads. If I wanted a closer look at him it would have to be on my television on 4 January. Moira Robertson Managing Director Moira has been involved in the media, data and conferences sector for over 20 years, managing teams of sales professionals and directly providing sales solutions herself. Robert Louis "Bobby" Robertson, 90, passed away January 21, 2023, at his home following a valiant battle with Dementia/Alzheimer's Disease. And we never really discovered who he was, other than a brilliant character actor and impersonator; as the rules of celebrity changed, he simply refused to play by them. 21:19 EST 30 Oct 2020 Two years into the marriage, relations with Moira were "fine", but the sex was dwindling. What about? His family remained in Glasgow during the Blitz at first, a teenage Stanley and his mother sheltering under a dining table during the bombing. Back home again, Baxter joined the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, a fine company with aspirations to form a Scottish national theatre. They included women, from Shirley Bassey to, later, the Princess of Wales, each precisely observed. As a youth in 1940's Glasgow Stanley spent as much time as possible at the Grosvenor Cinema even skipping school. Some of it I knew from later editions: Hobbies: swimming, cycling, reading. Readers comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. Williams believed Stanley to be taking advantage of Moira and a traitor to the cause. Baxter began his career as a child actor on BBC Scotland and later became known for his British television comedy shows The Stanley Baxter Show, The Stanley Baxter Picture Show, The Stanley Baxter Series and Mr Majeika.. Baxter has also written a number of books based on Glasgow. dexter cattle for sale in missouri, vista murrieta freshman football schedule, allison dubois joe klupar, moj sop login, maria de jesus medical condition simian, paige niemann pictures, ctv news regina personalities, curiosities and oddities shop, maine bob marley comedian family, motorcycle accident yesterday near new york, ny, columbia grading curve, moira robertson baxter, medicine hat [] As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Early on she used to say, That woman's following you around like a wee dug! And she was right. The Citz was a heterosexual theatre company. Brian Beacom 2020. Yes, as a 14-year-old hed had a frolic with the maid (despite living in a West End tenement Bessie Baxter insisted upon live-in help) but this was an entirely new adventure. Edrington's success stems from a heritage of exceptional people dedicated to craftsmanship. And then my impulse to pick up the trail again received further encouragement, when, out of the blue, one of the many former associates of Baxter with whom I had placed calls finally decided to ring me back. What none but his closest friends realised was that Baxter was desperately unhappy, his personal life a battlefield. . And what does the master of disguise look like now? Auditions were in Singapore and, after arriving there in December 1946 by flying boat, he was taken under the wing of a stooped, grey-haired man with a dusty moustache and a strident, nasal voice. At one point during my researches I was intrigued to meet a person in north London who had lived near the Baxters for a while in recent years, and who believed that they now lived apart, but that Stanley visited his wife's new home for lunch most . If he was only prepared to work on the radio these days, could he be a total wreck? 11:52 EST 31 Oct 2020. Feeling she was too ill to travel, Baxter told her she must stay in London. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. There were few people he could tell of his worries. . Nigel Dempsters often there, and so are Stanley Baxter and Terry Stamp. A wee'un would surely have grown up with problems and taken drugs.'. No. How could it happen? ng bi lc Thng Mt 19, 2023. But he hadnt been in that afternoon. I have been writing for the Independent on Sunday for more than 20 years, but the edition that appears on Sunday will be the last. Treating spinal conditions affecting teenagers and adults led Moira into the field of Scoliosis where she helps . 'Silly boy,' the actor noted pithily in his diary. Since then, he has been completely absent from stage or television, and rarely even mentioned in print. I tried to keep things calm and said, Okay, okay, well if you want to get engaged, we could try it for a year or so and see what happens., Just after the window ledge moment, Stanley was handed a Get Out of Jail Free card. It was all good, clean, pre-Carry On fun. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. 'If you can sing, dance, play a musical instrument or whatever,' the announcement read, 'please apply'. Bringing businesses together in the emerging, disruptive technology space across; FinTech, Quantum Technologies and Quantitative Trading Technologies through face to face and virtual meetings and events. 'I'm not. In 1949, it was illegal to be gay and entrapment of homosexual men by covert police officers was common. A porter at the club confirmed that the comedian did swim in the pool most days. Surely his peers would wish to pay homage? But rejection and the stress of his double life had chewed away his confidence. Finally, I realised that I would have to let Stanley Baxter rest in peace. Its such hard, hard work. In this remarkable new authorised biography, which Stanley originally refused to have published before his death for fear of being judged journalist Brian Beacom reveals the secrecy and sadness that have haunted the entertainer all his life. Suddenly, she raced to the front window of their second storey flat, opened it and climbed out onto the window ledge, yelling, If I can't have you then I won't settle for anyone else! 'She would think the television was talking to her.' 'She probably felt if she praised me I'd try less hard. There was an S Baxter in that area, with an address. Why? We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse. Even though Moira was dead from an overdose by this time, he was sickened at the thought that his sexuality might become common knowledge. Baxter resolved to repress his sexuality when he returned to Glasgow two years later to live, as he put it, 'as a straight actor'. Kenny thought I was making a terrible mistake, says Stanley. His relationship with Marcus deepened and continued until the younger man died of lung cancer four years ago, though the two never lived together. Club gossip suggested that he preferred the bigger and busier squash changing- rooms to those by the poolside, and was a bit of a loner.) After 11 months of waiting, I was becoming frustrated. Mary Brennan sees nothing surprising about Baxter being so jealous of his privacy. Private passions are what we care about most, skeletons in the cupboard; but even knowing the colour of the upholstery will do. Doesnt he do interviews at all? What Williams didnt know, however, was the pressure Stanley had been under. Kenneth asked Stanley what future he could expect if he married Moira Robertson. May 2021 - Present1 year 9 months. Stanley weighed up what this all meant. I told her my preference and said, Thats why I am breaking off the relationship. The most outrageously funny man on British television 50 years ago was Stanley Baxter. She looked up at me, shrugged and said Oh, I don't care about that at all. She was desperate for a baby, something Baxter refused to contemplate. This is no mean achievement. In 1970, with The Stanley Baxter Show a huge BBC hit, he moved out of their house and took the apartment in Highgate Village that would be his refuge for the rest of his life. When co-founder Robert Thompson left to open his own business in 1860 John Baxter - a clerk within the company - became partner. And he met Moira Robertson, a 22-year-old who had worked her way up from the wardrobe department to the stage. And he met Moira Robertson, a 22-year-old who had worked her way up from the wardrobe department to the stage. What would the neighbours think? After all, she was with the man she adored. It was absolutely selfish. His performance of Eager Young Husband was the worst he would give in his life. When he called her from the airport, on his return to the UK several weeks later, she didn't answer. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's I contacted David White, who seemed to think that this might mean that his client would talk to me. I dont know if you got it? It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse. How? By It was all I ever dreamed of.. 32 others named Moira Robertson are on LinkedIn See others named Moira Robertson. I wrote you a letter. 'I was in love with Bill,' Stanley says, 'but he certainly wasn't in love with me. Supported creation and implementation of TD Summer Reading and StoryWalk program. And so, a few weeks later, I did the right journalistic thing and rang Mentorn and Channel 4. In travis mcmichael married; susie anthony wife of earl anthony A dreadful fantasy played in his head, that he would suffer a heart attack backstage during panto season and be found dead on the floor of the dressing room. 'It was partly a feeling of, 'I'll show them,' he admits. 'Marcus took me completely by surprise. Baxter had married Moira Robertson, an actress at the Citizens Theatre, in the early Fifties. ', Beset with doubts, he confessed to Moira that all his previous affairs had been with men. Just to be with. And the sex was fine not rockets going off or anything.. We are delighted to welcome Faye Mallinson to the growing Robertson Baxter team. Sometimes it can blur ones sense of right and wrong. The pair developed a closeness that meant when they weren't working they enjoyed a movie or dinner together. I had never written anything longer than a thousand words for publication before, but Richard helped me through and opened the door to a career as a feature writer, for which I am extremely grateful. But Stanley, and Moiras family, coaxed her to take medication. There was also a tiny quote from Baxter in the Times of November 1992, about how the role of Principal Boy should only be played by a woman: All those frills. Baxter appeared alongside Jimmy Logan and Rikki Fulton in extravagantly-produced shows with Ziegfeld-scale sets and dancing girls, but also made his first BBC television appearance in 1951. I rang David White again the following morning. . Stanley walked through the doors of the Gorbals theatre and into theatre heaven, loving this avant-garde world populated by the likes of Sybil Thorndyke and Duncan Macrae. (Later in my quest, I rang the clubs charming PR woman. However, it was Moira who was determined to take the relationship to the next stage. One more try. You can tell Ive talked to the press before, cant you? Moira asked me what was wrong and I said something about the emotion of it all. Hes having a holiday with his wife, Moira. For a journalist, it can be difficult to tell. Its simple and has the few things I need warmth, decent light for reading, a gramophone and a TV if I wish to view. Bingo! A Scottish national treasure. Stanley Baxter is arguably the funniest man and one of the most fetching women in Britain. Can I call you tomorrow, then, to see if youve changed your mind? Scots who never visit a theatre for the rest of the year still find their way to the panto, where the scenarios and jokes have the familiarity of ritual. STANLEY BAXTER has come out as gay at the age of 94 in a brave statement in his new biography, The Real Stanley Baxter, as the veteran actor admitted he brought men home with his "understanding" wife's blessing. I still don't. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? But Baxter's anxieties were channelled into his work, and his perfectionist instincts became overwhelming. They became lovers. 'I got into this business to be loved. almost as often as a chambermaid turns down bed sheets.'. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to Meanwhile, if you think about it, if you changed out of your pyjamas if you wear any into your clothes, then got to the theatre and for the rest of the afternoon you had 32 dress changes to make, then you go out for a cup of tea and change again, then you do 32 in the evening. 'I was going to top myself,' he says. Experiences in the Far East during his concert party stint confirmed to the Scot where his heart lay. Baxter would tell the whole truth, on condition that it remained a secret. Instead, he was arrested. She was in love with him and Baxter believed he was falling in love with her. We became close, without it ever being more than friendship.'. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. My mother didnt think any woman was good enough for me [Bessie Baxters principal purpose in life was to grow a showbiz star] but there was more to her criticism of Moira. The Real Stanley Baxter, by Brian Beacom. It was real weakness on my part.. Yet, the relationship was doomed from the start. So he decided that rather than cut his cloth down because hes not a stand-up Channel 4 comedian, is he? Chic, with hooded eyes, Moira could have been Bette Davis's younger sister. Therapy proved useless: his psychiatrist, learning that he was married, advised him simply to return to his wife. She has special interest in the conservative treatment of spine and joint conditions. He first asked me to write his biography more than 20 years ago, but was emphatic that he did not want it to appear while he was alive. Like his previous TV specials, it was a delirious collection of sketches and set-pieces featuring Baxter in character (his meticulously observed parodies of women like Shirley Bassey and Marlene Dietrich were a trademark), complete with spectacular sets and breathtaking changes of costume and make-up. But Andy Young, who considers himself a close friend of the couple, insisted that they still lived together. Retirement, at the relatively early age of 63, was total. No, you might publish it. There were things he might like to say, but it wouldnt be in keeping to do so. Millions were scandalised and breathless with laughter. Baxter was charged with soliciting for sex. At one point during my researches I was intrigued to meet a person in north London who had lived near the Baxters for a while in recent years, and who believed that they now lived apart, but that Stanley visited his wifes new home for lunch most days. She became disruptive. I sloped away to look around some of them, then went for some Fishermans Bake and a pint at the local pub, feeling pretty miserable. 'I couldn't put up with very long periods of not being with men,' he says frankly. IN MARCH 1952, 26-year-old Stanley Baxter, recognised as the brightest young star in the Citizens Theatre Company, made a decision that was to shock his parents, stun his close friend Kenneth Williams and even surprise himself. My call was answered by Mr White himself, who seemed suspicious of my reasons for ringing. After switching to ITV with the promise of a colossal budget for The Stanley Baxter Picture Show, he met a 28-year-old German accountant named Marcus. Instead of gaining the confidence to join them, he shied away, repelled by the high camp 'all chiffon hankies and make-up and flouncing about. Anxious, he took a taxi to the house. Autumn turning to winter before my eyes, and Stanley Baxter was not at home. OK. Home; Uncategorized; moira robertson baxter; Posted on January 19, 2023; By . Its Christmas, he said. Gay men up and down the UK lived in constant fear of having their careers and lives wrecked. You. He died aged just 26 and Stanley was heartbroken. And by the time the then-teenager landed a place in the entertainment corps during his National Service years, Stanley was convinced that acting was his destiny. Not to the Press. He had his chance to make a clean break, to move on alone. He took an immediate shine to Baxter. The BBC couldnt help, and neither could London Weekend Television, for whom Baxter had made many of his most successful shows in the Seventies. There, he saw a notice appealing for performers to join the Combined Services Entertainment unit [CSE]. Fred Baxter, knowing his son was unconvincing in the role of Happy Groom, attempted a last-minute derailment. By And they were birched! moira robertson baxter. He had to get on with his life. marty odlin, running tide; jay mcgwire wife Menu Toggle. As spring approached, Stanley saw even more of the woman with the hooded eyes, even taking her along to his parents home at 5 Wilton Mansions in Glasgow's Kelvinside. . It looked right. Carrying a plastic shopping bag. Well, you, really. I believed that no-one in our family should be anything but a star.. There had been no mystery about the retirement, said Lennie, who talked about the physical demands of changing costumes so often. We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments. For decades he has hated to venture out: 'I didn't want to be seen as someone who was once Stanley Baxter,' he says. You wont tell me which part of London, will you? THE LEAVES on the pavement were being sucked upwards by the cold wind, or turned to mush by rain. Nobody would tell me. When Baxter retired in 1872 . Im not sure that Stanley would say it just now, but he had this kind of sexual whats the expression? For years, they have resisted the English trend towards pop and soap stars making fools of themselves in tights, in favour of veteran panto specialists like Baxter. The critics loved it. Ah-ha. Im not giving any interviews at the moment. An edge in his voice. We like to think we can find out anything about anyone, as a matter of professional pride, and the challenge of doing so can get under your skin. Stanley Livingstone Baxter (born 24 May 1926) is a Scottish actor, comedian, impressionist and author.