Talked about Bertie before and his colourful career. I would have thought he would have had a Jeeves.
Perhaps his most famous helper was his valet Ponsonby.
But the mind boggles when you think a valet is helping him do the dirty sneaky stuff. For a while he came up with the persona of a gamekeeper which was much more sinister. Mellors. ( can't be Clark Mellor can it)
But some of the old English names like Fothergill and Willoughby were also used.
Could not quite understand the choice of Mahoney for a valet , but maybe that's just me.
Have I covered it , was there just the five employees from his vast country Estate or were there more.
Who played them. I seem to remember one was a member on here at one time.
Was there more than one long serving Ponsonby.
Can you believe it.
Thought this write up would sit well on this thread.
Gov.uk Wills and Probate lists Brian Trotman, Manchester, died 14th April 1996
Found a good article about Bertie Topham to show the direction his career went,
The problem with the Lord Bertie Topham page has now been fixed.
Lord Bertie Topham
Lord Bertie Topham
Great memory, Ballymoss.
But as one who never saw Lord Bertie can I ask you to elaborate what you mean by this: "this image would have never been allowed on mainstream television."
I don't see what they were doing wrong?
The only occasion I saw Lord Bertie live was at a packed to capacity Acton Town Hall where "his lordship" was assisted by his valet Ponsonby. Whether he was the original Ponsonby I have no idea, but he fulfilled his role admirably using every trick imaginable to foil Lord Bertie's opponent. This duo made the atmosphere electric but had to remain with the independents as back in the 1960's this image would have never been allowed on mainstream television.Even nearly 60 years ago it may have been regarded as a trifle dated but for sheer entertainment there have been few to match the wonderful Lord Bertie Topham.
Ron knows how to wake me up. Angus was my favourite. Dempsey and Joyce enjoyed. But the name of Lord Bertie on a poster always made me smile.
As already established Ponsonby was not just one man. I can add one good Manchester wrestler, but will leave the door open for Eddie, who was his friend, and Birmingham wrestler George Leddington.
James Morton has written:
Mellors replaced Ponsonby for a short time after the Lady Chatterley obscene libel case. Mellors was her Ladyship's gamekeeper.
On the one and only time I promoted Lord Bertie Topham back in 1976 at The Parr Hall in Warrington I have no idea who essayed the role of Ponsonby. What I do remember is that he had double-booked himself so I had to put him on as the opening bout and he then had to travel to The Hen and Chickens pub in Oldbury near Birmingham where he was bill-topping for Gordon Corbett. There was a drinks vending machine at The Parr Hall and a punter had opted for a beaker of tomato soup which she threw on Ponsonby and it went all over his white shirt. Topham was furious with me and said I should have had security but I think his anger was mainly because Ponsonby was on later in the evening at another venue. Whether he had a change of shirt or not I don't know. I was refereeing that match and disqualified him in favour of local lad Mike Dallas.
There were several Ponsonbys and one of them was fellow jazz promoter Ernie Garside. Through his work in jazz promoting Ernie had met Topham on the Manchester club scene and was a bit of a "personality" so enjoyed the idea of being Ponsonby until the reality of being attacked and abused by punters hit home. I don't know where Ernie "ponsonbied" but I do know that he was doing it on the night that Bill Benny allowed a female fan to over-excite him in the dressing-room and had his fatal heart attack.
The best Ponsonby I ever saw was at a Cassidy/Carpentier show at the Houldsworth Hall on Deansgate, Manchester, when he fought Monty Swann as it was a female Ponsonby and she really got the crowd riled. So much so that visiting wrestler Orig Williams took matters into his own hands and stormed the ring attacking Topham which resulted in a future challenge contest which culminated in the non-PC Williams putting female Ponsonby over his knee and smacking her bottom.
mellors attracted publicity he was the illicit love interest in lady Chatterley's lover all over the daily mirror during the trial. regarding the publicity re Bernard Manning's Embassy it was a case he wouldn't pay for wrestling not he didn't want it.in the 1970s he tried but Bernard being Bernard wanted control. His chief cashier was his mum he wouldn't put on any act he couldn't control