A Titchy Bit Interesting

This was a drawing I did for 'The Showing Journal'. I've just completed another drawing for them. The week has been quite steady, the sessions went fairly well. My sister visited this weekend and it's been nice to see her and the weather has been lovely too. I found myself looking at photos of Harry Champion, the Music Hall comic this week. I have a fascination with the history of London and he is part of that rich tapestry. I was also reading about Little Tich, who was born about 1860 and died in the 1920's. He stopped growing at 4"6 and had six fingers on each hand. He used this to his advantage though, devising ways of making the crowds waiting to go into London theatres laugh and generally busking and entertaining them for money. He eventually got his break and made it onto the stage. His stage name, Little Tich, then became part of the language we still use today. The word titchy, meaning small, is derived from him and his stage name. I find this all very interesting for some strange reason. It's odd to think that just as my Granddad's were experiencing their very early years, Little Tich (real name Harry Relph) had become an older man and was coming to the end of his life. I was watching some old film of his routine, it's over 100 years old now. The music halls are nothing but history and only kept alive by the likes of Roy Hudd, who coincidently, I share my birthday and birthplace with. All very interesting. I shall be looking into it more I think.