98 Years Young

My last acquaintance with George Young was in the spring of 2007, when at the Priory Players AGM I suggested that I would like to see the group do more of Shakespeare's history plays. "Ah", came the reaction. "That would make a change, George can't stand the Histories."

He was entitled to his preferences perhaps, for in a sense he was a part of history itself: as a veteran of both Dunkirk and D-Day (see Colchester Gazette article), his was of an "enlightened" generation that had experienced the war, and were able to enrich their lives and that of others by pursuing the things that most mattered, such as drama and the theatre, in his case.

As president of the Priory Players in Colchester, he was a staunch figure of amiable near-legendary status, especially into his tenth decade, but always very amenable. I remember him in the Priory's production of The Merchant of Venice where he was playing "Old Gobbo" - for the second time, well into his 80's, with his first and original son Launcelot Gobbo into his mid-50s! And there was no-one better suited to playing the old Soothsayer in Julius Caesar - "Beware the Ides of March!"

A legend of Colchester's amateur theatre (and much else besides), who had a bloody good innings and almost reached his century.

Good Things: 19

Internet smileys - once I realised that in order to appreciate them you have to look sideways.

:-)