William Graham(I)

The adopted son of Jack and Hannah Graham, William, whose given name was Edward, was born in Darlington, Co. Durham. He studied dancing from an early age and later performed with Don Sorrento's Accordion Band and a concert party. Aged 13 he entered and won a Carroll Levis talent show at the Darlington Hippodrome. He then toured with the Levis show for a year. He was one of a thousand boys to audition for the title role in "Just William's Luck" and then played the part again in "William Comes to Town". He also played William on stage. After National Service (in the Medical Corps in 1950) William worked as a dancer and choreographer at London's Windmill Theatre until its closure in 1964. He then appeared in the Sandy Wilson musical, "Divorce Me, Darling", at the Players and Globe Theatres, London, and in TV commercials for Omo washing powder. His last show business work was as one half of dance act Graham and Shack, who appeared on TV's "Opportunity Knocks" and later at the Crazy Horse in Paris and in pantomime with Bruce Forsyth. He retired in 1970 and after running several small businesses, including a post office in Kensington, London for 7 years and a sweet shop in Taplow, Bucks., William retired to Exmouth, Devon. His wife, Brenda, died after 54 years of marriage. The couple had three sons and ten grandchildren. In 2013 William was filmed for the BECTU History Project and interviewed by me for the industry journal "The Veteran".