The son of an innkeeper EDWARD ALLEYN was born on Sept 1st 1566 and died in 1626. He was a prominent actor with The Earl of Worcester's players and rather shrewdly married Joan Woodward in 1592, who happened to be Philip Henslowe's stepdaughter. Philip Henslowe was an entrepreneur and Edward joined with him in many ventures. They were jointly master of the Kings Bears and between them owned a number of theatres including the "Rose", "Bankside" and a couple of brothels! As viewers of the film "Shakespeare in Love" will know he was a contemporary of William Shakespeare and was renowned for his performance of Marlow's Tamberlaine and Faustus. His contemporaries rated him as the best actor of the day, and even Ben Johnson, the A.A.Gill of his day, "bestowed unstinted praise on him".

On 21st June 1619 he founded Dulwich College (Hence Founder's Day), motivated possibly by the fact that he was childless after 27 years of marriage. He often gave pupils the chance to act in his theatres. When Joan Woodward died in 1623 he married Constance, the daughter of John Donne the Poet and Dean of St Paul's. He died in November 1626, "a genial, kind, amiable and religious man", and was buried in the Chapel of the College. There is a memorial window to him in Southwark cathedral. He was, in his time, what Laurence Olivier was to our generation.

At the time of Edward Alleyn, the late 16C, actors were considered little better than rogues and vagabonds and it wasn't until the time of Garrick in the 18C that they were to become more or less socially acceptable - due perhaps to the gestures of some of the more successful actors, like Edward Alleyn founding the school in Dulwich for twelve poor pupils. Which was quite a remarkable thing to do at that time. The history of how the junior school broke away from the senior school to become Alleyn's is another and well-documented story. But how did it become after nearly 400 years so closely tied in with its founder's profession as to attract the attention of successful actors to want to send their offspring there? Within the last thirty years such luminaries of the acting profession as Tim West, Prunella Scales, Jack Shepherd, Ian Mcgoogan, Cordelia Monsey, Bernard Horsefall, etc have sent their children to Alleyn's, with no doubt, aware of its reputation, the desire that they should receive a healthy introduction to their profession. This recent reputation is due, in the main to the influence of Michael Croft, and the fact that what is now known as the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain was born at Alleyn's school.

Drama was, of course, not unknown at the school prior to Croft's arrival there was the annual Shakespearean production and the Bear Pit; a drama society run by and for the pupils. But they had no particular reputation for outstanding excellence. At that time it was the music department under 'Puff' Smith that enjoyed this distinction - the orchestra and the annual Gilbert and Sullivan. The school had a reputation for turning out musicians, but not actors. Frank Thornton, who is most instantly associated with the very successful BBC comedy series "Are You Being Served", was at the school from1932 to 1937. Frank, known then as F T Ball, or more vulgarly F T Bollocks was in Bradings house and did not 'do' drama at school at all. He came from a strong musical family and played the cello in the school orchestra, under 'Puff' Smith. The then headmaster Henderson, known for some reason as 'The Pig', played the double base behind him - as Frank recalls, not very well! Frank left school to work for an insurance firm and after two years decided to take the plunge and do what he had always wanted to do, to act. As a member of the orchestra he remembers S Y Blanche, who later became the Archbishop of York, playing a handmaiden in the Mikado, and Walter H Todds, also of Bradings who became the head of music for the BBC.

The only other thespians that I can trace are Leslie Howard 1893 to 1943 known then as Leslie Stainer, and who has earned a place in the history of World cinema with his portrayal of Ashley in "Gone With The Wind" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel". Then there is Ray Cooney who left school somewhat early in 1946, much to the annoyance of the headmaster, who wanted him to stay on, as he was quite bright. However Ray had decided that he wanted to act, despite having done none at school. His parents too did not want him to leave school, but agreed that if he could get a job as an actor during the summer holidays, he would be allowed to leave. They didn't think there was a cat in hell's chance of him getting employment, but after traipsing around week after week to agents and casting directors Ray was offered a part in "Song of Norway" by Emile Littler, and got his way! He graduated from actor to writer and now enjoys the reputation as the master of Farce in the British theatre not only as an actor, but writer and manager! Shortly after that came David Palastanger who started as a male model and later became David Cameron, appearing in Suddenly Last Summer in London's West End. As I recall David was a very fine fast bowler and when he contracted TB he had to leave school early for treatment, but returned as a mature student in order to complete his exams. He again had to leave school early when the "colours room" caught fire and he was known to frequent the place for the odd drag! He was very tall and exceedingly good looking and I think must have done quite a bit of work in Germany for the last heard of him, he was married to Hildergard Neff and touring that country as her manager and co-actor. David was at school when Michael Croft arrived, but he left before Croft got into his stride.

After naval service during the war Croft went to Keble College Oxford, dabbled in the acting, reportedly having understudied Kenneth More, and eventually landed at Alleyn's. At that time Alleyn's was a 'direct grant' school and consisted mainly of bright young lads from all strata of society, who had gained scholarships, there were few if any paying pupils. This led to a very healthy cross section with a hefty portion of working class lads from the less wealthy surrounding areas like Brixton and Peckham. The school was, however, still clinging to its Public School status, it was, after all, on the headmasters conference list although, reportedly, at number 200 and very much in the shadow of Dulwich College. This created many a conflict as some of the gifted young men from the less well-off families found it difficult to come to terms with the traditions and mores of a public school, that the then headmaster 'Soapy' Hudson was keen to uphold. In consequence the school harboured a rebellious element, often referred to by 'Soapy Hudson', as "The lunatic fringe", somewhat larger and brighter than in most schools. It was this energy that Croft tapped into, harnessed and channelled into his productions, and in consequence turned many a potential dropout into a productive contributor to the school not only in terms of drama but academics and sport. I would put myself into that category.

The first production "Julius Caesar" was a very ambitious modern dress open-air production on the pavilion pitch, with the old pavilion as backdrop and dressing rooms etc. I was not privy to the 'board room, infighting that went on, but the production team seemed, in retrospect, very top heavy and I cannot believe that Steve Jenkins and 'Loopy' Young who had hitherto been responsible for the annual school production took too kindly to Croft's innovative enthusiasm. There was too Ken Spring who was on the design side and Col. Len Shackelton co-opted as Military advisor. With Len came a young Eric Randle who seemed to have found his 'Shangri La' at Croft's side for he revelled in organising the battle scenes and putting the fear of God into the audience with his thunder flashes. He was also put in charge of getting the invited critics pissed in the hospitality room before the performances! It was clear however that Croft was emerging as the driving force and Steve and 'Loopy' gave ground, I'm not sure how willingly! Albert Spring, Ken's father and headmaster of the lower school was heard to complain that it was "the first time the school play has ever been controlled from 'the Dog' in the village",-for it became obvious that Croft enjoyed his tipple! As Colin Farrell remembers "his Naval cure for flu' was to sit in rehearsals after school, swathed in duffle coat and scarf, slowly downing a pint of Bell's. And then appearing the next morning as right as rain, having sweated it out. It never worked for me like that - I just felt a great deal sicker." There was considerable opposition in those early days. 'Soapy ' was well known to object to Mike, possibly because he was so supportive of the "Lunatic fringe" element, and did seem to encourage a certain level of individuality that upset 'Soapy'. It also upset other members of the common room, but we only heard the rumours. Mike did however have his common-room supporters namely Ken Spring, in spite of his father's opinion, 'Tommy Gascoigne 'Lofty' Logan and Eric, who all stayed loyal throughout and on to the National Youth Theatre.

Apart from the sheer innovative idea of an open-air Julius Caesar in modern dress as the annual school production Mike also brought with him a wonderful ability to inspire verse speaking of a level not previously seen in school productions, and to direct crowd scenes that pulsated with energy and excitement and yet were decidedly disciplined. It didn't come easy. I remember hour upon hour of rehearsal listening to speech after speech being repeated time after time so that in the end I knew everybody's part! At that time I had been in the under 14-soccer team with 'Froggy' French and John Stride, (nicknamed "Navvy, because of his extraordinarily large hands) and the masters in charge were Tommy Gascoigne and Mike Croft. When Croft came to get his crowd together for Julius Caesar he asked the team if we'd like to be in the school play and to a man we refused, on the grounds that we didn't have any desire to become 'pooffy' actors! However when we learnt of the free ale at the end of production party, we all decided to do him a favour! Croft was lucky enough to inherit Julian Glover, who had already got bitten by the acting bug and was established as the school's leading actor. He gave us his Mark Anthony, and somehow 'Navvy' Stride who had managed to get himself a few lines gave us Pinduras. Also in the cast were Michael Barnes who ended up at Queen's University and the director of the Belfast Festival, and David Keene who I later came across as Bishop of Southall when I was playing Nottingham.

We made the papers before the play even opened! Allegedly a passer by in Townley road saw what they thought to be a master in mortarboard and gown being attacked by rebellious pupils, and called the police. They had of course witnessed the dress rehearsal of the lynching of Cinna the poet by the rioting Romans. I say allegedly because I don't recall the police arriving at rehearsal and I'm not at all convinced that the story wasn't cooked up by Croft - the first spin-doctor! This suspicion is inspired by the fact that a few years later when visiting Manchester with The Youth Theatre's Henry IV pt 1 and confronted with poor advance booking and a lack of publicity, Croft organised a parade to the city centre, Piccadilly square, in costume, where we performed excerpts from the play and with our own skiffle group. We were eventually asked to 'move on' by the police! The next day 'spin doctor' Croft managed to get front-page coverage in the Manchester Evening News with the story that the prostitutes of Piccadilly had complained to the police that we were interfering with their trade and had us shifted!

Julius Caesar was an unprecedented success and we played to full and enthusiastic crowds on the pavilion pitch. I dread to think what would have happened if the weather had not been favourable - as the programme indicated that if the weather did not permit an open-air performance the play would take place in the great hall! Quite apart from where one would have put the audience, how would we have performed the battles on that tiny stage? The next production was Hamlet, this time in the Great Hall. John Stride had caught Croft's eye and he and Julian Glover were front-runners for the title role. Julian Tells of endless readings and auditions with himself and Johnny in competition culminating with waiting outside the masters' common room to hear the result. When Mike came out and told Julian that they had decided to split the part and let them have three performances each Julian declined the offer and told them to give the part to Johnny. Exactly how he declined is up for conjecture, but he did get to play Laertes so it couldn't have been too acrimonious! Because of the success of Julius Caesar and Mike's previous connections with the professional theatre we were beginning to attract attention, not just locally, but from the National press and Hamlet was an even greater artistic success with Johnny winning universal acclaim for his verse speaking and mature performance. Even Mr Parsley from Dulwich College wrote fulsomely, although a little grudgingly, in the school magazine! By that time I had acquired a taste for the 'amber nectar' at the last night parties and volunteered to serve again as a courtier come soldier. My main task was to carry Hamlet's dead body at the end of the play at shoulder height, together with three others of course, and after the nerves of the first night we amused ourselves by trying to get the corpse to squirm, interfering with his body in unspeakable ways, as we solemnly slow-marched off stage!

Laertes was to be Julian's last role at the school as he was to leave and go to RADA, - the first of many. Possibly a little sooner than we all expected. At the end of that term when 'Soapy' was giving out prizes, at assembly in the Great Hall, he called Julian to come and receive the Collins prize for shooting, - as Julian was half way up the centre aisle Soapy noticed that Julian was sporting a pale green shirt instead of the regulation white. Drawing everybody's attention to the fact that Julian was improperly dressed he told him to return to his seat, at which point Julian turned on his heels and marched right out of school only to return some 40 years later to give out prizes from that same stage in that same school as an invited celebrity! Having carved out a fine career for himself as a classical actor with the RSC, in the West End Theatre and in films.

I think because of exams I was not involved in the next production, Macbeth.. By now commitment to the annual school play was total and rehearsals went on late into the night and nearer production time into the early hours of the morning. Something that really seemed to trouble 'Soapy'! Johnny was, of course playing the title role and recalls that halfway through the run Ken Spring took his costume away from him to get it dry cleaned. Croft's productions were always physical and demanding and Johnny was sweating profusely every night. There had been complaints that he smelled like a randy horse and he was given a lecture on hygiene and anti perspirants! Stride was to leave school, having won a scholarship to RADA and he followed Julian. He was however allowed to return for one more production, arguably Shakespeare's greatest and most difficult play Anthony and Cleopatra.

Anthony and Cleopatra contains some of Shakespeare's greatest poetry and was a decidedly ambitious choice particularly since it shifts its scene from Egypt to Rome and back again with such alarming speed and on that tiny stage in the Great Hall! Then of course there is the problem of the unassailable monument where Anthony dies in Cleopatra's arms! Cleopatra too was quite a problem, although the part was originally written for a boy actor, the convention of boys playing female parts had long since been forgotten and Cleopatra had become the domain of such great actresses as Peggy Ashcroft. Since tasting life as a walk-on in two of Croft's previous productions, I had been directed by Roland Barker in my first speaking role as Scanarelle in "Le Medecin Malgre Lui", in French. Mike was very supportive and at 'Rolly's' request gave me some tuition, although his French was somewhat non-existent. I was therefore quite chuffed when he asked me to read for Anthony and Cleopatra. I found myself in apparent competition with Richard Hampton as we were given the same speeches to work on and read and frequently found ourselves together after school waiting to be auditioned. It was a very thorough process, (more thorough than I have experienced since, in the professional theatre) and went on for some weeks. I can't remember how it happened, but Richard says he remembers the distraught look of disbelief on my face as I came out of the room having just learnt that we were in competition for the role of Cleopatra! Sufficeth to say I didn't fancy playing 'a girl' and I lost my appetite for acting. Which is not to say that Dickey wouldn't have come out on top anyway but it didn't fit in with my image of myself. I was much more interested in playing Enobarbus, however David Weston got that and I had to be satisfied with Scarus.

The Croft entourage was growing; Ken's wife Doreen Spring together with Richards mother and sister and Glory Romp the mother of Howard, who was later to become my brother-in-law, were all enlisted to help with costume, make up and general looking after. Dave Weston's Uncle Harry, who had a fish and chip shop at Brixton, would turn up at late night rehearsals with a vanload of fish and chips that still perfumed the air at the next morning assembly. Half way through the run Richard's mum took his last act costume home to give it a good wash as it was becoming quite heavily marked with Johnny's make up as he lay dying cradled in Dickey's arms each night. Having given it a good scrub she put it to dry on the airer that was suspended on pulleys in the kitchen. - Cooking smoked haddock for lunch was a great treat for Dickey, but it wasn't appreciated by Johnny, that night, as he fought for breath in Cleopatra's arms!

By now the Croft bandwagon was on a roll and his productions were attracting the attention of the National critics and luminaries of the professional theatre. WA Darlington the top London critic gave both Johnny and Dickey a rave notice! Johnny had left to pursue a career in the theatre. He was in Olivier's company that was the birth of the National Theatre and is still remembered for his Romeo in the Franco Zefferelli production with the young Judi Dench. However Croft had found his next lead actor in Richard Hampton. He had also attracted, apart from myself and David Weston, Colin Farrell who had played the Soothsayer and Paul Hill who had played Iras, Although Paul didn't become a professional actor, like the rest of us, he was to become Croft's right hand man in the development of The National Youth theatre and directed many a professional production. The Bear Pit too was benefiting from this great zest for theatre, and Paul, Colin, and myself appeared in a production of "She Stoops to Conquer". There were other side issues too, because from the attention attracted by the annual production we were getting such stars of the theatre as Alan Badel and Sir Donald Wolfit, coming to the school to judge the reading prize, which itself was growing in importance!

I think it must have been this strength in depth that prompted Mike to select Henry Vth as his next venture. Dickey played Henry, Paul Hill the chorus, David Weston played Pistol, and Colin Farrell played Orleans. Also in that production playing Alice, was Brian Eatwell who became a top designer in the film industry and spends most of his time in Hollywood. During the war, I had been evacuated to Wales, returning to London with a strong Welsh accent, which I had long lost, but which proved useful as I played Fluellen. Unfortunately it brought the Welsh accent back, good and strong. Which was all very well for the play, but since I was by then a school prefect and had to read the lesson at morning assembly, it earnt me a summons to Soapy's study and a lecture on taking the piss out of the Bible! (Not his exact words of course!) By now we were getting accustomed to the attention we received, and there was a first night ritual of the chosen few staying up boozing after the first performance and carousing until dawn when we would all get in Mike's car and go to Fleet street to pick up the first edition of the papers and consume them over breakfast. On this occasion Henry Vth was doomed as there was a Press strike and the nation was deprived of the knowledge of our success. The leek scene, in which I beat Dave Weston, as Pistol, about the head with the largest leek to be found at Covent Garden vegetable market, was one of the comic highlights of the play, and we enjoyed much success. At one performance however Dave took it upon himself to indicate that Pistol had been scavenging the battlefield and came onstage sporting bits and pieces of armour that he'd procured from the slaughtered French. I noticed the odd plumage but didn't take much notice until I started to beat him and he began knocking his knees together. The clamour of the leg armour that he had scavenged, and the reaction of the audience, made it impossible to continue. I waited for it to subside and, as it died down, I tried to continue with the dialogue, at which point Dave's knees started again and the audience went up again! This happened several times and went on for what seemed like an eternity, in the end I had to get really serious with the beating to get him to stop! Needless to say we kept it in. We were pretty depressed that our triumph had missed the papers!

However some of the press did come and they sent their 'crits' that were published in the School Magazine. I did rather well in these reviews and they tipped the balance in my decision not to go to University but to follow Julian and Johnny to RADA.

The following year I was recalled, just as Johnny had been, to play Rumour the chorus for the next production of Henry IV pt 2 but at the last minute I also took over the role of Westmoreland. A lasting memory for me, is when Paul Hill, who was playing Prince John, and had taken to padding out his tights because his legs were so thin, missed his step making a dignified entrance down a flight of stairs and bounced to the bottom on his heels, thus shaking his makeshift newspaper padding to the bottom of his tights and looking rather lumpy around the ankles. This vision stayed with me throughout the scene and I'm not sure that anybody heard a word I said, or indeed if I was able to utter at all! It was a strong cast with Dickey playing Hal, Dave Weston as Falstaff, Colin Farrell as Justice Shallow and Dave Fournel who was the then AAA junior long jump champion playing Pistol cleared the width of the Great Hall stage, with no run-up to speak of, and landed on a table in the Boar's Head Tavern!

This was to be Croft's last production at Alleyn's. Henry IV pt 2 was invited to play at the Southwark Shakespeare Festival and Croft began to consider where he could go from there. The overall opinion was that Croft's productions were challenging the professionals because of their vigour, and freshness and since he didn't have to pay his actors he could muster a pretty impressive crowd on stage. He was quite brilliant in the way that he could inspire and orchestrate crowd and battle scenes and his appreciation of poetry meant that he insisted on a standard of verse speaking that was unique in a school production. Every line was painstakingly repeated and repeated in rehearsal until he was satisfied. There have been times when I wanted to scream to be let out of rehearsal; the repetition was like the Japanese water dripping torture! He was also a genius at publicity and raising finance. With his production of Henry Vth financed by the income from his book "Spare The Rod", which was made into a film with Max Bygraves and sponsorship from The Daily Telegraph the Youth Theatre started at Toynbee Hall in Southwark in the summer of 1956. The cast was made up mainly of the Alleyn's cast with lads from other schools being brought in to fill any gaps. There was even one from Dulwich College! Croft left the school and ran the Youth Theatre full time but his influence on drama at Alleyn's didn't evaporate.

The first productions of the Youth Theatre were very much tailored around the Alleyn's contingent, and we were later joined by three more from the school when Simon Ward and Robert East and Derek Seaton joined the company. Derek, I remember as the player Queen in Hamlet, and died very young, but not before establishing himself very firmly as a radio actor. He was married to Paula Wilcox whom he met via the Youth Theatre. Simon ward played Rosencrantz and later stepped into Richard's shoes as a leading actor in the YT productions. He then went on to carve out a fine career for himself, probably best known for his performance of Winston Churchill in the film 'The Young Winston'. Robert East was Bob Davies at school. He recently appeared in a West End revival of 'Twelve Angry Men', but is probably more widely associated with his appearances in the 'Dave Allen Show'. He has also established himself as a comedy writer and I can do little better than here reprint a letter that I received from him:

Colin Farrell joined the throng going to RADA and like us all at that time had to somewhere fit in 2 years National Service! On leaving RADA his career started with a touring company vaguely connected to "Private Eye" and another old boy Brian Croft was involved. No relation to Mike, Brian had been Mike's stage manager throughout the Alleyn's years and the Youth Theatre birth. After grafting in Rep for a year or so Colin went into the West End with Wesker's "Chips With Everything" and later "Half a Sixpence" with Tommy Steele. Colin had the advantage of being quite a musician; he played the cornet in the school band and still plays a mean trombone. His TV successes include a six-year run in the comedy series "In Loving Memory" and a series written for him "Thicker Than Water", about a 1930's bandleader, where his musicianship came in very handy!

Richard Hampton did not join the steady flow to RADA but went to Oxford where he continued with his drama, becoming the president of OUDS and eventually went into the professional theatre. He was in John Neville's company that opened the new Nottingham playhouse, Olivier's company that opened the Chichester Festival and as a member of the National Theatre Company spoke the first lines ever uttered on the National Theatre Stage when they opened with Hamlet in at the 'Old Vic' David Weston and myself went to RADA. I have since pursued a career, that has, been a mixture of soaps and theatre and David after starring as Dick Turpin in the Disney film has pursued a career that has been a mixture of cinema and theatre, he is currently in Trevor Nunn's ensemble company at the National. It was at RADA that I met up with another Alleyn's actor, but one that had slipped through the Croft net, - Francois Landry. I had acted with his brother Michael Landry in the Moliere play "Le Medecin Malgre Lui" in 1953 at school, and I was to act with Francois in another French speaking production at RADA some 7 years later! Francois has spent much of his time in the theatre as a director, working for quite some time at the Bromley Theatre.

My knowledge of Drama at Alleyn's after leaving is of course rather limited, I went back occasionally with Mike to see the school play. The productions had then been taken over by Alistair Ashton and I have since come across the Miller brothers, Pip, Kit and Jonty, (sons of the 60's pop singer Gary Miller,) who were in his production of Hamlet. Pip played Hamlet and his two younger brothers played the gravediggers. Kit being hauled up before the headmaster to explain why he played the first gravedigger as Alf Garnet! Pip has recently finish a run in the West End Production of 'An Inspector Calls' and Jonty has recently retired from the theatre after the galling experience of being called for what he thought was a job interview and being asked to fix the cistern!

Then of course there is Sam West, who has enjoyed much success in Film and TV and is about to add Richard II to his list of successes, and Jude Law, who won an Oscar nomination for his role in 'The Talented Mr Ripley'. In the 330 years prior to Croft I have managed to trace 4 actors. (That is not to say that I have not missed some and I would welcome any further information.) However in the 50 years since Croft's arrival I have traced 20! All of them have pursued careers in a difficult profession, and achieved a variety of degrees of success, but none of them can match the achievements of our illustrious founder!