 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
"WHEN Herman was only about nine or ten, we used to let him go off maybe 200 miles or more, either alone or with a friend," recalls Mrs. Noone. "He was a keen train-spotter and would get up early on Saturday mornings and go off to some big station, taking photographs of the engines." Herman remembers those Saturdays very well - and one in particular that didn't have such a happy ending. "It was when I was ten," he said. "I decided to go down to London. So on the Friday night I waited till Mum and Dad and Denise had gone to bed and then crept downstairs to catch the midnight train. "Had a marvellous time in London; went round Waterloo, Paddington and all the rest. It was all so wonderful that I kept putting off going home, and in the end caught a train that got me back to Manchester at 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning. "By then, there were no buses running - so I had to walk home. Seven miles. It was 4 a.m. when I walked into the house. Mum and Dad were going spare. They nearly had the police out looking for me. "They were so glad to see me that they forgot to get angry!" Peter and Denise (that's Herman's sister) were given plenty of freedom as children. Every summer they spent several weeks at their grandparents' bungalow in Wales. At other times, their parents would take them cycling. Peter was a cheerful, happy-go-lucky boy. Never one to get down hearted. He was in love with the theatre even in those days. "We used to take Peter and Denise to all the shows in Manchester," recalls Mrs. Noone. "Once, when he was five, we went to see Cinderella and Buttons asked for some children to join him on the stage. Buttons "Peter was up there like a flash, sang a song, and then buttons offered him a bag of sweets. But he refused to take any. Buttons looked a bit surprised, and asked why. Peter told him I had said he was never to accept sweets off a stranger!"We all burst out laughing, but Peter stood there solemnly and said he just couldn't take the sweets - so Buttons gave him a pot of jam instead! But his troubles weren't over yet. "Denise had been watching all this very quietly, but she burst into tears when Peter was given his jam. She wanted some too. And she wouldn't stop crying until Buttons came down off the stage and gave her a pot as well. "He was always having accidents," remembered Mrs. Noone with a smile. "Of course, on Bonfire Night, being Peter's birthday we always had a big party. "Just before his third birthday Peter started collecting wood for the fire. Found one piece that was far too big for him, but wouldn't give in. Not Peter. "He struggled to lift it up, but the log fell across his leg. He had to be taken to hospital for 16 stitches. Broke finger "Another time, when he was five, Peter tried to climb over a gate at the end of the garden. But it was six foot high, and when he got to the top he tumbled straight over and landed on his head. Hospital again. That time it was concussion. |
"He seemed to be in and out of hospital all the time. Another day he broke a finger falling downstairs. He was four then. "When he was seven he fell off some steps and broke another finger. But the first thing we knew of it was when he arrived home, bandaged up. He had gone straight off to hospital without telling anyone." But full of fun and spirit though he was, Herman was in many ways a lonely child with no close friends. As a boy he was always self-reliant. An individual. A leader. And now he is older, he has a low opinion of anyone who is easily led. It may have been this that made him decide to learn the piano. But, characteristically, he did not tell his parents. Weeks passed - and still they did not know that he was taking lessons every Saturday morning. "We only found out when we were sent the bill," laughs Mrs. Noone. "Peter was always a little secretive, but I think that beat the lot. We thought he was just going off to the children's matinee at the local cinema - but we didn't mind. We thought it was a marvellous thing for him to do, learning the piano." Music school It was the music school that gave Herman his big break. A Granada TV producer CHRIS MACMASTERS rang the principal asking if he had any young pupils who would be suitable for a part as a choir boy in an episode of "Knight Errant". Herman went along, auditioned, and got it."Mr. Noone remembers: "They had already seen 80 boys but picked Peter out as soon as they saw him. Peter was only a little lad, but Chris Macmasters liked him and kept writing lines into the script for him. "The show was supposed to end with a shot of Peter singing 'The Holly and the Ivy' - but the two leading actors said the fade-out shot should be of them and almost persuaded Chris to cut the song. "Peter, young though he was, wasn't having that! 'That's not right,' he told Chris. 'I was engaged to sing a solo'. And in the end got his way. "Chris agreed to have all three singing together at the end of the show." That was Herman's introduction to acting - but there was much more to follow. Macmasters was switched to "Coronation Street," Britain's most popular television series. And when a part for a young lad came along, he remembered Herman. Drinking "Not long afterwards my wife and I were sitting drinking in a hotel," recalls Mr. Noone. "A chap came over. 'Hellow Mrs. Noone,' he said, 'I'm the father of your son!' And my wife hit him."She was sorry afterwards, though - because it turned out to be PETER ADAMSON, the actor who played Peter's dad in the series. "We were pleased that Peter was doing so well, but were a little worried because this is such a precarious busness. Staying at school would have been no use to Peter, though. If he had spent another year or more studying he would probably have ended up as a £6-a-week clerk somewhere!" To be continued next week. |