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The curtain rises once more and our theatre memories go West
Blackpool Gazette
|August 27, 2025
Celebrating the Fylde Coast's rich past
Looking back on the star-studded list of actors who trod the boards in Blackpool, many readers will remember the visits of Timothy West CBE (1934-2024).
We recall the reopening of the Grand Theatre in March, 1981, and this page had a look back only eight weeks ago when Tim's wife, Prunella Scales, shared the "above the title" spot in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.
But, dear reader, were you around at Christmas, 1961, when Timothy West made his first Grand Theatre entrance, in John Chapman's farce Simple Spymen?
It came to the Grand after 1,400 performances at London's Whitehall Theatre, with Tim as the leader of three bungling boffins who mistakenly sent two buskers on a top secret mission.
This story is from the August 27, 2025 edition of Blackpool Gazette.
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