Bob Hope, 1903-2003
I recently visited the Bob Hope Theatre in Eltham, near my former home in south-east London, where Bob was born in 1903.The theatre was closed on the day of my visit but I received a warm welcome from staff who reminded me of the support they received over the last two decades from the famous entertainer, who died last year.
The Eltham Little Theatre Company was in financial difficulties and due to close when Bob Hope first visited in 1980, but a donation of £58,000 raised by the Bob Hope Classic British Golf Tournaments in 1980-81,which enabled them to buy the old church hall where they had been staging their productions and refurbish it as ‘The Bob Hope Theatre’.
The star attended the naming ceremony in 1982 and visited again in 1991, when he donated a further £28,000, this time from a London Palladium performance, which paid for the building of a bar extension and other refurbishment.In 1998 Queen Elizabeth II conferred on Bob Hope the honour of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire - the highest award for a citizen of another country - which he received at a ceremony at the British Embassy in Washington on May 17th 1998. Jim Shepherd, Honorary Secretary of the theatre, also attended, invited by the family.
Members of Bob’s family and staff continued to visit Eltham whenever they were in London and the news of his death was received with sadness here, as in his adopted country and the rest of the world. He will be long remembered in the town of his birth, which he left at the age of four when his family emigrated to the USA and achieved international fame, but never forgot his roots. Bob always said he was born in "Eltham, Kent", which it was before boundary changes brought it officially into Greater London.
© 2004 Arthur Loosley
Originally published in Wordsweb Magazine
I recently visited the Bob Hope Theatre in Eltham, near my former home in south-east London, where Bob was born in 1903.The theatre was closed on the day of my visit but I received a warm welcome from staff who reminded me of the support they received over the last two decades from the famous entertainer, who died last year.
The Eltham Little Theatre Company was in financial difficulties and due to close when Bob Hope first visited in 1980, but a donation of £58,000 raised by the Bob Hope Classic British Golf Tournaments in 1980-81,which enabled them to buy the old church hall where they had been staging their productions and refurbish it as ‘The Bob Hope Theatre’.The star attended the naming ceremony in 1982 and visited again in 1991, when he donated a further £28,000, this time from a London Palladium performance, which paid for the building of a bar extension and other refurbishment.In 1998 Queen Elizabeth II conferred on Bob Hope the honour of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire - the highest award for a citizen of another country - which he received at a ceremony at the British Embassy in Washington on May 17th 1998. Jim Shepherd, Honorary Secretary of the theatre, also attended, invited by the family.
Members of Bob’s family and staff continued to visit Eltham whenever they were in London and the news of his death was received with sadness here, as in his adopted country and the rest of the world. He will be long remembered in the town of his birth, which he left at the age of four when his family emigrated to the USA and achieved international fame, but never forgot his roots. Bob always said he was born in "Eltham, Kent", which it was before boundary changes brought it officially into Greater London.
© 2004 Arthur Loosley
Originally published in Wordsweb Magazine
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