A VENTRILOQUIST is on a quest to discover more about a wartime Southport showman who inspired him to learn his art.
Colin Spencer was among the crowds of servicemen’s children in the 1940s who witnessed the awesome verbal trickery of a man he knows only by the stage name ‘Rex King’.
For Colin, the son of an Army sergeant living in Bispham Road, the impact of Rex’s performances was life-changing.
“When I saw Rex King I decided I wanted to be a ventriloquist,” said Colin, who is now writing a book on the history of the phenomenon in 20th century Britain.
Two venues where Mr Spencer witnessed Rex in full flow were Cambridge Hall in Lord Street – now Southport Arts Centre – and St Simon’s & St Jude’s Church Hall in Park Road.

Cambridge Hall in Lord Street (now Southport Arts Centre), where Colin Spencer saw ‘Rex King’ perform during World War Two Postcard image by Tom Heath

“Rex did a military routine where he was an officer and the doll was a private,” remembered Colin, who attended St Simon’s & St Jude’s, Norwood Road and Meols Cop schools.
“He also used to do a trick where he cried water from the doll’s eyes, which used to spray all over people in the front row.
“It was great fun.”
Colin knew little about Rex – other than that during the day he was a transport inspector for Southport Corporation.

Colin’s self-made doll, Winston Dawg

“His stage name was a clever play on words, of course, with ‘rex’ being Latin for king,” he said.
One anecdote that did the rounds about Rex was that he was reprimanded by his employers after tricking passengers aboard his tram that it had knocked down a pedestrian. He lifted up the trapdoor in the downstairs deck and used his ventriloquism to make out he was having a conversation with an injured person – everyone was in shock,” said Colin.

Cambridge Hall in Lord Street (now Southport Arts Centre), where Colin Spencer saw ‘Rex King’ perform during World War Two Postcard image by Tom Heath

During those war years Colin himself cut his teeth as a performer, adding speaking without moving his lips alongside his repertoire of conjuring tricks.
Entertainment ran in the family – his mother Elsie had played piano accompaniment to the silent movies shown at the Tivoli Cinema (later the Queen’s) in Devonshire Road.
But the young Colin had not originally seemed a natural showman.
He said: “I was a small, shy boy, who wouldn’t talk to anybody. My mum took me to see the doctor who asked her what I was interested in. She said I was always messing around with bits of conjuring tricks.”
The result of that GP visit was that Colin was taken by his mother to Liverpool to be bought a box of tricks.
Things progressed from there – aged 11 he won a talent contest in Cambridge Hall and appeared in a 1944 edition of the Southport Visiter for his part in a charity show that raised £10 for military families.
At age 17 Colin left Southport for Wirral, pursuing a performing career that eventually led to appearances on the C4 soap Brookside and Carla Lane’s highly-successful BBC comedy Bread.

Ventriloquist Colin Spencer with his doll Sydney Watts – whose head was made by the great doll-maker Len Insull and was a 21st birthday gift to Colin from his parents

But he has since returned to the resort for shows at Southport Floral Hall with his wife Kate – his performances entertaining children there marking a full-circle from his own wartime experiences.
If you know anything about ‘Rex King’ or other local ventriloquists of the past century, call Colin Spencer on 01352-740519 or email cee.kay@virgin.net; or alternatively call LookBack on 01704- 398287 or email robert.alcock@southportvisiter.co.uk

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