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Reginald Dixon M.B.E.

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i can remember going to blackpool tower and seeing reggie dixon .i wasonly young then i can remember him coming up through the floor sat on his wurlitzer he played tunes on it while the audienced waltzes to them found memories of my youth

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When I was about 6 I got a Bontempi organ for Christmas. I took it so much that a couple or so years later our family got a Yamaha organ - dual keyboards, foot pedals, rhythm accompaniment, the works. I played that thing at every opportunity.

 

We had friends who ran a B & B hotel on Blackpool seafront and whenever we visited we'd go to the Tower Ballroom and very often there'd be the organ being played. As a nine or ten year old I was inspired.

 

My grandparents bought me an LP for Christmas (possibly 1979) called Reginald Dixon, Sentimental Journey which I played till it sounded like a crackling fire (lovely warm vinyl). Thus, I was a bit of a Dixon fan and an avid organist around 1980. I always wondered what happened to that LP.

 

In 1983 I bought my first guitar and the rest, as they say, is history!

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He played the piano for the silent films at Ecclesfield Cinema House. His in-laws lived in Ecclesfield and were called Fiddler. I was a postman, delivering in Ecclesfield. On the morning of Mrs Fidler's funeral I went to the house with a great deal of mail. Reginald Dixon must have seen me approaching as he opened the front door and took the mail from me.

 

A tale that my father tells from time to time is that until the age of six he lived in Welney Place. The young woman next door was Vera Fiddler, who used to take my uncle out in his pram. Everyone was shocked when she eloped with a penniless pianist who had no prospects, referring of course to Reginald Dixon. Of course it may be a confused story remembered by a child.

 

I do know that my paternal grandfather ran an early cinema in the Ecclesfield area in the silent era. Maybe it was the same one.

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Tomorrow is my friends 99th birthday,his father and Reg Dixon were best friends,yes Reg did live on Bowness rd at no 18 and on Walkley Lane and both houses are still there,I wonder if the occupants know what famous person lived there,my friend told me many tales of Reg and his dad.My uncle also pumped the organ for Reg whwn he played at Birley Carr church.

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Blackpool was our favourite seaside holiday place. I remember going there in 1947 and again in 1948. My parents danced to Reginal Dixon in the Tower Ballroom. I also remember seeing Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan) at Derby Baths in Blackpool and we went to see Julie Andrews who was just a teenager then singing with her parents. I remember that her dad's name was Ted but I have forgotten her Mom's name. Great days ! If I remember correctly, Reginald Dixon used to play on the radio at weekend.

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Interesting thread !

 

One of my wife's mother's cousins was Vera Fidler.

We have researched the Fidler family history and still continue to do so.

If there are any of Reg and Vera's children or Grandchildren out there, I would love to hear from you

 

BY PM PLEASE !

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Birley Carr chapel has just closed .I have heard that the organ that Reg Dixon played on has been taken out and sent elsewhere but don't know any more than that.

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Blackpool was our favourite seaside holiday place. I remember going there in 1947 and again in 1948. My parents danced to Reginal Dixon in the Tower Ballroom. I also remember seeing Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan) at Derby Baths in Blackpool and we went to see Julie Andrews who was just a teenager then singing with her parents. I remember that her dad's name was Ted but I have forgotten her Mom's name. Great days ! If I remember correctly, Reginald Dixon used to play on the radio at weekend.

 

Well you appear to be demetia free Arthur, I was born in 1947, so did the same as you, albeit 10 years later. Was Charlie Cairoli the star of the Tower Circus back in 1947, he certainly was 10 years later?

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Well you appear to be demetia free Arthur, I was born in 1947, so did the same as you, albeit 10 years later. Was Charlie Cairoli the star of the Tower Circus back in 1947, he certainly was 10 years later?

 

. . . and he was in the mid sixties, along with a clown with a big white dunce's hat.

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. . . and he was in the mid sixties, along with a clown with a big white dunce's hat.

 

Charlie wore a black bowler, his sidekick was the guy you mentioned. He was born in 1910 and died in 1980, he appeared at the tower for circa 40 years, so your mid 60's could be added to other decades, I definitely saw him in the 50's.

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Blackpool was our favourite seaside holiday place. I remember going there in 1947 and again in 1948. My parents danced to Reginal Dixon in the Tower Ballroom. I also remember seeing Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan) at Derby Baths in Blackpool and we went to see Julie Andrews who was just a teenager then singing with her parents. I remember that her dad's name was Ted but I have forgotten her Mom's name. Great days ! If I remember correctly, Reginald Dixon used to play on the radio at weekend.

 

Hi Arthur Bell - The name of Julie Andrews parents was Ted and Barbara Andrews, they were a Music Hall act in the 40's and 50's, they were somewhat like Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald.

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. . . and he was in the mid sixties, along with a clown with a big white dunce's hat.

 

Charlie had four companions during his career that wore the same distictive white hat, Paul Freeman, Paul King, Paul Conner and his son Charlie Cairoli Junior.

 

He used to play the clarinet and I think charlie drove the little noddy car that used to fall to pieces. I saw him at Blackpool in the late 50's early 60's along with Reginald Dixon.

Edited by Lostrider

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