The Cockney Alphabet - (detail) I for Novello

The Cockney Alphabet - (detail) I for Novello

A little taster of my new limited edition screen print, The Cockney Alphabet.
A for 'Orses, B for Mutton, &c., &c.. (you get the picture)

Limited Edition screen print, 50 cm by 70 cm (B2), signed and numbered by the artist.

Here is Ivor Novello, the Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter. His first (and biggest) hit was 'Keep the Home Fires Burning', which was enormously popular during the First World War. However, I have shown him singing another of his comic songs 'And Mother Came Too'. As well as being the song he sings in the film Gosford Park, it seems appropriate as I've a personal connection to Novello through my Mother. According to family lore, my grandad Tudor Meredith Rees-Davies once punched Ivor Novello on the nose, when they were both young men. Sadly, I don't know why (but I'm sure he deserved it!)...