Gary in Lambeth is 31-40 and is Punch and Judy Professor.
Gary has been obsessed with Punch and Judy since he was a child. When he was 15 he performed at the Millennium Dome and is now one of the most respected ‘professors’ in the country. He even makes all of his puppets, carving them in the courtyard outside his shared flat in Kennington.
Film Maker: Mark Currie
Questions & Answers
- What's your first memory of London? Traveling down the Strand to perform at my first Covent Garden May Fayre aged 12!
- What do you miss when you're away from London? Theatre.
- What's your favourite neighbourhood? The South Bank.
- What's your favourite building? Wilton’s Music Hall – the world’s oldest surviving music hall.
- What's your ideal day out in London? It would start with a walk from my home in Kennington along the South Bank to Borough Market to get something delicious for lunch! Then maybe a matinee at Shakespeare’s Globe, rounded off with a few ‘alfresco’ drinks with friends.
- What's your ideal night out in London? It would have to include a bit of theatre or live music and then on to one of London’s lovely old pubs.
- What's your most hated building? It would have to be a shopping centre of some sort.
- What's the best view in London? Looking out from Waterloo Bridge – both East and West.
- What's your favourite open space? Definitely Kew Gardens.
- What's the most interesting shop? Davenports Magic shop in the underground arcade of Charring Cross – a hidden, mysterious old shop.
- What's your favourite place to hang out? Covent Garden watching the street entertainers.
- What's been your most memorable night out in London? There were so many memorable nights out during my drama school days!
- How would you like to spend your ideal day off in London? Getting lost in some painting or carving.
- Where would you take someone visiting from out of town? We’d do all the usual sights, museums and galleries, then a spot of afternoon tea, but of course, we’d have to end up in the West End.
- What's the worst journey you've had to make in London? It was a black cab ride from Ealing to Bounds Green (where I used to live), we got stuck on the North circular in the snow and, as I had my Punch and Judy show with me, I had no choice but to sit and watch the meter tick away!
- What's your personal London landmark? Big Ben – I regularly past it on my walks along the river.
- Who's your favourite fictional Londoner? Del Boy you plonker!
- What's your favourite London film, book or documentary? I’m currently reading London Labour and the London Poor by Henry Mayhew – a first-hand account of the poor and working classes in Victorian London.
- If you could travel to any time period in London, past or future, where would you go? Definitely the Victorian times – if I was a Punch man back then I’d be rich!
- For you, who is the ultimate Londoner? Mr. Punch – first seen in London in 1662!