Ken Ford
To see all the programmes I've collected before 2015 please visit my original website at www.kenford.me.uk
Some are from shows I've seen, others I've bought or had passed on to me by others.
Many thanks to Malcolm Cook, a fellow member of the 'Friends of Blackburn Museum', for passing on to me the following programmes. Where possible I have grouped them by theatre or genre.
BOLTON OCTAGON
MANCHESTER HOME
MANCHESTER ROYAL EXCHANGE
MISCELLANEOUS
BLACKBURN ARTS CLUB
OPERA NORTH
ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
NATIONAL THEATRE
MANCHESTER LIBRARY THEATRE
As I have previously described, I have an almost complete collection of programmes from the London Hippodrome Theatre and was sure I had all the ones from the inter-war period. This proved to be wrong when I found the one on the right from 1937 and added it to my collection.
It was too late to join all the others when they formed part of a Collectors Exhibition at Blackburn Museum in July and August. Here they are framed as they appeared in the display.
The programme shown below for a variety show at the London Pavilion in 1897 is one of my oldest. There were 24 acts on the bill including Florrie Forde and Dan Leno before they became headliners.
I bought the 1932 programme below left because of the art deco style of illustration on the front. The rest of the programmes are from the shows I saw throughout 2025
_00001.jpg?etag=%223557f8-69569cae%22&sourceContentType=image%2Fjpeg&ignoreAspectRatio&resize=204%2B304&extract=0%2B0%2B200%2B285&quality=85)
