ADVANCED KIPPER (may contain bones)
During twenty-five years of professional performances - some odder than others - Sid Kipper and Chris Sugden have created all manner of material which will be of interest to the committed Kipper fancier. Some of this will be developed in this section.
CRAB WARS - THE DRAMA
Before collaborating with Sid on the
successful Mousehold Press book, Crab Wars, Chris Sugden attempted to prepare
the story for the stage. With some
help from the late Frank Press he came up with the following, which we reproduce
here, as no-one else wants it. It
has never been produced, and in the remote chance that anyone should wish to do
so, they should correspond with Chris at the mail order address.
THE BALLAD OF SID KIPPER
Sid's biography, from before his conception to going solo and beyond. The highs, the lows, the ins, the outs, the mild and the bitter. A must for historians, musicologists, and the nosey.
PREWD'S PRUNINGS
To mark the centenary of Mrs. Miriam Prewd's notorious visit to St Just-near-Trunch in 1904/5, as so graphically described in the book 'Prewd and Prejudice', we published for the first time parts of the original project which had to be omitted for reasons of space.
March 1904 'Gentleman' Jack Kipper, and Cobbler's 'Rural Rides'.
April 1904 Education, Education, Uncle Wesley.
May 1904 Morris dancing, the Trunch Flitch, and more beaten bounders.
June 1904 The Goat Inn, dressing up, and lozenges.
July 1904 Doyley Silver-Darling is Cromeo, the saga of the pebbles, and night-time perambulations.
August 1904 More sheep shearing, an Albert Kipper poem, and the niceties of the poaching season.
September 1904 The composer Ben Jarmine Brighton performs at the Snipe Maltings, and more about muck spreading.
October 1904 Sweetcorn dollies, competitive crumpet eating, and the Trunch flitch.
November 1904 Elections, and the strange history of Doyley Silver-Darling and his man.
December 1904 Wassailing, mumming, and more about turkeys.
January 1905 Whipsy, Plough Monday, and Ken Peel.
February 1905 The Feast of Lights, Cromer versus Cromer, and a wedding.
March 1905 The last words, as approved by the Pedants Of Trunch.
MAGAZINE MUSINGS
Not with microchips they
aren't.
A DAY IN THE LIFE - specifically a day in early 2000
WHO'S WHO? - Chris Sugden interviews Sid
WHO'S WHO TOO? - Sid returns the dubious favour
FOLK ON TAP LETTERS
For
over a decade Sid was a regular correspondent to Folk On Tap, "The
Magazine of the Southern Counties" (www.folkontap.co.uk).
Much of his writing consisted of thinly disguised plugs for
performances, albums and books, and are therefore of little general interest.
HENRY KIPPER RIP
For seven years, in the 1980s, Sid toured with his father, Henry, as 'The Kipper Family'. They were painful years, which Sid doesn't like to talk about, as he was the one causing the pain. However, there is much to be read between the lines, and it may be that Sid did not feel he had fully taken over the Kipper mantle until the old man's death in 2000. We reproduce here the Trunch Trumpet's coverage of his departure.
FOND
FOND stands for Friends Of the Norfolk Dialect. Sid is, of course, a member - even though he has sometimes been described as an enemy of the English language. Further details of their activities can be found at www.norfolkdialect.com
Sid also contributes occasional pieces to their Newsletter, The Merry Mawkin, so we take this opportunity to share some of them with 'furriners'.
CRT
Sid supports the Countryside Restoration Trust, which not only campaigns but also works practically "to demonstrate, through the purchase of land, that sensitive farming practices, capable of balancing the needs of conservation, education and recreation with commercial food production, sustainable for future generations, must be the future for this country". Not that Sid would put it that way. More about the CRT can be found at www.crtbarton.org.uK
THE ASSIST TRUST
The Assist Trust is a fine organisation helping people in Norfolk who have learning difficulties. Sid was approached to be a Patron, and was only too glad to accept, although it is not at all clear that he understood what that meant. Nevertheless he tries to be active in their support, and hopes that their use of his name will be of some benefit. Find out about the Assist Trust at www.assist-trust.co.uk
SCHOOLING
Sid was educated by the school of life, but did attend more formal institutions - namely Trunch Bored School and Knapton Academy. At the former he claims to have been a slate monitor - a responsible position, since it was his job to return the slates to the roof in the event of rain. At the latter he did not exactly shine, as his 1957 report shows.
OLD SORES FROM ST JUST
For ten years every issue of the Trunch Trumpet has contained a nugget of wisdom from that little part of north-east Norfolk which Sid calls home. Now, for the first time, these nuggets have been put together to form an ingot.
THE ANSWER IS
As a celebrity Sid is frequently invited to answer mindless questions to pad out various publications. Most of these he turns down, considering himself above such features as 'My Favourite Thongs' and ''This Much I Gnaw'. He is a sucker for a local cause, however, and around the turn of the century agreed to answer some question for the Sheringham based The Journal.