The Top Ten: Places as old-school repertory actors

From Patrick Brompton in Yorkshire to Amber Hill in Lincolnshire

Lynn Loader enjoyed the Top 10 double-barrelled villages forming a jazz band last month, and said she had long been collecting famous old-school repertory actors from maps. This is her list…

1. Patrick Brompton (North Yorkshire)

Actor-manager extraordinaire.

2. Findo Gask (Perth and Kinross)

…who took the lead in many a touring version of the Scottish play in the 1920s.

3. Drayton Beauchamp (Buckinghamshire)

The epicene juvenile lead who made his name in the 1930s.

4. Swanton Morley (Norfolk)

…whose Hamlet enthralled Cromer in the 1890s.

5. Newton Flotman (Norfolk)

A genre player whose butlers delighted audiences in the 1950s.

6. Brandy Carr (West Yorkshire)

The famous ingénue.

7. Ainderby Quernhow (North Yorkshire)

…who specialised in vacuous tennis-playing aristocrats.

8. Barabhas Iarach (Western Isles)

One of the great stage villains.

9. Sixpenny Handley (Dorset)

The spiv’s spiv.

10. Amber Hill (Lincolnshire)

…whose terrifying Lady Bracknell is still spoken of in hushed tones in the Fenlands.

Next week: Covers better than the original, starting with ‘All Along the Watchtower’

Coming soon: Tweets. Send your suggestions, and ideas for future Top 10s, to top10@independent.co.uk